Was Setaria Domesticated in Tehuacan?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Subsistence Crops and Animals as a Proxy for Human Cultural Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Excavation of Coxcatlan cave recovered remains of Setaria cf. macrostachya. Analysis suggested early increase in abundance of florets (so-called seeds) in deposits associated with El Riego Phase contexts and later decrease in Coxcatlan Phase deposits. Callen observed a size increase of Setaria florets recovered from reconstituted human coprolites and attributed it to domestication. El Riego and Coxcatlan Phase collections of Setaria were AMS dated and the florets’ size analyzed. Chronometric determinations of florets examined indicate the Phase associations described by Smith, Callen, and MacNeish to be accurate. Morphometric characterization suggests seed size increase from early to later deposits. Evolutionary rate determinations fall within the range of evolving natural populations suggesting that directional selection, while intuitively suggestive and pleasing, is probably great enough to suggest preferential collection but not domestication.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Subsistence Crops and Animals as a Proxy for Human Cultural Practice   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36125.0