Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T16:02:37.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Culture and Agriculture: A Comment on Sissel Schroeder, Maize Productivity in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William W. Baden  and
Christopher S. Beekman
William W. Baden
Affiliation:
Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805
Christopher S. Beekman
Affiliation:
Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using selective maize yield data from ethnohistoric and government sources dating between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, Schroeder (1999) argues that Mississippian average yield potential fell within a 9-10 bu/acre range. We evaluate her argument in terms of well-established climatic, environmental, varietal, and behavioral constraints on maize agriculture and conclude that reconstructing prehistoric agricultural potential requires a more precise methodology that incorporates these factors.

Résumé

Résumé

Usando datos selectivos para el rendimiento del maíz sacados defuentes etnohistóricas y gubernamentales de mediados del siglo XIX a mediados del siglo XX, Schroeder (1999) sostiene que el potencial para el rendimiento misisipiano medio se encontraba entre 9 y 10 bu/acre [entre 564.4 y 627.11 kg pоr hectárea]. Evaluámes sus argumentes teniendo en cuenta condicionantes ambienlales, climdticos, de conducta y de variedades bien establecidos con respeto al cultivo del maíz y concluimos que reconstruir el potencial agricola prehistórico exige una metodologia más precisa que incorpore estos factores.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 505 - 515
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adair, J. 1930 [1775] Adair's History of the American Indians, edited by S.C. Williams. Watauga Press, Johnson City.Google Scholar
Baden, W. W. 1987 A Dynamic Model of Stability and Change in Mississippian Agricultural Systems. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Baden, W. W. 1995 The Impact of Fluctuating Agricultural Potential on Coosa's Sociopolitical and Settlement Systems. Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Bendremer, J. C, Kellogg, E. A., and Baroody Largy, T. 1991 A Grass-Lined Maize Storage Pit and Early Maize Horticulture in Central Connecticut. North American Archaeologist 12 : 325–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowman, M. L. 1915 Corn : Growing, Judging, Breeding, Feeding, Marketing. Waterloo Publishing, Waterloo, Iowa.Google Scholar
Bowman, M. L., and Crossley, B. W. 1911 Corn : Growing, Judging, Breeding, Feeding, Marketing. Waterloo Publishing, Waterloo, Iowa.Google Scholar
Burtt-Davy, J. 1914 Maize : Its History, Cultivation, Handling, and Uses. Longmans, Green and Co., New York.Google Scholar
Cleaveland, M. K., Cook, E. R., and Stahle, D. W 1992 Secular Variability of the Southern Oscillation Detected in Tree-Ring Data from Mexico and the Southern United States. In El Nino : Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation, edited by Diaz, H. F. and Markgraf, V., pp. 271–291. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cleaveland, M. K., and Duvick, D. N. 1992 Iowa Climate Changes Analyzed with Tree Rings A.D. 1640 to 1982. Water Resources Research 28 : 2607–2615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeBoer, W. R. 1988 Subterranean Storage and Organization of Surplus : The View from Eastern North America. Southeastern Archaeology 7(1) : 1–20.Google Scholar
Dicke, F. F., and Guthrie, W. D. 1988 The Most Important Cora Insects. In Corn and Corn Improvement, Third Edition, edited by Sprague, G. F. and Dudley, J. W., pp. 767–867. Agronomy No. 18. American Society of Agronomy, Madison.Google Scholar
Gibson, C. 1964 The Aztecs under Spanish Rule. Stanford University Press, Stanford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, A. D. 1917 The Rothamsted Experiments. Revised by Russell, E. J.. Murray, London.Google Scholar
Lafitau, J. F. 1977 [1724] Customs of the American Indians Compared with the Customs of Primitive Times, vol. II. Edited and translated by Fenton, W. N. and Moore, E.. The Champlain Society, Toronto.Google Scholar
Larson, W. E., and Hanway, J. J. 1977 Corn Production. In Corn and Com Improvement, edited by Sprague, G. F., pp. 625–669. Agronomy No. 18. American Society of Agronomy, Madison.Google Scholar
Lescarbot, M. 1968 [1618] The History of New France. Vol. III. Translated by Grant, W. L.. The Champlain Society, Toronto.Google Scholar
Lewis, O. 1960 Tepoztlan, Village in Mexico. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Lough, J. M. 1992 An Index of the Southern Oscillation Reconstructed from Western North American Tree-Ring Chronologies. In El Nino : Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation, edited by H.R. Diaz and V. Markgraf, pp. 215–226. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Michaelsen, J. 1989 Long-Period Fluctuations in El Nino Amplitude and Frequency Reconstructed from Tree-Rings. In Aspects of Climate Variability in the Pacific and the Western Americas, edited by Peterson, D. H., pp. 69–74. Geophysical Monograph 55. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Mt. Pleasant, J. 1982 Corn Polyculture Systems in New York. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Soil Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.Google Scholar
Nair, K. P. P., Patel, U. K., Singh, R. P., and Kaushik, M. K. 1979 Evaluation of Legume Intercropping in Conservation of Fertilizer Nitrogen in Maize Culture. Journal of Agricultural Science 93 : 189–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odell, R. T., and Oschwald, W R. 1970 Productivity of Illinois Soils. Circular 1016, Cooperative Extension Service, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Parker, A. C. 1968 Iroquois Use of Maize and Other Foods. In Parker on the Iroquois, edited by Fenton, W. N., pp. 3–119. Syracuse University, Syracuse.Google Scholar
Rutman, D. B. 1967 Husbandmen of Plymouth : Farms and Villages in the Old Colony 1620-1692. Beacon Press, Boston.Google Scholar
Sagard, G. 1939 [1632] The Long Journey to the Country of the Hurons. Translated by H. H. Langton and edited by Wrong, G. M.. The Champlain Society, Toronto.Google Scholar
Sandstrom, A. 1991 Corn Is Our Blood. University of Oklahoma, Norman.Google Scholar
Schroeder, S. 1999 Maize Productivity in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains of North America. American Antiquity 64 : 499–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, T. W., Pleasant, J. Mt., Burt, R. F., and Otis, D. J. 1987 Contributions of Ground Cover, Dry Matter and Nitrogen from Intercrops and Cover Crops in a Corn Polyculture System. Agronomy Journal 79 : 792–798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheets, P., and Woodward, M. 1997 Zoned Biodiversity in Agricultural Fields, Kitchen and Special Gardens, and the Classic Period Landscape. Paper presented at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stahle, D. W., and Cleaveland, M. K. 1993 Southern Oscillation Extremes Reconstructed from Tree-Rings of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Southern Great Plains. Journal of Climate 6 : 129–140.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahle, D. W., and Cleaveland, M. K. 1994 Tree-Ring Reconstructed Rainfall over the Southeastern U.S.A. during the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age. Climatic Change 26 : 199–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steggerda, M. 1941 Maya Indians of Yucatan. Publication No. 531. Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Thompson, L. M. 1986 Climatic Change, Weather Variability, and Corn Production. Agronomy Journal 78 : 649–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1999 USDA : A History of American Agriculture 1776-1990, http://www.usda.gov/history2/text4.htm December 1, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1999. Service (USDA, NASS)Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture—National Agricultural Statistics 1999 USDA-NASS Published Estimates Data Base—County, Corn for Grain, http://www.nass.usda.gov:100/ipedbcnty/cocorngr.htm December 1, 1999. (USDA, SCS)Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture—Soil Conservation Service 1981 Soil Survey of Monroe County, Tennessee. Soil Conservation Service and Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Weatherwax, P. 1954 Indian Corn in Old America. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Will, G. F, and Hyde, G. E. 1917 Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. The William Harvey Miner Co., St. Louis.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. L. 1987 Buffalo Bird Women's Garden : Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.Google Scholar