218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



Wliether there was direct association between the pits and the 

 habitational areas of these people could not be determined, since we 

 were unable to define a single house. 



HOUSE STRUCTURES 



No alinement of postholes was discovered or indicated in the habita- 

 tional area of this site. A number of random postholes were noted, 

 but none formed even a small section of a well-defined pattern. 

 Houses, if they ever existed, must have been of a very temporary 

 nature since they failed altogether to register upon the site. Definite 

 floor areas were nonexistent although nmnerous hearth areas were 

 found scattered over the excavated area. That these burned areas, if 

 they can truly be called hearths, represent the locus of daily living 

 is inconceivable, since they are without hardpacked or prepared floors. 

 Perhaps living quarters were ramadalike structures whose poles were 

 inserted only sufficiently to hold up the flimsy structure and whose 

 sides were covered with mats. All could decay without leaving traces 

 sufficient to be later interpreted. 



AGRICUIiTURB 



Carter (1951, p. 299) believes that: The time of beginning of agriculture 

 varied in the United States, the earliest known date being about 1000 B.C." 

 at Bat Cave in New Mexico. The earliest known date does not mean this is 

 the beginning. It is the earliest known date and nothing more. Plantsmen all 

 recognize that a long period must precede the appearance of a domesticated 

 plant. 



The charred remains of small kernels of maize, Zea ; beans, Phaseo- 

 lus vulgaris; hulls from black walnuts, Juglans nigra L. ; hickories, 

 Gary a tomentosa Nutt., Gary a ovata (Mill.) k. Koch, Gary a oval is 

 (Wangenh) Sarg. ; acorns, Quercus alba L., Quercus velutina Lam., 

 Qiiercus hicoJor ( Willd.) , and possibly Quercus montana ( Willd.) , and 

 some wild grass seeds were recovered from the contents of various 

 midden pits. 



Gom {Zea). — Wlien the white man first arrived in America he 

 found the Indians growing a great diversity of corn varieties including 

 all of the principal types recognized today — dent, flint, flour, sweet, 

 and popcorn. Previously there was no knowledge of these grains in 

 the Old World. 



Thus the evidence that corn originated in America is so overwhelming that It 

 seems sensible to concentrate, if not confine, our search for its wild ancestor to 

 the Western Hemisphere. In America corn has obviously had an ancient history. 

 The seminomadic hunting and fishing Indians in both North and South America 

 augmented their diet of fish and game with corn from cultivated fields. . . . 



"Mangclsdorf (1950) gives a radiocarbon dating as of 3000 to 3900 B.C. to this same 

 rn from Bat Cave. N. Mex. 



