Starch fossils and the domestication and dispersal of chili peppers (Capsicum spp. L.) in the Americas.
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.
Perry
Linda
L
Archaeobiology Program, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
Dickau
Ruth
R
Zarrillo
Sonia
S
Holst
Irene
I
Pearsall
Deborah M
DM
Piperno
Dolores R
DR
Berman
Mary Jane
MJ
Cooke
Richard G
RG
Rademaker
Kurt
K
Ranere
Anthony J
AJ
Raymond
J Scott
JS
Sandweiss
Daniel H
DH
Scaramelli
Franz
F
Tarble
Kay
K
Zeidler
James A
JA
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
D013213:Starch