When you think about the diets of ancient Indigenous peoples of North America, you likely think squash, beans and corn — the famous three sisters. Potatoes probably don’t come to mind. But recent archaeological research has found that at least one potato was a part of North American diets thousands of years ago.
In 2010, University of Utah anthropologist and archaeologist Lisbeth Louderback found what looked like potato starch on ancient stone tools from a dig site in Escalante, Utah. In 2013, a particularly good monsoon year, Bruce Pavlik, Director of Conservation at the University of Utah's Red Butte Garden, recognized a tuber growing wild near the same site, and the team was able to identify the starch. It was from Solanum jamesii, also called the Four Corners potato, a potato native to the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States. Though the potato grows wild in the area, this was the first time it was found at the site of a prehistoric settlement – making it the earliest evidence of potato use in North America, dating back almost 11,000 years.
Louderback and Pavlik set out to learn more about the potato’s history and reintroduce it to the modern diet. Pavlik stresses, however, that he and Louderback did not “discover” the potato. It was long known to the Indigenous people of this area, including the Apache, Hopi, Kawaik, Navajo, Southern Paiute, Tewa, Zia, and Zuni peoples. Because the potato doesn’t produce shoots until the summer rains start, it was...
Read Full Story: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/indigenous-four-corners-potato-makes-a-comeback
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