ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cucurbita Pepo, Wild Grass, Tripsacum
17 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Mesoamerica is strictly defined as the middle of the americas, stretching from mexico to panama. Mesoamericanist archaeologists usually refer to a much more restricted area. Mesoamerica is usually defined by archaeologists as stretching from mexico to roughly. Squash (cucurbita pepo) was the earliest plant domesticated in mesoamerica. Earliest squash seeds dated to 10,000-8300 b. p. Ancestor of squashes eaten today including pumpkins, acorn squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash. Domestication was a long process that first favoured a selection for larger seeds. Farmers later selected for an increase in the thickness of the rind and a change in its colour. The exact origins of domesticated maize (corn) are unclear. The earliest known evidence for a wild relative is in the form of pollen from the. Tehuac n valley which date to 80,000 years ago long before human habitation of the. True domestic corn (with cobs the size of a strawberry) is known from new mexico dating to 2,500 b. c.
