No Attempt Was Made to Cultivate Crops until Very Recent Times

Summary

Ethnographic and ethnohistoric information are significant sources of data for archaeologists in developing various models. It is a widely held belief among archaeologists that the Chiricahua Apache subsistence was based only on food foraging and raiding. This interpretation originates with Opler, the primary ethnographer for the Chiricahua Apache ,who stated that "no attempt was made to cultivate crops until very recent times" and "By the time the Eastern Chiricahua became seriously interested in cultivation they were already so often threatened, assaulted, and uprooted that it was almost futile for them to attempt to farm". Thus, the adoption of agriculture by them is seen as a reservation development (1850s and later). A number of archaeologists have accepted this interpretation.

Given the long-term relationship between archaeology and ethnographic and ethnohistorical data, it is important that such errors be corrected. This poster provides ethnohistoric documentation that suggests the Eastern Chiricahua Apache were as, or as near as, agricultural as the Western Apache are considered.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage