title: Starch fossils and the domestication and dispersal of chili peppers (Capsicum spp. L.) in the Americas.
abstract: Chili peppers (Capsicum spp.) are widely cultivated food plants that arose in the Americas and are now incorporated into cuisines worldwide. Here, we report a genus-specific starch morphotype that provides a means to identify chili peppers from archaeological contexts and trace both their domestication and dispersal. These starch microfossils have been found at seven sites dating from 6000 years before present to European contact and ranging from the Bahamas to southern Peru. The starch grain assemblages demonstrate that maize and chilies occurred together as an ancient and widespread Neotropical plant food complex that predates pottery in some regions.
authors.affiliation: Archaeobiology Program, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dickau
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zarrillo
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Holst
authors.forename: Deborah M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Pearsall
authors.forename: Dolores R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Piperno
authors.forename: Mary Jane
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rademaker
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ranere
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Raymond
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Sandweiss
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scaramelli
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tarble
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Zeidler
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000266:history; D001106:Archaeology; D002212:Capsicum / Q000145:classification / Q000266:history; D005580:Fossils; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D013020:South America; D017365:Spices / Q000266:history; D013213:Starch
chemical_list: D013213:Starch