Ancient squash seeds found in Peru

[Judi Lynn]

Published: June 29, 2007 at 2:37 PM

Ancient squash seeds found in Peru

LIMA, June 29 (UPI) -- An archeologist from Vanderbilt University says domesticated squash seeds found in the Andes of northern Peru are almost 10,000 years old.

Archeologist Tom D. Dillehay said the seeds are twice the age of previously discovered cultivated crops in the region, The New York Times said Friday.

The findings were published Friday in the journal Science.

Anthropologists says the seeds show that farming developed in parts of the Americas as early as in the Middle East.
(snip/...)

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/06/29/ancient_squash_seeds_found_in_peru/8266/

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Thanks for cross-posting this!

I wonder if there are any ag freaks here--doesn't this mean agriculture in the New World is significantly older than previously believed? I was taught that it developed later than in China and the ME, but I think this puts it squarely at the same time.

[L. Coyote]

2. Archaeologist Tom Dillehay is the excavator of Monte Verde

Check out this article for some paleoamerican reading:

THE PALEOAMERICANS:
Issues and Evidence Relating to the Peopling of the New World
http://jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleoamericans.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. More on the Peruvian seeds: Earliest-known Evidence of Peanut, Cotton and Squash Farming Found

Earliest-known Evidence of Peanut, Cotton and Squash Farming Found

By: Vanderbilt University
Published: Jun 30, 2007 at 07:04

A cotton ball discovered in Northern Peru dating from 5500 B.P. Photo: Tom D. Dillehay
Anthropologists working on the slopes of the Andes in northern Peru have discovered the earliest-known evidence of peanut, cotton and squash farming dating back 5,000 to 9,000 years. Their findings provide long-sought-after evidence that some of the early development of agriculture in the New World took place at farming settlements in the Andes.

The discovery was published in the June 29 issue of Science.

The research team made their discovery in the Nanchoc Valley, which is approximately 500 meters above sea level on the lower western slopes of the Andes in northern Peru.

"We believe the development of agriculture by the Nanchoc people served as a catalyst for cultural and social changes that eventually led to intensified agriculture, institutionalized political power and new towns in the Andean highlands and along the coast 4,000 to 5,500 years ago," Tom D. Dillehay, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University and lead author on the publication, said. "Our new findings indicate that agriculture played a broader role in these sweeping developments than was previously understood."
(snip/...)

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_60215.shtml