Article Title：Phytoliths in Cucurbita and other neotropical curcurbitaceae and their occurrence in early archaeological sties fromt he Lowland American tropics
Abstract：
Cucurbita spp. (squashes and gourds), together with bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), were among the earliest plants manipulated and domesticated in the Americas. Although at least one squash species, Cucurbita moschata, was domesticated in the lowland Neotropics, little is known about its history because preservation of plant remains in sites from the tropical forest is poor. Phytolith analysis has the potential to help in our understanding of early cultural uses of Cucurbita and other important Cucurbitaceae in the American tropical forest. Phytoliths from the fruits of three modern domesticated Cucurbita species were compared with seven wild species of Cucurbita and 41 species of cucurbits from 22 other genera in the Cucurbitaceae. Cucurbita and Lagenaria phytoliths are distinctive and they have been recovered from archaeological deposits in the lowland Neotropics dating to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. Phytolith evidence indicates that a domesticated Cucurbita was present on the northern South American landscape by at least 7000 BP, and quite possibly by 9000 BP.
Keywords: squashes and gourds; phytoliths; domestication; lowland neotropics
DOI: 10.1006/jasc.1999.0443
Source：JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
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