Ancient Agriculture

Ancient North American Achievements in Agriculture

By E.P.Dixon

Ask most anyone and they will tell you that agriculture in North America spread northward from origins in Mesoamerica and that the first foods cultivated by North American Native people was maize, beans and squash from Mexico. This commonly held belief fails to recognize an enormous contribution made by Native North Americans to the history of mankind.

Not only is this assumption incorrect, but recent research proves that eastern North America can be unequivocally identified as one of four major independent centers of plant domestication in the world; the other three being the Near East, China and Mesoamerica. In fact, researchers have found in eastern North America the clearest record available of agricultural origins anywhere in the world. By 2000 B.C. in the eastern Woodlands, Native people had domesticated at least four indigenous seed plants. Three additional wild plants began to appear as cultivated wild-food crops as well. These seven plants were chenopod, marsh elder, squash, sunflower, erect knotweed, little barley and maygrass. All provided highly nutritious seeds which were prepared as boiled cereals, ground into flour or eaten directly.

Maize arrived from Mexico about A.D. 200 and in a form unlike the full ears we know today. It would not become a major food crop for some 600 years. As corn and beans gradually became major staples of the diet, cultivation of the older grains began to diminish. Eventually most returned to a wild state. There has long been a strong resistance to theories of independent plant domestication in North America for just this reason; there were no remaining common domesticated plants which could be linked genetically to known wild varieties.

Studies also show that the ancients were adept in managing their natural resources. Fire was used to eliminate weed seeds and enrich the soil of farmed lands. The Indians used fire and girdling to increase production of wild food plants and improve forage for animal management. For instance, to increase the production of edible nut and fruit trees, the Indians deliberately cleared the surrounding forest canopy. The first step in this process was to ‘girdle’ or strip off a ring of bark which would kill surrounding unwanted trees, then underlying vegetation was kept down through regular controlled burning.

These practices were passed down through the centuries right into historical times. When the Europeans arrived, they just assumed that the abundant forests were pristine and natural. Little did they understand that the woodlands had been under human management for thousands of years. In fact, the vast pine forests of the southeast are now thought to be the result of human-initiated fire regimes. It has taken years of conscientious scientific work to piece together bits of this giant puzzle. But now, at long last, the agricultural achievements of our ancient southeastern ancestors have been proven.

For further details on the research process we suggest: "A Quiet Revolution: Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America" by Ruth Selig and "Ancient Gardening in South Carolina" by Gail E. Wagner and Jamie Civitello.

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