Dickau Ruth, Ranere Anthony J, Cooke Richard G
Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Feb 27;104(9):3651-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0611605104. Epub 2007 Feb 21.
The Central American isthmus was a major dispersal route for plant taxa originally brought under cultivation in the domestication centers of southern Mexico and northern South America. Recently developed methodologies in the archaeological and biological sciences are providing increasing amounts of data regarding the timing and nature of these dispersals and the associated transition to food production in various regions. One of these methodologies, starch grain analysis, recovers identifiable microfossils of economic plants directly off the stone tools used to process them. We report on new starch grain evidence from Panama demonstrating the early spread of three important New World cultigens: maize (Zea mays), manioc (Manihot esculenta), and arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea). Maize starch recovered from stone tools at a site located in the Pacific lowlands of central Panama confirms previous archaeobotanical evidence for the use of maize there by 7800-7000 cal BP. Starch evidence from preceramic sites in the less seasonal, humid premontane forests of Chiriquí province, western Panama, shows that maize and root crops were present by 7400-5600 cal BP, several millennia earlier than previously documented. Several local starchy resources, including Zamia and Dioscorea spp., were also used. The data from both regions suggest that crop dispersals took place via diffusion or exchange of plant germplasm rather than movement of human populations practicing agriculture.
中美洲地峡是植物类群的主要传播路线，这些植物最初是在墨西哥南部和南美洲北部的驯化中心被引入种植的。考古学和生物科学领域最近发展起来的方法，正在提供越来越多关于这些传播的时间和性质以及各地区向粮食生产相关转变的数据。其中一种方法，即淀粉粒分析，能直接从用于加工经济植物的石器上获取可识别的微化石。我们报告了来自巴拿马的新淀粉粒证据，证明了三种重要的新大陆栽培植物的早期传播：玉米（Zea mays）、木薯（Manihot esculenta）和竹芋（Maranta arundinacea）。从位于巴拿马中部太平洋低地的一个遗址的石器上回收的玉米淀粉，证实了先前考古植物学证据，即早在公元前7800 - 7000年，那里就已使用玉米。来自巴拿马西部奇里基省季节性较弱、湿润的山前森林中陶瓷时代之前遗址的淀粉证据表明，早在公元前7400 - 5600年，玉米和块根作物就已存在，比之前记录的时间早了几千年。还使用了几种当地的淀粉类资源，包括泽米属植物和薯蓣属植物。来自这两个地区的数据表明，作物传播是通过植物种质的扩散或交换发生的，而不是从事农业的人口的迁移。
