THE DISPERSION OF MAIZE AGRICULTURE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Maize agriculture had a profound effect on all cultural trajectories in the prehistoric American Southwest. The process by which the dispersion of agriculture was accomplished remains a subject of controversy. The argument is typically phrased as in situ adoption of maize agriculture by indigenous hunter-gatherers versus migration of agricultural populations into the region. Neither argument is sufficient to capture the likely complexity of the situation. Multiple lines of evidence including radiocarbon dating, tree-ring dating, paleoclimatic data, mitochondrial DNA, material culture and ethnographic analogy do point to migration from Mexico as the initiating mechanism. But this was mediated by climatic constraints, symbiotic relationships and gene flow among immigrant and indigenous populations, and the onerous task of adapting a Southern Basin and Range agricultural regimen to the climatic rigors of the Colorado Plateau.