Pre-historic Cubans practised agriculture much earlier than commonly assumed

Pre-historic Cubans practised agriculture much earlier than commonly assumed
Posted by Past Horizons, on April 5, 2015

Cuban and Canadian researchers have demonstrated the use of cultivated plants in the Caribbean well before the commonly accepted advancement of agricultural groups in the region at around AD 500.

The team, led by Dr. Mirjana Roksandic of the University of Winnipeg (anthropology) and Dr. Bill Buhay (geography), dated some of the remains to 1000 BC, indicating that the practice was much older than previously assumed. Their findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

New method

Using an unprecedented method which combined inferred past diet information gleaned from dental calculus (teeth plaque) starch grains and bone collagen isotope data, the lead author Chinique de Armas, whose PhD was supervised by Roksandic and Buhay, demonstrated that the indigenous people of Canímar Abajo (Matanzas province, Cuba) consumed and processed common bean, sweet potato and a highly toxic plant zamia that needs special treatment prior to consumption.

The bone collagen isotope data was derived at Buhay’s Isotope Laboratory (UWIL) at UWinnipeg. Starch grains were extracted from dental calculus at the University of Toronto (Mississauga) in collaboration with Dr. Sheehan Bestel and independently verified by a leading specialist from Puerto Rico, Dr. Jaime Pagan Jimenez.

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http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/04/2015/pre-historic-cubans-practised-agriculture-much-earlier-than-commonly-assumed