Detecting Domestication of the Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii Torr.)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The process of domestication is essential for producing nutritious foods that can be grown, harvested, stored and eaten. Recent evidence suggests that a novel potato species, known as the Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii Torr.) was manipulated by ancient people sometime during the last 12,000 years. The tubers might have been an important food and energy source because of their nutritional qualities, reliable productivity and ability to persist in the soil. Furthermore, populations of this species now occupy atypical habitats among and within the great pueblos of the American Southwest, evidence that indigenous farming practices included this species. Therefore, a collaborative archaeological and biological approach is well-suited to provide insight on the initial stages (use, transport and manipulation) in the domestication process. In the broader context, detecting these stages challenges our understanding of foraging strategies and a long-established scientific paradigm regarding agricultural origins and food choices among hunter-gatherers in North America by identifying the Four Corners as a hitherto unknown center of plant domestication. Herein we present genetic, life history, and archaeological evidence pertaining to the question of domestication of a species native to the American Southwest.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37666.0