A-Maize-ing: Phytolith evidence for an early introduction of maize in the Upper Great Lakes diet

Summary

There is no recorded maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) at Laurel or North Bay Initial/Middle Woodland sites in the northern Lake Michigan-Huron or Superior basins of the western Great Lakes, despite the presence of maize microbotanicals in Michigan, New York, and Quebec as early as 400 BC. To evaluate the potential for an early maize presence in this region, samples of carbonized food residues adhering to sixteen ceramic vessels from the Laurel/North Bay Winter site (20DE17) were processed and analyzed. Low incidences of maize starches and phytoliths were present in multiple samples, three of which were dated to as early as the second century BC, 800 years before regional macrobotanical evidence. Compression damage to some starches as well as fine grit present in several samples support the proposition that the initial dispersal of maize in the region may have been through transmission of meal or flour, which was then incorporated into existing cooked dishes by local populations. The lack of maize macrobotanicals for centuries thereafter suggests that maize did not immediately become a significant component of regional cuisine until long after its initial introduction to the Upper Great Lakes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Some Like It Hot: Analytic Diversity and Complementarity in the Exploration of Past Cooking and Cuisine

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17097