Analysis of an archaeological maize kernel cache from Manabi Province, Ecuador

Abstract

A randomly selected sample of 100 kernels from a cache of 644 recovered in a vessel of the Chorrera period was studied to determine what race or races were present. Because 644 kernels could represent 2–3 average-sized ears of Indian maize, more than one type could have been present. Difficulties inherent in analyzing carbonized grain made precise identification to race difficult, but the general shape of the kernels, expressed in width/length and width/thickness ratios, indicates a relationship to a group of races with low row numbers and kernels which are narrow (W/T about 2.0) and very broad (W/L about 1.0). Ecuadorian races such as Morochon, Kcello Ecuatoriano, and Cuzco fit this general configration, but have much larger kernels than the archaeological maize. The cob and ear radii calculated from the archaeological kernels are similar to races such as Andaqui and Kcello (Table 2). These 2 characters are probably the least reliable of the 6 measurements made on the kernels, and have therefore not been emphasized in this study. The race Andaqui of Colombia has grain close to the size of the archaeological maize, but no existing race fits the archaeological maize precisely. The Chorrera maize seems to fall into the same developmental line, or lineage, as the term has been defined by Manglesdorf (1974), as the kernel embedded in the Valdivia vessel from the San Pablo site, identified as Kcello Ecuatoriano (Zevallos et al., 1977).