Independent Centres of Domestication in the Americas Flashcards
What are the three independent centres of domestication in the Americas?
South America, Mesoamerica, and Eastern North America
What was a major difference between the Independent centres of domestication in the Americas and Europe/Asia/Middle East?
The Americas lacked beasts of burden
What countries are included in Mesoamerica?
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and N. Costa Rica
Evidence of plant domestication in Mesoamerica as early as ________ y/a
10,000
Note: it was squash
What are the seven major domesticates of Mesoamerica?
Maize, beans, squash, chili peppers, sunflower, turkey, dog
True or false?
Maize was domesticated in Mesoamerica about 9200 y/a before being introduced to other regions in the Americas. It became the second most economically significant crop in the Americas.
False. 9000y/a and the most significant
What is the name of the ancestor of maize and how do they compare?
Teosinte; maize has cob and kernels with much larger fruit while teosinte has a spike with seeds
When was plant domestication first established in South American Neolithic sites and what are the ten major domesticates?
Plant domestication as early as 10,000y/a
Maize, potatoes, manoic (Cassava), arrowroot, yams, quinoa, cotton, llama, alpaca, guinneapig
Maize was introduced to South America _____y/a from _______.
6000, mesoamerica
True or false? Llamas, alpacas, and wild boars are the only large domesticated animals in the Americas and were used as beasts of burden and for food.
false; just llamas and alpacas
When were plants first domesticated in Eastern North America and when was maize introduced to the region?
5000y/a; 2200y/a
What are the ten major domesticates of Eastern North America?
Squash, sunflower, sumpweed, little barley, goosefoot, smartweed, knotweed, maize, turkey, dog
Describe the Cahokia, Illinois site, a significant site in the emergence of social complexity in North America.
Large settlement on the river bank of the Mississippi consisting of multiple communities with large Cahokia at the centre and flourished between 1000AD-1350AD. Relied on maize and squash agriculture. Population of about 10,000-20,000. Characterized by rectangular and cone shaped earthen mounds.
What is a cheifdom?
a level of socio-political organization more complex than a tribe but less than a state.
What are two major indications of early stages of social complexity?
monumental architecture indicates a powerful leadership overseeing the construction & differences in wealth seen in burials
