[Aztlan] Follow up on early agriculture in Illinois

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

In a follow up story to the complex agricultural complex that sprang  
up along the Wabash River in Illinois 3,800 years ago, researchers,  
posting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  
pointed out that the area is rich in wild food sources. So the farmers  
in this area, known as the Riverton People, may have been farming not  
out of necessity but as food innovators.

Five varieties of seed bearing plants including sunflowers, gourds,  
marsh elder, chenopods (which includes spinach and beets) and possibly  
squash were grown there. The find changes the paradigm that humans  
domesticated plants in response to external stress. The Riverton folks  
already had a rich diet of nuts, deer, fish and shellfish. The crops  
would have also served as a stable source of food as insurance against  
shortages of wild food sources.

National Geographic has the story here;
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090408-first-farm.html

A tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/dhhd4p

Mike Ruggeri

Mike Ruggeri's The Ancient Americas Breaking News
http://web.mac.com/michaelruggeri