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The Archaeological Record of Chili Peppers (Capsicum spp.) and the Sequence of Plant Domestication in Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Barbara Pickersgill
Barbara Pickersgill*
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Reading, England
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Abstract

Study of archaeological material of chili peppers (Capsicum spp.) from the sites of Huaca Prieta and Punta Grande on the coast of Peru has shown that the first species to be cultivated was C. baccatum, which was probably domesticated in Bolivia. This pepper reached the Peruvian coast during the same period as four other crop plants of probably southern Peruvian or Bolivian origin, which suggests that southern contacts were important during the late Preceramic stage. During the Initial period, maize (probably of Mexican origin) and peanuts (possibly domesticated in Bolivia) spread along the coast. Another pepper, Capsicum chinense, which is thought to have been domesticated in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin, apparently also reached the coast at about the same time as pottery. Manioc likewise arrived on the coast during this period, and there may have been an introduction of new varieties of maize from Mexico. These crops suggest a mixture of tropical forest and Middle American contacts during the Initial period and the Early horizon.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 1969 , pp. 54 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1969

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