[Aztlan] sunflower controversy

[Diehl, Richard]

Hola Listeros,
 
The pre-Columbian plant world certainly is getting complicated! The National Geographic news article cited by Michael is an excellent summary of the various possibilities and current sate of research. I especially appreciate the suggestion that sunflowers may have had different uses at different times in the past. I suspect the same was true of other nutritious seed plants that could not compete (for whatever reason) with maize as a major staple. Amaranth (huahtli) comes to mind and there may be others. Someday we will understand when and why ancient American farmers made the decisions that led to the Contact Period diet that we perhaps mistakenly consider the immutable diet of the pre-Columbian past. In the meantime, we will see many other controversies of this sort.
 
Dick