Starch grains on human teeth reveal early broad crop diet in northern Peru
Starch grains on human teeth reveal early broad crop diet in northern Peru
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0808752105
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发表时间：
2008-12-16
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Dillehay, Tom D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Piperno, Dolores R.;Dillehay, Tom D.
先前的研究表明，秘鲁北部的南乔克山谷是全新世早期和中期人类定居的重要场所，在公元前 9200 年至 5500 年至 14 年之间，山谷居民种植了主要作物，如南瓜 (Cucurbita moschata)、花生 (Arachis sp.) 和棉花 (Gossypium barbadense)。我们在这里报告了对这些地点保存在人类牙石中的淀粉粒的检查，为早期食用栽培的南瓜和花生以及以前未发现的其他两种主要食用植物提供了直接证据。来自菜豆和 Inga feuillei 种子、Cucurbita moschata 果实的果肉和花生果的淀粉通常存在于许多牙齿上，其历史可以追溯到公元前 8210 年至 6970 年 C-14 年之间。早期的植物饮食似乎随着时间的推移而多样化和稳定，并且富含后来安第斯农业典型的栽培食品。我们的数据为菜豆和 I. feuillei（一种重要的木本作物）提供了早期考古证据，并表明，距今 8000 年前的 14 年，Nanchoc 地区已经存在有效的粮食生产系统，提供了重要的膳食投入。对牙齿遗迹的淀粉粒研究记录了考古记录中通常未保存的植物及其可食用部分，并且可以作为古代人类饮食和农业的直接指标发挥主要作用。
Previous research indicates that the Nanchoc Valley in northern Peru was an important locus of early and middle Holocene human settlement, and that between 9200 and 5500 C-14 yr B. P. the valley inhabitants adopted major crop plants such as squash (Cucurbita moschata), peanuts (Arachis sp.), and cotton (Gossypium barbadense). We report here an examination of starch grains preserved in the calculus of human teeth from these sites that provides direct evidence for the early consumption of cultivated squash and peanuts along with two other major food plants not previously detected. Starch from the seeds of Phaseolus and Inga feuillei, the flesh of Cucurbita moschata fruits, and the nuts of Arachis was routinely present on numerous teeth that date to between 8210 and 6970 C-14 yr B. P. Early plant diets appear to have been diverse and stable through time and were rich in cultivated foods typical of later Andean agriculture. Our data provide early archaeological evidence for Phaseolus beans and I. feuillei, an important tree crop, and indicate that effective food production systems that contributed significant dietary inputs were present in the Nanchoc region by 8000 C-14 yr B. P. Starch grain studies of dental remains document plants and edible parts of them not normally preserved in archaeological records and can assume primary roles as direct indicators of ancient human diets and agriculture.