orgins of new world civilization

7/27/2019 Orgins of New World Civilization

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SNTFsabishe 1845 AE RI C November 1964 Volume 211 Number

The Origns of Nw Word CivlzaonIn the Mexica vaey of Tehuan bands of huers beale uran

afsme e orse of 12,000 eas. Ther ahie(eent ases

soe new qesos au he eouon o hgh utres n geera

Perhaps he mos signican singleoccurrence in human history washe evelopmen of agriculure

an animal husbanry I has been as-sume ha his ransiion rom foo-gahering o food proucion ook placebeween 10,000 an 16,000 years agoa a number of places in he highlandsof he Midle as In poin o fac

he archaeological evience for heransitio, particularly he evience foromesicated plants, is extremely mea-ger I is nonetheless widely accepedha he rnsition represented a "Neo-ihic Revolution, in which abundnfood, a sedentary way of life an anexpanding population provide hefoundaions on which today's high civ-iliations are built

he shift from foodgatherig o foodproducion did no, however, happenonly once Until comparavely recenimes the Old orld was for the mospar isolted from he New orld Sig-nicn contac was conned to a lrge-ly oney migration of cultally prim-itive Asiatic hunting bands cross heering Strait In spite of this almostotal bsece of trac between thehemispheres the Eroean adventurerswho reached the e orld in the 16thcentry encontered a seres of clturesalmos as advnced excep in metal-urgy nd pyrotechnics) and qite asbarbaros s their own Indeed, someof he civiliations from exico o Peru

possesse lrger variety of domesticae plnts thn did their Europen

by ichard Mcesh

conquerors an ha mae agriculturaadvances far beyon hose of he Olorl

A some ime, hen, he ransiionfrom foogathering o foo proucionoccurre in he New orl as i hain the Old In recen years one of hemaor problems for New Worl pre-historians has been o es the hypohe-

sis of a Neolithic Revoluion againsnaive archaeological evience and athe same ime to documen he Ameri-can tage of man's initial oesticationof plants which remains almos un-known in both hemispheres)

he ierences beween he ways inwhich Ol orld an New orl menchieved indepenence from the no-madic ife of he huner an gathererare more striking han he similaritieshe principal dierence lies in he factha the peoples of he Ol orlddomesticated many nimals and com-pratively few plants, whereas in heNew orld the opposite was he caseThe abundan ad various herds thagave the peoples of Europe, Africa anAsi mea, milk, wool and beass ofburden were matched in he preo-lmbian New orld only by a half-doesticted group of Anen cmel-oids: the llama, the alpaca an hevicua he Andean guinea pig can beconsidered an inferior equivalent of heOld orld's domesticae rabbits andhres; elsewhere in he Americas he

turkey was an equally inferior couner-par of the astern Hemisphere's many

varieies of barnyar fowl In boh hOl orl an he New, ogs presumably preae all oher domesianimals; in boh beekeepers harvesehoney an wax eyon his he Neworl lis of omesic animals winleso nohing All he culures of he mericas, high and low alike, epene ontheir hunters' skill for mos of heir ani

mal produce mea and hides, furs nfeathers, eeth and clawsIn contras, he American Indian

omesticate a remarkable number oplants Excep for coton, the \aerbottle gourd, the yam and possibly hecoconut which may have been omesi-cate independently in each hemisphere), the kinds of crops grown in heOld orld an he New were quiedieren oth he white and he sweepotao, culivae in a number of varieties, were unique o he New orlFor seasoning, in place of the pepperand mustar of he Ol orld, hepeoples of the New orl raise vanilla and a eas wo kinds of chili Foredible seeds hey grew amaranh, chive,panic grss, sunower, quinoa, apaoe,chocolate, he peanu, he common beanand four other kinds of beans lima,summer, tepary and ack

In addition o potatoes he Indianscultivate oher roo crops, includingmanioc, oca and more han a doenother South American plans In placeof the Old orld melons, he relate

plans brough o omestication in heNew orld were he pumpkin, he

1964 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC


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ld ncestos of on hd been soughfo ny centuy the sech hd nowed to two sselbeaing New Woldgassesteosine nd T'ipsacu-had fees esembling the domesicted pnt. On he basis of ossbeeding expeimens nd othe geneti studies hoeve Pul Mangesdof ofHvad Univesity and othe investgos onlded n the 1940's haneithe of these plants could be heoiginal ncesto of con Instead teosinte ppeed to be the podt of the identl cossbeeding of tue on andTpsacu. Mngelsdof advaned thehypothesis th the wild pogenito ofcon s none othe than on itselfpobbly popon ith its kenels encsed in pods

Between 1948 and 1960 a numbe of

disoveies poved Mngelsdofscontention to be oe. I shall pesent

these discoveies no in thei stichonologil ode bu the in theiode of mpotne. Fist in impotnce then ee analyses of pollenfoud n "coes obtaied in 1953 bydilling into the lake beds on whihexico City is built. At levels tt eeestimed to be ot 0000 yes odeps 500 yes ode th theeiest k u eis tee odee od gis o co

pollen. Thee cod be no doubt tatthe pollen ws fom ild co d thuswo sets of the ncesty of co eeied. Fist fom of ild co hsbeen in exisence fo 80000 yes sotht con an indeed be descended fomtsef. Seond wild con had ouishedin the highlands of Mexico. As etedaheologial discoveies ill mkepain this geogphcl fc helped ton the potentil ngefom thesothesten U.S. to Peithin hico s pobby st domestited

Th est of the key discoveies involving the lose oopeation of haeologist nd botnist all belong tohe eam of pleobotny. I the summe of 1948 fo exple Hebet Dicka gdate stdent in anthopology whohad been woking with Mngelsdofexpoed dy okshelte in NeMexio alled Bt ve. Digging donthough six fee of cumulted depos

its he and his ollegues found numeous emains of nient on cuminting in some tiny onos t thelowest level. bon14 dting indictedthat these obs wee beteen 4000 nd50 yes old. A few months lte exploig the L Pe cve in the stte fTmulips f to the noth of exoCiy I ou siil cos ted to e bot 45 yes d.The odes cos t ot sites ce se

to tting the desiption ngelsdohd given of hypotheticl ancesto ofthe podpopon type. The cobs hoeve wee clely those of domestictedon.

These two nds povided the basisfo intensied ahaeologicl eots tond sites whee the s evidences ofon would be even ode. The logi wassimpe: A sie od enough shoud hvea level of ild on emains olde thnthe most nient domestited cobs. ontinued my exploations nea the LPe ve and exvated numbe ofote sites in notheasten Mexio. them I found moe smpes of anienton but they wee no olde han hosethat hd ledy been discoveed. Robet Liste nothe of Mngelsdofs ookes lso fond pimitive on in ve clled Swallow's Nes n the Mexicn stte of hihuahu nothes ofhee was woking bu his nds wee

no olde than mine.If nothing olde hn domestited

o of bou 3000 BC oud be foundto the noth of Mexico ity it seeedlogicl to ty to he soth. n 1958 ent o to look fo dy ves and eacon in Guateml and Honduas. The1958 digging poduced nothing usefuso in 1959 I moved othad intoChis Mexicos southenmost stte.Thee ee no cocobs to be fond

EXCAVATION of Coxcaln cave require he removal of one

meter squares of ave oor over an area meers long by sixmeters wie unil berok was reache a a depth of almot ve

meer. In this way oupaion level, aribuable to evn disintive utre phass ere isovere Inhabitants of the three

loest level lived by huntig a by coleting wildplan foo



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ULTURE

DATE PHASES IFAE1

VENTA1 SALADA

DPAO

BANCO

B.C

SANA

MARI

1AJAPN

PUN

BEJAS

CXCATLN

6 E EGO

8

AJEEA

9

I1

STONE ARTFACTS from various Tehuacn sites are arrayed in

wo major categories: hose shaped by chipping and king le/t

and hos shaped b grinding and pecking t Implements

ha have been chipped on one face onl are separted from hosha sho bifacial orkmanship; bot groups are reproduced a

hl heir nural size. The ground stone objecs are no drawn o a

2

FAKED STONE

UNFAE

common scale. The horizontal lines dene the nine culture phases

hus far distinguished n he vae. Vertica ines colo indicate

he exten o which he related artifac is known in cutures other

han h one n hch i is paced. At Tehuacn the evolution ofcization failed o ollow he classic pattern estabished by te

Neolithc Revoluton in the Od Word. For instance, the mortars,



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GROU STO

pestes and oter ground stone ipeents tat rst appear in te Riego uture pase

antedate the rst doestiation of orn b 1500 ears or ore Not unti te Abejas pase

nearl 2000 ears later (arked b sizabe obsidian ores and bades and b grinding ie

ents tat ose resee te odern ano and etate) do te eariest vilage sitesappear More tan 1000 ears later in te Ajapn pase earpugs for personal adornent

our Te grooved ite-ound stone near e top is a pounder for aking bark ot

but one cve ieded corn poen thtso dted on to about 3000 BC Thecues rovided b paeobotn now apered pin. Both to the north ofexico Cit nd in Mexico Cit itsefs indicated b te poen of domesticted corn in the upper eves of thedr cores the odest evidence of domesticated corn was no more ncienttn about 3000 BC We to the south

of Mexico Cit the odest dae was thesame. Te area that caed for furtherserch soud therefore e south ofMexico Cit but nort of Chiapas.

Two dditiona considerations enabed me to narrow the area of searcheven more. First, experience had shownthat dr ocations oered the bestcnce of nding preserved specimensof corn. Second, the genetic stdies ofMangesdorf and other investigators indicated that wid corn was origina ahighand grass, ver possib abe tosurvive the rigoros cimate of highnddesert areas Poring over the map ofsothern Mexico, I singed ot threearge highand desert ares one in thesothern part of the state o Oaxaca,one in Guerrero and one in southernPeba

xaca ieded nothing of interest,so I moved on to Peba to expore a dr highand vae known asTehuacn. M oca guides and Iscrambed in and out of 38 caves andna struck pa dirt in the 39th This

ws a sma rocksheter near the viageof Coxcatn in the southern part ofthe vae of Tehacn. On Februar21, 1960, we dug up six corncobs,three of which ooked more primitiveand oder than n I hd seen before.Ansis in the carbon14 abortor the Universit of Michigan conrmed m guess b dating these cobsas 5,600 ears oda good 500 earsoder tan an et fond in the NewWord

With this nd the time seemed ripe

or a argesce, sstematic search Ifwe ha ndeed arrived at a pace wherecorn had been domesticated an NewWord civiization had rst stirred, thecosing stages of the searc woud require the specia knowedge o mnexpert. Our primar need was to obtain the sponsorship of an instittionintereste an experience n sc research and we ere ortnat nogto enist exact th rg ponsor thRober S Peabo Founation or rchaeoog of Andover Mass Fnds for

the proect were suppied b the Nationa Science Fondation and b thagricutura branch of the Rockefeer



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, ILUTIN CRN a Tehuacn sas far left th a famena co of conof 5000 ae Nex left to right ae an ea omescate co of 4000 an ea

h ae of 3000 an an ea ae of moen con of 1000 Last (far righ)

s a ete moen co of te me o Chst ae son oufths o natua se

NA-TE AN

ATE WEAY TPAC CHAPATE

CTATE CMPE CMPE1 ,500---1 --r-_ENA AAA I

700- PA BANC

BC200rANTA AiA900AJAPN

1 ,500--+-r-"."+II

P /2 ,300=.+_'-

ABEJA

3,400-CCATN5,200E IEG

MIN RITS CRN chane n he elae aunance a Tehuacn eeen

he me of ina uliaion ung he Coxcaln culue phase an he aal of he

conqusaos Aundan a s, l con had eome iuall exnc he sa of he

Chsan ea, as had he eal culiaed u no hze aee s Theeafe hehs o he psaco complex poduce ineeeing l con h inouce

aees of con- o coneosne hs ee stea epace o sl

exan pes of con, NalTel an Chapaloe Mno aeties of lae con ae no shon.

oundation in Mxico which i paticull inttd in th oigin ofcon h poc vntall ngagnal 0 xpt n man pcalino onl archaolog an boan (ncluding xprt on man plant othrthan corn bu alo zoolog gogapgolog colog gnic thnologan oth dicplin

h oxcaln cav wh th ntniv nw hun ha bgu n o ob our rich dig Woking downwadw found tha h cav had 28 paaoccupation lvl th arli of wchma dat to abou 10000 BC hi makabl long qnc ha on majoinption h prio btwn 2300BC. and 900 BC. h im om 900B.C. to AD 100 owv rpntd b vn occupaion lvl ncombinaion with our nding n hPn cav which contain 2 ootha dat fom abo 7000 BC o 00BC w hav an almot continuoucod (th long nrrupton lthan 00 a) of nal 12000 of phito hi i b fa th longcod fo an Nw Wold aa

All togthr w undtook majo xcavation a 12 it n h vall ohacn [see botto illusttion onpage 30]. O th onl v cavoxcatln Pn San Maco coal and El Rigo Eatcontaind main of ancin con Bt th and thoth tatid it gav u a walth of

additional nfation abou th poplwho inhabitd h vall ov a pan of12000 a n o aon of diggingfom 1961 through 1964 w apda vat achaological hav hi includ nal a millon ndividal rman of human acivit mo han1000 animal bon (incluing tho oxinc antlop and ho) 80000individual wildplant main an om2000 pcimn o corn h atifacaang hmlv ino ignican qunc of on ool xil an po

t povid an almo coninuo pictr of h ri o civilizaion inth vall o hacn From h vall' golog from h hll o t lannail from h polln an othr rmain o plan and fom a vaitof oth rlic or goup of pialiha ac h chang in clma phical nvronmn an plan an animallif ha ook plac ring h 12000a h hav vn bn abl o tllfom h kn o plan rmain nvaio occpaion lvl) a wha a

on of h ar man o h oor nh cav w occpiOtanding among o man nd

wa a collcon o mincl corncob



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ha we enderl exaced rom helowe o ve occpaion level a heSan Marco cave. The were onl abou20 millimee long no bigge han heler ip o a cigaree [see top illustration on opposte page], bu unde amagniing len one could ee ha hewee indeed miniaure ear o cornwih ocke ha had once conainedernel encoed in pod. Thee cobproved o be ome 7,000 ea old.Mangeldor i convinced ha hi mube wild cornhe original paren romwhich modern corn i decended.

ulivaed corn, o coure, cannourvive wihou man inervenion; hedozen o eed on each co are enveloped b ough, hic huk ha peven hem rom caeing Mangeldor ha concuded ha con wildprogenio probab conied o a ingleeed pik on he alk, wih ew podcovered ovue arraed on h pike and

a poleneaing ae achd o hpike end [see bttom illustratn atright] The mo pimiive cob we uneahed in h valle o Tehuacn ullled hee pecicaion. ach had heump o ae a h end, ech hadorn kernel o he podpopcon peand each had een covered wih onla igh huk coniing o wo eaveThe characeriic woud hav lowed h pn o diper i eeda mauri; h pod would hen haveproeced h eed uni condiion

were appropriae or germinaion

The people o he valle o Tehuacnlived or houand o ear a col

ecor o wild vegeal nd animalood beore he made hei imideor griculuri. would hereore be oohard o ugge ha he inhabian o hi arid highland pocke oMexico were h r or he onl peoplein he Weern Hemiphere o bringwid corn nder culivaion On heconrar, he ew World' invenion o

agriulure i probabl prov o begeographicall agmened. Wha canbe aid or he pople o Tehuacn iha he ae he whoe evoluionom primiive ood collecor o civiized agriculuri ha been aced indeail. A e we have no uch compleeor eiher or he Old World or oroher par o he ew World Thio i a ollow.

Fro haz eginning om 2,000ear ago unil bou 7000 B.C hepeople o Tehuacn were e in number. The wandered he valle romeaon o eaon in earch o ckabbia bird, urle and oher mall animal a wel uch lan ood a be

ATQUTY OF COR in he e Word as concusive demonsraed hen grains of

poen ere found in driing cores aken from Mexico Cit akeotom sraa estimated o

e 80,000 ears od. Top o photograps magnication 435 diameters) compare heancien corn poen left) ih modern poen right). Loer phoographs magnication

4,500 diameters) revea simiar ancien left) and modern right) poen surface markingsThe anasis and photographs are he ork of so Barghoorn of Harvard Universit

TH W WOLD GRA are invoved in he histor of domesicaed corn Wid

corn reconstructon at left) as a podpop variet in ic he mae eorescence gre

ro te en o te co Teosinte center) an Trpsacum rght) are corn reatives ha

readi hridied it id and ctivated corn Modern corn came from such crosses



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m vailabl t dint tims o ty. Only oasionlly did ty mngto kill on o t now xtint spis ohoss nd ntlops whos bons mkt lowst v stt. Ts poplusd only w simpl implmntso akd ston: laspd pojtilpoints saps and ngving tools. Whv namd tis alist ultu piod

t Ajado ps see ilsto opges 32 d 33

Aound 600 BC. ts simpl pttnangd and a nw paswi hav nmd t E Rigo ultu omt av w ts st vidns ap-pm nto bing. Fom tn untilbout 5000 B.C. t popl sitd ombing pdominantly tpps and unts to bing pdominntly olltos oplant oods Most o t plants ty oltd w wild but ty ad domstitd squshs (stating with th s

s Ccrbit ixt nd avoadosnd ty also t wild vitis o bansmanth and hil pps. Among thakdston implmnts opps appa Entily nw kinds o ston toolsgind mots pstls nd poundso polshd stona ound n agnubs Duing t gowing sasonsom milis vidntly gatd in tm-poay sttlmnts but ths goupsbok up nto onamily bands duingth lan piods o t ya A numb o buials dting om this ultupas hint t t possibility o ptti

pists o with dotos wo ditdth monis invoving t dad. ThE Rgo utu howv had no on.

By about 5000 B.C. a nw pasih all t Coxtln ultu

d vovd. In this piod only 10 p-nt o t vallys oodstus am odomstation t tn om ollting unting o tapping but t list odomstitd plants is long. It inludson t wtbottl goud two sp-is o squs t amant blk andit zpots t tpy bn (Phseos ctifolis), t jk ban (vi

e1sifomis, pobbly t ommon bn(Phseos vgs and hili ppps.

Coxtln pojtil points tnd to bsmll tan thi pdssos; spsand opps owv main muht sm. T polishd ston mpmnts inlud ounns o t lssiNw Wold ollandston dvi oginding gin: t mno nd mttT as vidntly nough supusngy mong th popl to llow thlboious ollowing out o ston tjugs and bowls

It as in t ps olloing th Cox

atln tt th popl o Thunmad th undamnta ht B ut300 BC. t ood povidd by agutu os to about 30 pnt thtotal domstiatd animls (sttingith t dog mad ti appaanand t popl omd thi st xdsttlmntssmall pthous villags Bythis stg (whh l th Abasultu thy ivd at ubsistlv that an b gadd s oundation o th bginning o vilizaton.

In about 2300 B.C. this gav ay to thPn ultu makd by th ult-vation o mo hybidizd typs o onnd t manuatu potty

That th pa vlzato

th vlly spdd up gtly h dsndnts o t Pun popl dvl-opd a ultu lld Ajlp{ thatom bout 1500 B.C. on involvd mo omplx villag li nmntso potty and mo laboat mo-nialism inluding t dvlopmnt o guin ult phaps psntngmily gods. Tis utu d tu to

n vn mo sophistiatd on (whihw al Sant Ma tt sttd about50 BC Tking dvantag o t vl-lys stms t Snta Maa popls oTun bgn to gow thi ybidon in iigatd lds. Ou suvysindt sap is in popultion.Tmpl mounds buit nd tiatssow signs o numous ontats wtultus outsid t vlly Tu-n ultu in tis piod sms to vbn stongly nund by tat o tOlm popl who ivd to th south-

st along t oast o VauzBy about 200 B.C th utsid nun on huan ais shtd omtht o t Om o th ast oast tothat o Mnt lban to th south ndwst Th val ow had ag gation pojts and substatia hlltpmona nts suoundd b vil-lags n this Plo Blno phas som t population podd to ulltim spialization n vaious oupations inluding th dvopmnt salt industy Nw domstiatd oodpoduts appadth tu th to-

mato th pnut and th guava thnxt piodVnta Saad statingabout AD 700Mont Aban unsgav way to t nun o th Mixts. Tis piod saw t is o tu

XALA AV BUA t t t 00 ctt t f sct Acn n

a f cttn ats t t c sts s

n tn st n stcs t s n ct



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itie n the valle f an agriltratem that prvie me 85 peren the tal f ppl f trae anmmere a taning arm largealeirrigatin pret an a mplex religin Finall t befre the Spanihnqe the zte tk ver frmthe Mixte

Or arhaelgial t f the valle ehan arrie rwar n

labran ith rker n manther ipline ha been gratifnglprtve nl have e mene ne example f the rigin meiate rn bt al mparativete ther metiate planthave niate that there ere mltipleenter plan metiatin n hemeri t leat fr the mment wehave at ehan nt nl eviene fthe earlie village life n the NeWrl bt al the r an rt)

ptter n Mexi an a airl largeample f keletn f me f theearliet Inian et knwn

ven mre imprtant i the a thte at lat have ne New Wrl examplef he evelpment f a ltre frmavager t iviliatin Preliminaranali f the ehan material iniate that the traitinal hptheiabt the evltin f high ltre mahave t be reexamine an mieIn thern Mexi man f the hraterii element f the Ol WrlNelithi Revltin fail t appear enl in the rm f a ne ltremplex r a revltinize a f lie example tl f grn rtherthan hippe) tne rt r at ehan abt 00 B.C., an plant metiatin begin at leat b 5000 B.Che ther lai element the OlWrl Nelithi hwever are lw tappear Village are nt fn ntilarn 3000 B.C., nr ptter ntilarn 2300 B.C., an a en inreaein pplatin i elae ntil 500 BCReviewing ti rer I think mre in

term f Nelithi "evltin than"revltin

Or preliminar reeare at ehan gget rh el fr frtherexplratin ere i nee nt nl fretaile invetigatin f the meticatin an evelpment f ther Newrl plant bt al r attemptt btain imilar ata fr the Ol Wrhenperhap mt allenging f allthere i the nee r mparativetie f the imilaritie an irence between evlving ltre in the

Ol Wrl an the New t eterminete hw an why f the rie f ivilizatin itelf

PHTCTD G f ne te ne ee f te ttc cct

f Teucn e cften T ecen 2900 e ec nuence

7

orgins of new world civilization

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