Flora, Ethnoecology, and Foodways in the Land of the Sky

Summary

Analysis of botanical residues recovered from the Río Verde Valley has yielded a wealth of information about activities of ancient inhabitants. Data from this paper were derived from large-scale excavations at the Terminal Formative urban center of Río Viejo, and the Terminal Formative outlying sites of Cerro de la Virgen and Loma Don Genaro. Evidence of agricultural practices as well as the collection of wild and fallow-dwelling plants have been revealed through charred seeds and other macrobotanical remains. The recovered archaeobotanical specimens indicate the use of several typical economic species, as well as a range of uncommon plants that may have been used for various purposes including fiber, medicine, and ornament. Moreover, the distribution of species across each site informs understandings of spatiality in terms of distinctiveness or overlap of activities taking place at individual loci. The diversity of practices represented by the botanical remains adds nuance to traditional paradigms of Formative Period foodways and ethnoecology in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• In the Land of the Sky: Recent Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14370