The Origins of Agriculture in East Texas, aka “How the Three Sisters Joined Hands”

Many Texans have heard of Three Sisters agriculture, the clever co-planting of corn, beans, and squash practiced by indigenous people in the Eastern Woodlands of North America that supports and protects each plant in the field and optimizes human nutrition on the plate. What’s less well-known is how recent-in archeological terms-the Three Sisters tradition of agriculture really is. This talk by Dr. Leslie L. Bush traces the history of each of the Sisters, from oldest (squash) to youngest (beans) with special attention to how and when they were used by Caddo ancestors in East Texas.
Learn more about this topic at:
www.texasbeyon...
en.ancientmaize...
www.thc.texas....
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• Spirit Eye Cave: The P...
Research Article: Starch Grain and Phytolith Evidence for Early Ninth Millennium B.P. Maize from the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico. (The plant parts recovered are starch grains and phytoliths, so it's difficult to tell what the cobs might have looked like and how similar they are to corn or teosinte)
www.pnas.org/c...
Research Article: Archaeological Evidence of Teosinte Domestication from Guilá Naquitz, Oaxaca. (Article includes details of the rachis (cob) differences between teosinte and corn)
www.pnas.org/c...
Research Article: Gourds and Squashes (Cucurbita spp.) Adapted to Megafaunal Extinction and Ecological Anachronism through Domestication. (How we know ancient gourds/squashes were bitter plus some fascinating evidence for the relationship between squashes and megafauna before humans took up gourd/squash cultivation)
www.pnas.org/c...
Research Article: Transoceanic Drift and the Domestication of African Bottle Gourds in the Americas. (The history of bottle gourds in the Americas from genetic studies and archeological evidence)
www.pnas.org/c...
This video is part of the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Archeology Month 2020 Virtual Symposium. View other presentations in the series on playlists organized by region on our TH-cam channel.