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Eastern Agricultural Complex

The Eastern Agricultural Complex was one of about 10 independent centers of
plant domestication in the pre-historic world. By about 1,800 BCE the Native
Americans of North America were cultivating for food several species of plants, thus
transitioning from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculture. After 200 BCE when
maize from Mexico was introduced to what is now the eastern United States, the
Native Americans of the present-day United States and Canada slowly changed from
growing indigenous plants to a maize-based agricultural economy. The cultivation of
indigenous plants declined and was eventually abandoned, the formerly domesticated
plants reverting to their wild forms.[1]

The initial four plants known to have been domesticated were goosefoot
(Chenopodium berlandieri), sunflower (Helianthus annuus var. macrocarpus),
marshelder (Iva annua var. macrocarpa), and squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera).
The sunflower was one of the
Several other species of plants were later domesticated.[2]
plants that made up the
Eastern Agricultural
Complex.

Contents
Term
Cultivars
Development
Domestication
Introduction of maize
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Term
The term Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC) was popularized by anthropologist Ralph Linton in the 1940s. Linton
suggested that the Eastern Woodland tribes integrated maize cultivation from Mexico into their own pre-existing
agricultural practices.[3] Ethnobotanists Volney H. Jones and Melvin R. Gilmore built upon Ralph Linton's understanding
of Eastern Woodland agriculture with their work in cave and bluff dwellings in Kentucky and the Ozark Mountains in
Arkansas. George Quimby also popularized the term "Eastern complex" in the 1940s. Authors Guy Gibbons and Kenneth
Ames suggest that "indigenous seed crops" is a more appropriate term than "complex".[3]

Cultivars

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Squash (Cucurbita pepo var. ozarkana) is considered to be one of the first

domesticated plants in the Eastern Woodlands, having been found in the
region about 7,000 years ago, though possibly not domesticated in the
region until about 3,000 years ago.[3][5][6] The squash that was originally
part of the complex was raised for edible seeds and to produce small
containers (gourds), not for the thick flesh that is associated with modern
varieties of squash.[7][8][9] Cucurbita argyrosperma has been found in the
region dated to circa 1300-1500 BCE.[10] C. pepo cultivars crookneck,
acorn, and scallop squash appeared later.[11]

Other plants of the EAC include little barley (Hordeum pusillum),

goosefoot or lambsquarters (Chenopodium berlandieri), erect knotweed
(Polygonum erectum), maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana), sumpweed or
marsh elder (Iva annua), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus).[12] A map of the area in which the Eastern
Agricultural Complex was first
The plants are often divided into "oily" or "starchy" categories. Sunflower established.[4]
and sumpweed have edible seeds rich in oil. Erect knotweed and
goosefoot, a leafy vegetable, are starches, as are maygrass and little
barley,[13] both of which are grasses that yield grains that may be ground to make flour. (Note that erect knotweed is a
distinct species from the Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) that is considered an invasive species in the
eastern United States today.)

Development
The archaeological record suggests that humans were collecting these plants from the
wild by 6000 BC. In the 1970s, archaeologists noticed differences between seeds
found in the remains of prehistoric Native American hearths and houses and those
growing in the wild.[14] In a domestic setting, the seeds of some plants were much
larger than in the wild, and the seeds were easier to extract from the shells or husks.
This was evidence that Indigenous gardeners were selectively breeding the plants to
make them more productive and accessible.[15]

Most experts had previously believed that agriculture in the U.S. was imported from
Mexico, along with the trinity of subtropical crops: maize (corn), beans, and squash.
What is now accepted is that the eastern United States was one of about ten regions in
the world to become an "independent center of agricultural origin."[16][15]

The region of this early agriculture is in the middle Mississippi valley, from Memphis

Iva annua, sumpweed, north to St. Louis and extending about 300 miles east and west of the river, mostly in
marshelder Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The oldest archaeological site known in
the United States in which Native Americans were growing, rather than gathering,
food is Phillips Spring in Missouri.[17] At Phillips Spring, dating from 3,000 BCE,
archaeologists found abundant walnuts, hickory nuts, acorns, grapes, elderberries, ragweed, bottle gourd, and the seeds of
Cucurbita pepo, a gourd with edible seeds that is the ancestor of pumpkins and most squashes. The seeds found at Phillips
Spring were larger than those of wild C. pepo. The agency for this change was surely human manipulation. Humans were
selecting, planting, and tending seeds from plants that produced larger and tastier seeds. Ultimately, they would
manipulate C. pepo to produce edible flesh.[18]

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By 1800 BC, Native Americans were cultivating several different plants. The Riverton Site in the Wabash River valley of
Illinois, near the present day village of Palestine, is one of the best known early sites of cultivation. Ten house sites have
been discovered at Riverton, indicating a population of 50 to 100 people in the community. Among the hearths and
storage pits associated with the houses, archaeologists found a large number of plant remains, including a large number of
seeds of chenopods (goosefoot or lamb's quarters) which are likely cultivated plants. Some of the chenopod (Chenopodium
berlandieri) seeds had husks only one third as thick as wild seeds. Riverton farmers had bred them selectively to produce
a seed easier to access than wild varieties of the same plant.[1]

The wild food guru of the 1960s, Euell Gibbons, gathered and ate chenopods. "In rich soil," he said, "lamb's quarters will
grow four or five feet high if not disturbed, becoming much branched. It bears a heavy crop of tiny seeds in panicles at the
end of every branch. In early winter, when the panicles are dry, it is quite easy to gather these seeds in considerable
quantity. Just hold a pail under the branches and strip them off. Rub the husks between the hands to separate the seed
and chaff, then winnow out the trash. I have collected several quarts of seed in an hour, using this method. The seeds are
quite fine, being smaller than mustard seeds, and a dull blackish-brown color....I find it pretty good food for humans."[19]

Another plant species at Riverton that can confidently be identified as domesticated was sunflower (Helianthus annuus).
This is based on the larger size of the seed in the domesticated than in the wild varieties. Remains of plants that were used,
but may or may not have been domesticated at Riverton, include bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), squash (C. pepo),
wild barley (Hordeum pusillum) and marsh elder (Iva annua).[20]

Domestication
Some of the species cultivated by Native Americans for food are today considered
undesirable weeds. Another name for marshelder is sumpweed; chenopods are
derisively called pigweed, although one South American species with a more
attractive name, quinoa, is a health food store favorite.[21] Many plants considered
weeds are the colonizers of disturbed soil, the first fast-growing weeds to spring up
when a natural or man-made event, such as a fire, leaves a bare patch of soil.[22]

The process of domestication of wild plants cannot be described with any precision.
However, Bruce D. Smith and other scholars have pointed out that three of the
domesticates (chenopods, I. annua, and C. pepo) were plants that thrived in
disturbed soils in river valleys. In the aftermath of a flood, in which most of the old
vegetation is killed by the high waters and bare patches of new, often very fertile, soil
were created, these pioneer plants sprang up like magic, often growing in almost pure
Chenopodium berlandieri or
stands, but usually disappearing after a single season, as other vegetation pushed
lambsquarters
them out until the next flood.[23]

Native Americans learned early that the seeds of these three species were edible and
easily harvested in quantity because they grew in dense stands. C. pepo was important also because the gourd could be
made into a lightweight container that was useful to a seminomadic band. Chenopods have edible leaves, related to
spinach and chard, that may have also been gathered and eaten by Native Americans. Chenopod seeds are starchy; marsh
elder has a highly nutritious oily seed similar to sunflower seeds.[23]

In gathering the seeds some were undoubtedly dropped in the sunny environment and disturbed soil of a settlement, and
those seeds sprouted and thrived. Over time the seeds were sown and the ground was cleared of any competitive
vegetation. The seeds which germinated quickest (i.e. thinner seed coats) and the plants which grew fastest were the most
likely to be tended, harvested, and replanted. Through a process of unconscious selection and, later, conscious selection,

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the domesticated weeds became more productive. The seeds of some species
became substantially larger and/or their seed coats were less thick compared to
the wild plants. For example, the seed coats of domesticated chenopodium is less
than 20 microns thick; the wild chenopodium of the same species is 40 to 60
microns thick.[24] Conversely, when Native Americans quit growing these plants,
as they did later, their seeds reverted within a few years to the thickness they had
been in the wild.[25]

By about 500 BC, seeds produced by six domesticated plants were an important
part of the diet of Native Americans in the middle Mississippi River valley of the
United States.[26]

Cucurbita pepo was bred to Introduction of maize

produce both edible squash and
gourds. The indigenous crops were replaced slowly by other more productive crops
developed in Mexico: maize, beans and additional varieties of squash. Maize, or
corn, was a relative latecomer to the United States. The oldest known evidence of
maize in Mexico dates from 6,700 BCE.[27] The oldest evidence of maize cultivated in the United States is about 2,100 BCE
at several locations in Arizona and New Mexico.[28]

Maize was first grown in the eastern United States around 200 BCE, and highly productive adapted strains became widely
used around 900 CE.[29] The spread was so slow because the seeds and knowledge of techniques for tending them had to
cross inhospitable deserts and mountains, and more productive varieties of maize had to be developed to compete with
indigenous crops and to suit the cooler climates and shorter growing seasons of the northern regions of the continent.
Tropical maize does not flower under the long day conditions of summer north of Mexico, requiring genetic adaptation.[30]
It seems that maize was adopted first as a supplement to existing agricultural plants, but gradually came to dominate as its
yields increased. Ultimately, the EAC was thoroughly replaced by maize-based agriculture.[13] Most EAC plants are no
longer cultivated, and some of them (such as little barley) are regarded as pests by modern farmers.

See also
Three Sisters (agriculture)
Native American cuisine

Notes
1. Smith, Bruce D.; Yarnell, Richard A. (2009). "Initial formation of an indigenous crop complex in eastern North
America" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666091). Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106 (16): 6561–6566.
doi:10.1073/pnas.0901846106 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901846106). JSTOR 40482136 (https://www.jstor.org/st
able/40482136). PMC 2666091 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666091)  .
2. Smith and Yarnell, p. 6561
3. Gibbon, Guy E.; Ames, Kenneth M. (1998). Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia. New York:
Routledge. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-815-30725-9.
4. Smith, Bruce D. (1995). The Emergence of Agriculture. New York: Scientific American Library. p. 184. ISBN 978-
0716750550.

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5. Nee, Michael (1990). "The Domestication of Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae)". Economic Botany. New York: New York
Botanical Gardens Press. 44 (3, Supplement: New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of New World
Domesticated Plants): 56–68. JSTOR 4255271 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4255271).
6. "Free-living Cucurbita pepo in the United States Viral Resistance, Gene Flow, and Risk Assessment" (http://botany.cs
dl.tamu.edu/FLORA/flcp/flcp3.htm). Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
7. Roush, Wade (9 May 1997). "Archaeobiology: Squash Seeds Yield New View of Early American Farming" (http://ww
w.sciencemag.org/content/276/5314/894.summary). Science. American Association For the Advancement of Science.
276 (5314): 894–895. doi:10.1126/science.276.5314.894 (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.276.5314.894).
8. Smith, Bruce D. (22 December 1989). "Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America" (http://www.sciencemag.org/c
ontent/246/4937/1566.abstract). Science. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
246 (4937): 1566–71. doi:10.1126/science.246.4937.1566 (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.246.4937.1566).
PMID 17834420 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17834420).
9. Smith, Bruce D. (9 May 1997). "The Initial Domestication of Cucurbita pepo in the Americas 10,000 Years Ago" (http://
www.sciencemag.org/content/276/5314/932.full). Science. Washington, DC: American Association for the
Advancement of Science. 276 (5314): 932–934. doi:10.1126/science.276.5314.932 (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.2
76.5314.932).
10. Fritz, Gayle J. (1994). "Precolumbian Cucurbita argyrosperma ssp. argyrosperma (Cucurbitaceae) in the Eastern
Woodlands of North America". Economic Botany. New York Botanical Garden Press. 48 (3): 280–292.
doi:10.1007/bf02862329 (https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02862329). JSTOR 4255642 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/425564
2).
11. Pickersgill, Barbara (2007). "Domestication of Plants in the Americas: Insights from Mendelian and Molecular
Genetics" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759216). Annals of Botany. Oxford: Oxford Journals. 100
(5): 925–940. doi:10.1093/aob/mcm193 (https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm193). PMC 2759216 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.n
ih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759216)  . PMID 17766847 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17766847).
12. Yarnell, Richard A. (April 1963). "Comments on Struever's Discussion of an Early "Eastern Agricultural Complex" ".
American Antiquity. Washington, DC: Society for American Archaeology. 28 (4): 547–548. doi:10.2307/278565 (http
s://doi.org/10.2307/278565). JSTOR 278565 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/278565).
13. Gibbon and Ames, p. 239
14. Schoenwetter, James (April 1974). "Pollen Records of Guila Naquitz Cave". American Antiquity. Society for American
Archaeology. 39 (2): 292–303. doi:10.2307/279589 (https://doi.org/10.2307/279589). JSTOR 279589 (https://www.jsto
r.org/stable/279589).
15. Smith, Bruce D. (15 August 2006). "Eastern North America as an Independent Center of Plant Domestication" (http://
www.pnas.org/content/103/33/12223.abstract). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103 (33): 12223–12228.
doi:10.1073/pnas.0604335103 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0604335103). PMC 1567861 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC1567861)  . PMID 16894156 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16894156).
16. Smith, Bruce D.; Yarnell, Richard A. (2009). "Initial Formation of an Indigenous Crop Complex in Eastern North
America at 3800 B.P.". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. National Academy of Sciences. 11 (16):
6561–6566. doi:10.2307/40482136 (https://doi.org/10.2307/40482136). JSTOR 40482136 (https://www.jstor.org/stabl
e/40482136).
17. King, Frances B. (1980). "Plant Remains From Phillips Spring, A Multicomponent Site in the Western Ozark Highland
of Missouri". Plains Anthropologist. Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 25 (89): 217–227.
doi:10.1080/2052546.1980.11908967 (https://doi.org/10.1080/2052546.1980.11908967). JSTOR 25667636 (https://w
ww.jstor.org/stable/25667636).
18. Smith and Yarnell, p. 6562
19. Gibbons, Euell (1968). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. New York: David McKay Company. pp. 172–173.
ASIN B000FFGT1E (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FFGT1E).
20. Smith and Yarnell, pp. 6562–6564
21. "Healthy food trends -- quinoa" (https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000731.htm). U.S. National Library of
Medicine. Retrieved 29 January 2017.

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22. Branhagen, Alan (2016). Native Plants of the Midwest. Portland, OR: Timber Press. p. 401. ISBN 978-1604695939.
23. Smith, Bruce D. (October 2011). "The Cultural Context of Plant Domestication in Eastern North America". Current
Anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 52 (S4): S471–S484. doi:10.1086/659645 (https://doi.org/10.108
6/659645). JSTOR 659645 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/659645).
24. Smith (1995), p. 188
25. Smith, Bruce D. (1992). Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America. Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 49–60. ISBN 978-1560981626.
26. Asch, David L.; Hart, John P. (2004). "Crop Domestication in Eastern North America". Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop
Science. New York: Marcel Dekker. p. 314. ISBN 978-0824709440.
27. Ranere, Anthony J.; et al. (2009). "The Cultural and Chronological Context of Early Holocene Maize and Squash
Domestication in the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664064).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. 106 (13): 5014–
5018. doi:10.1073/pnas.0812590106 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812590106). JSTOR 40455140 (https://www.jsto
r.org/stable/40455140). PMC 2664064 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664064)  .
28. Roney, John (2009). "The Beginnings of Maize Agriculture". Archaeology Southwest. Tucson, AZ: Archaeology
Southwest. 23 (2): 5.
29. Smith, Bruce D. (December 1989). "Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America". Science. 246 (4937): 1566–
1571. doi:10.1126/science.246.4937.1566 (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.246.4937.1566). PMID 17834420 (https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17834420).
30. Coles, Nathan D.; et al. (2010). "Genetic Control of Photoperiod Sensitivity in Maize Revealed by Joint Multiple
Population Analysis" (http://www.genetics.org/content/184/3/799). Genetics. Bethesda, MD: Genetics Society of
America. 184 (3): 799–812. doi:10.1534/genetics.109.110304 (https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.109.110304).
PMC 2845347 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2845347)  . PMID 20008571 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/pubmed/20008571).

References
Gibbon, Guy E. and Kenneth M. Ames (1998). Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=_0u2y_SVnmoC). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-8153-0725-9.

Further reading
Mann, Charles C. (2005). 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Random House.
ISBN 1-4000-4006-X.
Smith, Bruce D. (15 August 2006). "Eastern North America as an Independent Center of Plant Domestication" (http://
www.pnas.org/content/103/33/12223.abstract). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 103 (33): 12223–12228.
doi:10.1073/pnas.0604335103 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0604335103). PMC 1567861 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC1567861)  . PMID 16894156 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16894156).
Smith, Bruce D. (2006). Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America. University Alabama
Press. ISBN 0-8173-5348-8.

External links
Ancient Gardening in South Carolina (https://web.archive.org/web/20100610084346/http://www.cas.sc.edu/ANTH/gar
dening/AncientGardening.html) (also has photos of plants mentioned)

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