Corn, Cucurbits, Cordage, and Colonization: An Absolute Chronology for the Appearance of Mesoamerican Domesticates and Perishables in the Jornada Basin, New Mexico

Abstract

Detailed attribute analysis of basketry and cordage remains from Pendejo Cave and the region encompassed by the Jornada Basin in south-central New Mexico has suggested that the introduction of non-local cultigens in the study area is signaled by the simultaneous and not unrelated appearance of bundle foundation coiling, twill plaiting, and final S twist cordage of north Mexican origin or affiliation. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates of selected allochthonous perishable fiber artifacts from Pendejo Cave are presented and evaluated in terms of the local chronology of coiling, plaiting, and cordage types, their association with the adoption of cultigens, as evidence of material culture change via migration and hybridization, as well as their role in the onset of the Formative in the Jornada Basin.