Ancient maize from Chacoan great houses: Where was it grown?

doi:10.1073/pnas.2135068100

Ancient maize from Chacoan great houses: Where was it grown?

^*U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, CO 80303; ^‡University Museum and ^¶Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; ^§Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department, Chaco Protection Sites Program, P.O. Box 2469, Window Rock, AZ 86515; and ^∥U.S. Geological Survey, MS 963, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225

Edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA (received for review August 8, 2003)

Abstract

In this article, we compare chemical (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and elemental) analyses of archaeological maize from dated contexts within Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, to potential agricultural sites on the periphery of the San Juan Basin. The oldest maize analyzed from Pueblo Bonito probably was grown in an area located 80 km to the west at the base of the Chuska Mountains. The youngest maize came from the San Juan or Animas river floodplains 90 km to the north. This article demonstrates that maize, a dietary staple of southwestern Native Americans, was transported over considerable distances in pre-Columbian times, a finding fundamental to understanding the organization of pre-Columbian southwestern societies. In addition, this article provides support for the hypothesis that major construction events in Chaco Canyon were made possible because maize was brought in to support extra-local labor forces.

Footnotes

↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed at: U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street, Boulder, CO 80303. E-mail: lbenson{at}usgs.gov.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
↵ ** Brown, G. M., Windes, T. C. & McKenna, P. J., 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, March 20–24, 2002, Denver, CO (abstr.).
↵ †† Friedman, R. A., Stein, J. R. & Blackhorse, T., Jr., 2nd Quarterly Progress Meeting of The Southwest Native Peoples/Native Homelands Initiative, Sept. 3, 1999, Tucson, AZ (abstr.).