Squash grown 10,000 years ago in Peru

Yahoo ^ | Thu Jun 28, 6:09 PM ET | By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

[Fred Nerks]

Squash grown 10,000 years ago in Peru By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu Jun 28, 6:09 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Agriculture was taking root in South America almost as early as the first farmers were breaking ground in the Middle East, new research indicates. Evidence that squash was being grown nearly 10,000 years ago, in what is now Peru, is reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

A team led by anthropologist Tom D. Dillehay of Vanderbilt University also uncovered remains of peanuts from 7,600 years ago and cotton dated to 5,500 years ago in the floors and hearths of sites in the Nanchoc Valley of northern Peru.

"We believe the development of agriculture by the Nanchoc people served as a catalyst for cultural and social changes that eventually led to intensified agriculture, institutionalized political power and new towns in the Andean highlands and along the coast 4,000 to 5,500 years ago," Dillehay said.

Dolores Piperno, curator for archaeobotany and South American archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the report "adds to the accumulating data for agriculture in the Americas as old or nearly as old as that in the Old World, provides evidence for the domestication of a major species of squash native to South America, and documents ancient peanuts and quinoa."

[Fred Nerks]

The plants we found in northern Peru did not typically grow in the wild in that area," Dillehay said. "We believe they must have therefore been domesticated elsewhere first and then brought to this valley by traders or mobile horticulturists.

[Fred Nerks]

the article reminds me of:

http://www.1421.tv/assets_cm/files/image/pumpkinthumb.jpg

Pumpkins in China?

Reader Carlos Jimenez was puzzled to come across this sculpture of a pumpkin when visiting an exhibition of the famous Xi’’An terracotta warriors from Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi’’s burial complex. The objects in the exhibition are all dated to be from the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) or the Han Dynasty (206BC-220 AD). If, as most encyclopedias will tell you, pumpkins originated in the Americas, how did this sculpture come to be part of this fascinating collection? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.1421.tv/gallery.asp?Section=Stone%20buildings,%20mortar%20and%20carvings#

[pabianice]

They wouldn’t eat it either, huh?

[Grizzled Bear]

Sir, are you implying that zucchini are migratory?

[elkfersupper]

How can that be?

The earth itself is only 6,000 years old (/sarcasm).

[Fred Nerks]

LOL! I'm not implying anything...

"We believe they must have therefore been domesticated elsewhere first and then brought to this valley by traders or mobile horticulturists.

the question is: from where?

[Gideon T. Reader]

I have made a note of this.

[muawiyah]

The "somewhere else", although not dated to this period, seems to have been in the vicinity of Mammoth Cave, KY, and environs to the North of there.

The archaeologist at Indiana University who determined that this area was one of the world's primary points of plant domestication followed up with an invite to France to work on recently discovered caves full of paintings.

Others have continued the work of discovering just how old agriculture is in Kentuckiana (as the TV folks call it). The vast numbers of dry caves in the region give them the opportunity to find ancient seeds.

[blam]

That looks more like a big squash than a pumpkin.

[blam]

Some pictures here of peanuts and cotton found at this site:

Earliest-known evidence of peanut, cotton and squash farming found

[Fred Nerks]

That looks more like a big squash than a pumpkin.

it's a pumpkin if you're an aussie!

Aussie Pumpkin - 'Queensland Blue'

[Wheee The People]

I think they served some of that squash from Peru in the college cafateria.

[blam]

"it's a pumpkin if you're an aussie! "

Okay. That's more like it.

[Fred Nerks]

thanks, your link leads to the original report.

The researchers dated the squash from approximately 9,200 years ago, the peanut from 7,600 years ago and the cotton from 5,500 years ago.

“The use of these domesticated plants goes along with broader cultural changes we believe existed at that time in this area, such as people staying in one place, developing irrigation and other water management techniques, creating public ceremonials, building mounds and obtaining and saving exotic artifacts.”

so, agriculture in Peru is dated at 10 thousand YO?

[Verginius Rufus]

There was a thread this morning about some supposedly Incan bones dating from about 1000 years ago found in Norway. It looks like the Vikings were in search of squash.

[Fred Nerks]

IF that 'chinese pumpkin' is really and truly from the source claimed, it does compare well with the Queensland Blue, doesn't it?

[Fred Nerks]

“...some supposedly Incan bones dating from about 1000 years ago found in Norway...”

I did read that, identified as ‘Inca’ due to a malformation of the neck in the skeleton. Without further information, that’s not a whole lot to base the ID upon. I tried my best to find further info, but not much success:

http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/paleopathology/drybones/ch7.html

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Fred. 9200 year old squash? Geez, it must be a huge SOB by now.

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[wildbill]

Yummy yummy yummy I’ve got squash in my mummy...

[Fred Nerks]

you funny...!