Ancient use of the four corners potato

Despite its long history, utilitarian value, and cultural significance to several Indigenous Tribes in the Southwest USA, the extent to which the Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii Torr.) has been domesticated requires circumscription. Establishing the temporal and spatial dimensions of intentional cultivation would provide an essential component of the domestication argument. This project tests the hypothesis that S. jamesii tubers were processed with ground stone tools from archaeological sites located beyond the natural range of the species, especially where genetic evidence has previously indicated human transport and establishment in gardens. Microbotanical evidence, in the form of starch granules from 401 ground stone tools at 14 archaeological sites, is examined. More than 6,500 starch granules were recovered from the tools; 163 of which were assigned to S. jamesii.  Four sites (North Creek Shelter, Long House/Mesa Verde, Pueblo Bonito/Chaco Canyon, and Point of Pines) sho..., Sites and Tools
There are many archaeological sites within and beyond the documented range of S. jamesii. Relatively few have been excavated, and fewer still have ground stone tools from buried deposits with published contextual details. Only excavated and recorded sites that had available ground stone tools would be suitable for starch granule analysis.  Fortunately, eight repositories had collections from 14 sites that met these criteria and provided a wide temporal range (early Holocene through Protohistoric) for sampling a sufficient number of properly stored tools.
Inventories of ground stone tools (i.e., manos and metates) from the 14 sites were examined to determine the availability and feasibility for sampling. Objects were not chosen if they 1) were on exhibit, 2) had an unknown location at the repository, 3) were not collected, or 4) were restricted objects. Approximately 98% of the ground stone tools sampled contain site and/or stratigraphic provenience. Furthermore, inf..., # Ancient use of the four corners potato

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk3c](10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk3c)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: S1_Table.xlsx

**Description:** Site name, repository, catalog number, lab specimen number, and provenience of each ground stone tool analyzed for starch.

#### File: S2_Table.xlsx

**Description:** Lengths and morphological characters were measured and documented on each starch granule from all ground stone tools (n=401) analyzed in this study. Each tab contains starch granule data from an archaeological site (n=14). All starch granules have length measurements, but not all morphological characters were documented on all granules.

##### Variables:

* Granule Length (µm = microns), Shape, Hilum position, Cavity, Cross, Fissures, Lamellae, Pressure Facets. Numbers in the cells are the measured length or the presence (1) or absence (0) of that specific variable.
* Missing values or 'n/a' indicate no m...,