Last month the journalist Maria Elena Navas of BBC.MUNDO made known to the scientific community that the
Nanhoc Valley in the northern highlands to the oldest would have allbergado domesticating plants in Peru (Horticulturist), reviewing the blog of our colleague and friend Arturo Gómez AMAUTACUNA confirms this information saying ... The important finding, also published in the journal Science, has been confirmed and backed by the renowned archaeologist Peter Kaulicke, the Catholic University, who said: "To be considered well there must be evidence of houses or other cultural artifacts. And in the case of the High Zaña these conditions exist. This is not a single plant, but several different sites and a lot of dates that are consistent. "
then presented the report published in BBC. World's first days of December 2008
María Elena Navas
BBC Science
U.S. scientists found that people Nanchoc Valley, in northern Peru, farmers were not only sophisticated but also knew very well fed.
The scientists, who published details of the study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), recovered human teeth at the site of about 7,000 to 9,000 years.
discovered in these starch grains preserved showing that these people were already cultivating squash (squash), beans and fruit tree pacay.
"As you know, if you do not wash your teeth plaque builds up, "he told BBC Science Dr. Dolores Piperno of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Washington, who led the study.
" And at the plate these ancient teeth survived starch grains, which are particles where microscopic plants store their energy source, "he added.
Starch
Scientists starch grains recovered from 39 human teeth, which they believe belonged to six to eight individuals.
And after comparing those samples starch with modern references about 500 plants were able to identify what they ate and grew.
"We identify starch from a variety of crops," says the researcher, such as squash, beans variety of both common as beans, peanuts and fruit pacay. "
"This is a very important crop that was harvested a lot in Peru in prehistoric times," he adds.
According to the research, samples of starch in the teeth reveal that people eat these crops and not just used for other purposes, such as squash to produce containers or networks.
The study also shows that the inhabitants of the Americas and were sophisticated farmers much earlier than previously thought.
"The earliest evidence of bean consumption in South America dates back some 4,000 years, but our research shows that people ate beans and much earlier, "says Dolores Piperno.
Buenos cooks
" Another interesting finding is that it knew that these people cultivated plants, but the abundance of starch grains were found shows that farmers engaged. "
addition, it also appeared to be good cooks because the samples reveal that many crops had been cooked before consumption.
"Starch is very susceptible to heat," explains the scientist.
"But we conducted experiments with beans cooked in the lab discovered that even after some starch is boiled in the beans."
"This indicates that these grains were boiled before eating, and also glad that we now have a method to identify the prehistoric kitchen."
teeth were found during excavations carried out by Professor Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University, who has done several studies on the inhabitants of Nanchoc.
According to Dr. Piperno, the Nanchoc were an early Peruvian cultures and besides being good farmers also had 6,500 years ago irrigation systems.
"So now we can say that not only were some of the best farmers in Peru, but throughout South America, because they lived devoted to plants and improve their varieties" says the researcher.
