Illuminating women's work and the advent of plant cultivation in the highland Titicaca Basin of South America: New evidence from grinding tool and starch grain analyses

Across the globe, the advent of agriculture had, and continues to have, far-reaching effects with respect to demographic, environmental, and sociopolitical processes, such that researchers from many disciplines are engaged in pursuit of understanding its underlying causes and specific trajectories. Recent molecular and other phytogeographical data point to the high, south-central Andes of South America as one ancient hearth of domestication for several important contemporary crops, including potato and quinoa. At the same time, mounting archaeological data suggest that the transition from food procurement to food production transpired in this region sometime between the Late Archaic to Early Formative Period, circa 5000 years ago.;Based on the results of analysis of grinding tools and starch grains derived from Jiskairumoko, a site situated in the Ilave Valley of the western Titicaca Basin of present-day southern highland Peru, this dissertation finds evidence to support resource intensification reflecting the onset of low-level food production by the Late Archaic Period. Analysis of 98 grinding tools indicates that women used this technology intensively throughout occupation of the site, from the Late Archaic to the Early Formative Period, a pattern taken to reflect the important role of plant resources in the diet.;One hundred and forty-one starch grains were recovered from the surfaces of 14 Jiskairumoko grinding tools from all three time periods. Based on comparison with starches from modern wild and cultivated potato, forty-one of the archaeological starches were identified as cultivated potato. Thirty-two Solanum starches derive from Late Archaic Period tools, pointing to the onset of plant cultivation by this time. Several types of grass starches and, perhaps, chili pepper are identified as well.;The starch and grinding tool data reflect two modes of resource intensification: the advent of plant cultivation and increased investment in plant resource processing. The association of grinding tools with Solanum starches is taken to reflect the possible role of grinding in detoxifying wild, bitter potatoes and permitting their domestication. The presence of cultivated Solanum in Late Archaic Period contexts bolsters proposals relating resource intensification and the advent of food production with the greater regional humidity of this time period.