Pre-European contact Agriculture in North
America
Peter Vanden Dool
Megan Williamson
Matthew Zwambag
Steven Horn
Karl Zimmer
North America on the eve of contact
• “No people anywhere in the world ever made greater strides in
plant breeding than the American Indians.”
• One third of U.S. Agriculture is Native American.
Native Americans
• From them we have
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Corn (Maize)
Sweet/Irish Potatoes
Tobacco
Peanuts
Some Cotton varieties
All edible beans except soy and horse
Squash, Field Pumpkins
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Sunflowers
Tomatoes
Garden peppers
Pineapples
Watermelon
Banana
Domesticated native plants such as:
– Strawberries, American Grapes, Raspberries, Gooseberries, pecans, and other nuts.
Agriculturalists
Hurons, Tobacco, Neutrals
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Hurons lived in Huronia (Simcoe Country)
Cleared plains area with some streams and Lakes
Some hayfields and “uncultivated wheat”
Kept dogs and Bear cubs as food (Yummm)
• Main crops: Maize beans and Squash.
• Also grew tobacco and sunflowers
• Mostly Slash and burn Agriculture
– Cleared the land by cutting trees to stumps (2’-3’) then burned the
branches around the stump to kill it and remove the roots.
– 9-10 grains were placed in hills, sorted by size and placed in water and
herbs before planting.
• Wild fruits with maple for sweetening supplemented their diet.
Wild rice was their staple.
• Tobaccos lived Southwest of the Hurons and shockingly raised
large quantities of Tobacco.
• Neutrals were located north of lake Erie.
Nomads
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They roamed from the Churchill river to the Treeless Tundra
They traveled mostly on foot and women moved the camp.
Northern peoples followed the Caribou which provided food and clothing.
The Plains people followed the Bison. There is some evidence that these
people also practiced agriculture. (Garden areas) Likely planted, moved
on and returned for harvest
North American Agriculture
• Agriculture is a comprehensive geographical topic
• Geographers have focused strongly on Latin American
• North American agricultural knowledge is based mainly through
archeological work through the 19th century on.
Agriculture is a comprehensive geographical topic that includes modification of
biological and physical components. It is dynamic in that it is continuing to evolve.
Geographers have focused strongly on Latin American. They examined pre-industrial
tools and techniques used.
North American agricultural knowledge is based mainly through archeological work
through the 19th century on.
Few geographical studies on the north American agriculture implies shortcomings
because geographers are skilled at interpreting spatial components, agro ecology, and
land use.
Causes of Lack of Information
• Data is a byproduct of other research
• Evidence of agriculture is based on plant remains and pollen of
cultigens
• Studies done on how agriculture fits into social and economic
structures of culture
• Ethnographical analogs from Native Americans were taken
uncritically
• Few syntheses have been attempted
-data is a byproduct of other research. This implies that there is not much research
specifically on food production.
-Evidence of agriculture is based on plant remains and pollen of cultigens. This focuses
on crops instead of the land and techniques producing them.
-studies done on how agriculture fits into social and economic structures of culture. They
didn’t focus on the human environment and spatial implications.
-Ethnographical analogs from Native Americans were taken uncritically, which could
mean their data is faulty.
-Few syntheses have been attempted.
Information Shortcomings
• Explorers present biased accounts of what they see
• Some indigenous people were using tools and techniques of
Europeans before being encountered
• Some places were visited more often than others
By looking at data from explorers and archaeologists in parallel a fairly good idea of the
pre-contact agriculture is formed but there are shortcomings in the explanations.
Information shortcomings: explorers present biased accounts of what they see. Some
indigenous people were using tools and techniques of Europeans before being
encountered. For example, some natives could pass on European methods inland to other
tribes before the Europeans explore inland more. Some places were visited more often
than others. This is often because the most visited places have intriguing agricultural
techniques. And so, there are several sources to corroborate details.
The Southwest
Before Contact: Intensive
Intensive: requires considerable labor or substantial landscape modification,
because the biophysical environments are so harsh and rugged there is little land suitable
for agriculture
Two Land Types
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Floodplains of low-lying desert streams
Floodplains: deep fertile soils --- highly localized
soils fertile due to deposition of sediments when flooding occurs due to vegetation
slowing water flows so sediments fall out of solution
Upland slopes
uplands slopes: where rainfall is more sufficient but soils are thin and of poor
quality more rainfall due to orthographic lifting
To increase suitability and productivity of these areas:
- irrigation, terraces, check dams
Irrigation
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1st Canal 130 A.D.
Natives Irrigating at time of Contact
Not across whole region
Two main:
– Eastern Sonora
– Northern New Mexico
Important for Pima, Hopi, and Zuni
Early spanish explorers reported two main areas: Sonora, New Mexico
Baltasar de Obregon (chronicler) wrote in 1565 people of the valleys of sonora had their
plantations are well provided with canals used for irrigating them.
Antonio de Espejo reported in 1582 people of the Rio Grande pueblos had fields planted
with corn, beans, calabashes, and tobacco in abundance. These crops are seasonal,
dependent on rainfall, or they are irrigated by means of good ditches
Pueblo: the communal dwelling of an Indian village of Arizona, New Mexico, and
adjacent areas consisting of contiguous flat-roofed stone or adobe houses in groups
sometimes several stories high b : an Indian village of the southwestern U.S.
2 capitalized : a member of a group of Indian peoples of the southwestern U.S.
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New Mexican pueblos
– Growing Season 120 –140 days
– Single Crop per year
growing season 120 – 140 depending on locale
-summer rainy season, irrigation during dry spells
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Eastern Sonora
– Growing Season 220 –260 days
– Two crops per year
--Sonora growing season 220 – 260 days (twice as long)
-Annual precip July to September
-Hardly any rain from March through June
-Later crop used some irrigation (during dry spells)
-Early crop dependent on it
-Double cropping sustained a large number of people
-Due to dependence on canals a social organization was required, I suppose due to every
one needing to work together rather than alone
-More elaborate social organization than pueblos of new Mexico
-Jesuits introduced the social organization, which led in the end to the loss of the Sonora
Indians identity because social unrest occurred and became assimilated by the Jesuits.
New Mexico pueblo Indians identity remains today
Irrigation Canals
• Functional Complexity varied
• Small to Large
• Short term to Long term
• Correlation between size and sustainability
Hohokam people of the Salt and Gila River valleys distinguished themselves by
developing some large canal irrigation systems. (10m x 4m deep) and some up to 30 km
long
-Not all canals used at the same time
-Many times created new canals rather than do maintenance on existing ones
-However evidence on soil survey maps of accumulations of sediment around historic
canal sites
Hohokam struggled constantly to manage their water resources but eventually lost the
battle b/c there culture collapsed
Other canals systems throughout the region usually rarely exceeded 10 km in length, 2m
wide and 0.5 m in depth and branched that provided water for a maximum of a few
hundred hectares
These systems were very durable and many of the ones in New Mexico remained in use
for several centuries and those in the Sonora remained useable for 700 years
Irrigation in Southern Alberta
Information from:
www.uleth.ca/vft/Oldman_River/Irrigation.html
Terraces and Check Dams
• Terraces: level planting surfaces with deep, fertile soils that have high water retention
properties
• Check dams: walls and berms built to slow and spread runoff to protect fields down
slope from excessive flooding and sediment deposition
Terraces and Check Dams
• Mostly on the Sierras and surrounding foothills
• Found on a variety of sites
•Many abandoned today and some still used
Some terraces found on slopes of up to 20 percent
Others along channels of intermittent streams in narrow steep canyons (especially in
higher elevations.
Others along valley floors
Check Dams constructed of rocks stacked a few feet high
Found across channels of all small intermittent streams
• Slope modification not widespread pre-European era
• Most common near around the Casa Grandes in Chihuahua, Mexico
Old evidence of terracing and check dams have been found all the way from southern
Colorado to southern Mexico
Found in environments of pine forest in high elevations with abundant rainfall and short
growing season to dry locals just above sea level and on a variety of soil types and
geological formations
Some used today and no evidence of soil depletion, which is not common and unknown
why hasn’t occurred, and unknown why some former areas are not used today still
Check dams also inadvertently played important roles to stop erosion even after
deforestation has occurred and often increase regeneration of trees by holding soils from
eroding
Evidence of slope modification limited to southwest portion which more were more
mountainous and arid
No written evidence of slope modification by early chroniclers
Especially by Spaniards who explored the area in the 16th century
Other terms include trincheras and linear borders
Evidence of the check dams near the Casa grandes was they originated 1100- 1450 A.D.
Southwest they expect earlier but not know for sure
Agriculture in the Eastern U.S.
Pre-Contact
The North-Eastern United States presents a stereotypical picture of Woodlands. In
actuality, the region is quite diverse. Besides forests, there are fertile floodplains and
sandy uplands. There is also a difference in the temperatures in the northern and the
southern parts. The south is also more acidic than the north.
The Intensive Argument
A picture of woodlands suggests an extensive agricultural practice. However, the true
diversity presents a more intensive practice. Supporting the intensive argument, we find
raised fields in diverse parts of the region.
A raised field is constructed by piling soil excavated near by into hills, ridges, or
platforms. Generally, several are found together separated by canals.
Raised fields require large amounts of labor but produce large yields.
Raised Fields
One explanation for using this technique is that the people wished to expand cultivation
into more wetlands and so, raised the fields to make them usable. Another proposed
explanation is that the fields were raised to reduce frost hazards.
It is believed that ridged fields began in North America and the technology eventually
diffused South. But pre-historic fields in Mexico suggest otherwise.
Abandoning ridging
Interestingly, at about the time of first European contact, ridging was being abandoned
whereas hilling or mounding was still done. One hypothesis is that mounded fields are
associated with regular dry-farming whereas ridging with wet or cold habitats.
Ridging was more labor-intensive and with mounding requiring only a few people, the
practices were switched.
The exact reason, however is still not known.
Slash and Burn
There is a question on the time that the native americans left their land fallow. It is
believed that slash and burn was widespread. There is evidence to support short fallows
such as Francois du Berons report of 10-year cultivation times. But also, there are slash
and burn reports that suggest long fallows with only 1-3 year cultivations.
Fallow Times
Typically slash and burn fields were small with stumps left, such as Chaplain reported.
However there are also reports of fields that stretch as far as the eye could see.
The discontinuity doesn’t support slash and burn as the primary farming technique.
The reason that there were such long cultivation times could be explained by the fact that
their tools were primitive so they kept the fields longer. This makes sense because their
primitive tools makes the fields harder to clear.
The Amazon version of slash and burn involved the axes which the Spanish used, not
stone tools.
This is a possible explanation and support for long fallows when using slash and burn.
The bottom line is that the North Eastern Native American Agricultural practices were
more intensive than many believe.
Gardens, Gardens Everywhere
• Early farmers grew crops both in the fields far from the house
and in the garden
• Growing crops in the garden provided many advantages
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Close watering
Fertilization (manure)
Continued care (weeding hoeing)
Reduced crop loss.
Gardens Everywhere
• Even though a house lot garden cannot provide enough food to
feed many people, but if the weather fails to meet the needs, the
gardens still produced enough seeds for the next years
cultivation.
• Field problems:
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Frosts
Pests
Droughts
Human destruction (theft, attacks)
• Gardens advantages:
– Greater crop diversity
– Protection
– Plant nurturing
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Ex: birds frightened away
Hand watering
Coverings to avoid frost
Fertilization
• Even if a crop was destroyed, a garden could provide adequate
amounts of seed.
• Conclusion:
– Native american cultivators prior to 1492 employed a strategy of seed
production in gardens