Eastern Agricultural Complex - Development

Development

The archaeological record suggests that humans were collecting these plants from the wild by 6000 BCE, then gradually modifying them by selective collection and cultivation. In the 1970s, archaeologists noticed differences between seeds found in the remains of prehistoric Indian hearths and houses and those growing in the wild. In a domestic setting, the seeds of some plants were much larger than in the wild, and the seeds were easier to extract from the shells or husks. This was evidence that Indian gardeners were manipulating the plants to make them more productive and accessible.

Most experts had previously believed that agriculture in the U.S. was imported from Mexico, along with the trinity of subtropical crops: maize (corn), beans, and squash. What is now accepted is that the eastern United States was one of about ten regions in the world to become an “independent center of agricultural origin.”

The region of this early agriculture is in the middle Mississippi valley, from Memphis north to St. Louis and extending about 300 miles east and west of the river, mostly in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The oldest archaeological site known in the United States in which Indians were growing, rather than gathering, food is Phillips Spring in Missouri. At Phillips Spring, dating from 3,000 BCE, archaeologists found abundant walnuts, hickory nuts, acorns, grapes, elderberries, ragweed, bottle gourd, and the seeds of Cucurbita pepo, a gourd with edible seeds that is the ancestor of pumpkins and most squashes. The seeds found at Phillips Spring were larger than those of wild C. pepo. The agency for this change was surely human manipulation. Humans were selecting, planting, and tending seeds from plants that produced larger and tastier seeds. Ultimately, they would manipulate C. pepo to produce edible flesh.

By 1800 BCE, Indians were cultivating several different plants. Riverton in the Wabash River valley of Illinois, near the present day village of Palestine, is one of the best known early sites of cultivation. Ten house sites have been discovered at Riverton, indicating a population of 50 to 100 people in the community. Among the hearths and storage pits associated with the houses, archaeologists found a large number of plant remains, including a large number of seeds of chenopods (goosefoot or lamb’s quarters) which are likely cultivated plants. Some of the chenopod (Chenopodium berlandieri) seeds had husks only one third as thick as wild seeds. They had been bred selectively by Riverton farmers to produce a seed that was easier to access than wild varieties of the same plant.

The wild food guru of the 1960s, Euell Gibbons, gathered and ate chenopods. “In rich soil,” he said, “lamb’s quarters will grow four or five feet high if not disturbed, becoming much branched. It bears a heavy crop of tiny seeds in panicles at the end of every branch. In early winter, when the panicles are dry, it is quite easy to gather these seeds in considerable quantity. Just hold a pail under the branches and strip them off. Rub the husks between the hands to separate the seed and chaff, then winnow out the trash. I have collected several quarts of seed in an hour, using this method.

“The seeds are quite fine, being smaller than mustard seeds, and a dull blackish-brown color....I find it pretty good food for humans.”

Another plant species at Riverton that can confidently be identified as domesticated was sunflower (Helianthus annus). This is based on the larger size of the seed in the domesticated than in the wild varieties. Remains of plants that were used, but may or may not have been domesticated at Riverton, include bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), squash (C. pepo), wild barley (Hordeum pusillum) and marsh elder (Iva annua)