[Aztlan] sweet potato

[Katherine Reece]

According to the article:
 "Montenegro says linguistic similarities between the Quechua word for the tuber, cumal, and the Polynesian one, kumala, suggest that humans must have been along for the ride."

Back in 1972 Patricia O'Brien pointed out that this is not correct, the Quechua word is NOT cumal but is rather apichu.  O'Brien makes a convincing argument that the word was introduced into Peru by the Spanish.  Another paper (that I can't seem to lay my hands on right now) showed that the dispersal of the sweet potato was from Mexico.

Ref: 
The Sweet Potato:  Its Orgins and Dispersal by Patricia J. O'Brien in American Anthropologist, Vol 74, No. 3 June 1972 pp 342-365


Kat Reece

Owner / Head Moderator
In the Hall of Ma'at
Contributing author to the book "Archaeological Fantasies: 
How pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past and misleads the public" 
http://www.hallofmaat.com/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&sid=97
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: martha noyes 
  To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org 
  Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 4:50 PM
  Subject: [Aztlan] sweet potato


  I hope it's OK to point this article out:

  In today's Nature News this article -

  Drifters could explain sweet-potato travel 
  An unsteered ship may have delivered crop to Polynesia. 
  Brendan Borrell 
  http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070514/full/070514-20.html

  which references this study -

  Montenegro Á., Avis C. &Weaver A. J. Archaeol. Sci., 
  Preprint at http://climate.uvic.ca/people/alvaro/SPotato_V2.pdf (2007)
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