ANTH 2050 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Ball Game, Nekhen, Indus River
Document Summary
Lecture outline: overview of food production in the new world, domestication, cultivation and wild food production, mesoamerica, south america. First domesticates: squash and gourd for containers: gourd remains from guila naquitz (oaxaca, mexico), ca. 8,000 bc: origins of gourd = africa. Three main crops (three sisters: squash, bean, maize, grow in same garden, found together wild. The domestication of maize (zea mays: wild ancestor = teosinte (zea mexicana) Transformed into maize through human selection: teosinte = long branches with tassels, maize = short branches with ears. First evidence from mesoamerica: best evidence from dry caves and open sites (not tropical lowlands, early sites : guila naquitz, tehuacan, ample evidence of widespread use by 2,500 bc. Tuhuacan valley: mexico, maize probably arrived already domesticated, coxcatlan cave. 10,000 bc = 50% of food from hunting. 4,500 bc = 90% of food from grasses. Found both in old world and new world: complex distribution, natural habitat = littoral.
