Archaic Period Flashcards
Study for midterm
ARCHAIC
PERIOD
9000-4500 bp
Transition from small h/g bands to settled village agriculture
Big game extinction by the begining of this period
Origins of Agriculture is the key question
Ends with pottery (Early Formative)
Origins of Agriculture
Diffusion
Agriculture is an invention that spreads from a single source
Thor Heirdal: getting an Egyptian boat (near) to the New World shows agriculture and pyramid buiding came from the Old World
Agriculture:
“Farming” v. “Domestication”
Coe, others argue that it is not agriculture until you have domestication (maladaptive change in genetic characteristics)
Brown says agriculture is a set of human activities revolving around plant foods
protecting plants, clearing land, planting seeds, irrigation, prior to domestication
“Farming” (including wild plants) creates a context in which domestication is possible
MacNeish in the Tehuacan Valley
rejected cultural diffusion
organized effort to find origins of agriculture in the Basin of Mexico
Worked in dry rock shelters in the Tehuacan valley (well preserved)
Assumed origin of agriculture would not be below levels without grinding tools (no grinding tools = not processing plants)
Tehuacan Chronology
9500-7200 El Riego
7200-5400 Coxcatlan
5400-4400 Abejas
4400 Purron
Tehuacan Valley Phases
El Reigo
9500-7200 bp
MacNeish stopped here
Hunting, but only small game
Wild foods prevalent, including maize (maguey hearts still the primary plant food)
domesticated chiles, squash, amaranth appear (but not maize)
Longer occupation periods as a result of processing ripe plant foods
Tehuacan Valley Phases
Coxcatlan
7200-5400 bp
Camps occupied for much of the wet season (scheduling)
if you are going to rely on MBS, must be in the area when they are ripe
Coprolites show no maguey fibers (as contrasted with dry season sites and all sites in earlier eras)
Occupations lengthen over time
(Brown: agriculture is a set of activities relating to scheduling)
Evidence of arrival at camps earlier in the wet season to protect plants from deer (scheduling)
domesticated maize appears in this level
formalized grinding tools appear
MacNeish estimates that 10% of food from domesticates (excludes wild plant foods)
“Succession weeds” (MBS) are not being succeeded because humans are expanding and protecting growth
Tehaucan Valley Phases:
Abejas
5400-4400 bp
Pit houses appear on valley floor
Caches and pits associated with longer stays (possibly year round)
30% of diet from food provided by domesticates (MacNeish’s definition of agriculture)
(90% if wild plant foods are included)
Not taking time to hunt becuase it takes away from protecting the field
Tehuacan Valley Phases
Purron
4400 bp (begins)
Characterized by first appearance of pottery and permantly settled villages in the valley
(MacNeish associated pottery wth settled villages - heavy and not suitable for mobile storage - but the same pit houses were in use as from the Abejas period)
Zia maize (4.5 inches v. 2 inches) domesticated at this time (possibly coming back to Tehuacan Valley from the Gulf Coast lowlands
Exchange between Tehuacan Valley and Gulf Coast lowlands
Maize Genetic Mutations
Wild maize: seeds fall off easily, each is protected by a husk and has a hard thick covering to protect to the next growing season
Mutations (zia maize):
1) Husk covers the entire ear
2) Kernel is fixed to the cob
3) kernel is soft
Leaves the plant unable to reproduce w/out human intervention
Zia maize double the size of the corn cob
MacNeish believed that environment of GC lowlands is what led to the mutations
“Succession” Plants
Maize, Beans and Squash (MBS) are “successsion plants”
Don’t contine to occupy the same space for long periods of time
Seeds are blown in the wind and take root in areas where other plants have not taken hold
such as where fire has cleared a plot of land
Undisturbed, these succession plants are eventually succeeded, and driven out, by brush and trees which take the sunlight
Humans are stopping the succession process in flood plains to favor MBS
Tehuacan Valley Gulf Coast Lowlands Exchange
MacNeish argues that permanently settled villages were first invented in the Gulf Coast lowlands (see Poverty Point)
McN argues that migrants from Tehuacan Valey brought MBS to Gulf Coast lowlands and introduced farming
In turn, Gulf Lowlands people gave the invention of settled villages to the Tehuacanos
Gulf Coast Lowlands
First occupation in 5500 bp
Associated with change in climate allowing tropical forests to dominate and created mangrove swamps where rivers flowed into the ocean
Permanent settlements
Living on fresh water from rivers, rich deposits of shellfish and fruit from trees
(tropical forests are otherwise inhospitable for humans becuase of lack of animal protein)
Gulf Coast Lowlands
Agriculture
Natural levees along the river banks are attractive to MBS farmers - flooding replaces nutrients and suppresses invasive grasses, produce 2-3 crops a year
(river levees are of little value to shellfish/fruit eaters)
Theory is that immigrants from Tehuacan Valley came into Gulf Lowlands and killed trees to create fields in the river levees
This was not displacing existing inhabitants, adding to their diet
Rise of Settled Villages in Gulf Coast Lowlands
Fresh water flowing into the Gulf creates brackish backwaters with an abundance of shellfish
Also abundant fruit from trees in the area
6000 bp with change in climate creating these conditions, people come down from the Highlands bringing farming with them.
First inhabitants found they did not have to expend huge resources in farming becuse of shellfish resources
no longer dependent on a single crop
resources don’t move so settled villages make sense (also allows protection as population increases)
Retained contact with highlands becuase both farmers and shellfish collectors need stone
stone for grinding cereal, sharp edges to cut trees or create weapons
Farmers are likely the ones with portable resources that can trade for stone from the Highlands
