Chapter 1: The Rise of Sedentism and the First Domestications in the Mississippi
The Neolithic period in North America is conventionally considered to have begun at the end of the last glacial period with warming temperatures - approximately 12,000 BP (~10,000 BCE). Across the continent, nomadic big game hunters were the norm [1], but perhaps owing to overhunting, the changing climate, or some combination of both, megafauna populations were starting to decline. The decline of the megafauna would cause changes throughout the continent, and in one particular location - the Lower Mississippi - it would lead to a profound change in the way of life for its inhabitants, the effects of which would sweep across the whole continent to come.
The fertile floodplains of the Mississippi River became populated rather quickly after glaciers receded, so much so that the big game hunters caused a localized megafauna extinction a few hundred years before their extinction in other parts of the continent [2]. This local extinction along the Mississippi would cause a large change in the way of life for its inhabitants. While certainly some of the nomadic groups continued to follow the remaining big game migrations out of the basin, the fertile floodplain still held an abundance of grains, seeds, fruits, and nuts to be gathered, a large numbers of birds and smaller mammals for hunting, and a plethora of aquatic life. This abundance of food seems to have encouraged some groups to remain in the valley, where they gradually developed sedentary communities. Still hunter-gatherers, these sedentary groups appear to have reduced their dependence on hunting, relying more on gathered plants, fish, and shellfish.
One consequence of the early Mississippian sedentism was a larger concentration of refuse and cached food, which attracted several animals into closer proximity to these settlements.
Platygonus compressus - the New World Pig [3] - was one of these animals attracted by human refuse and middens. By consuming the refuse and other waste, it would gradually develop a commensal (and sometimes prey-like) relationship with the early Mississippians that would eventually lead to full domestication. Less positive was the attraction of rodents and other pests that would raid food caches and spread fleas, but these rodents would in turn attract Grey Foxes who, like the New World Pig, would develop a commensal relationship with the Mississippians by feasting on the readily available rodents. The commensal relationships would over time cause the two species to develop something resembling their domesticated forms between 10,000 and 9,000 BP (8-7,000 BCE).
Around the same time as the New World Pig domestication was complete, the first plant domestications were beginning. The Early Mississippians had long been harvesting seeds from plants in the floodplain and other disturbed sites, and around 9,000 BP they appear to have begun intentionally cultivating them in artificial fields managed through burning. These initial founder crops [4] consisted of the summer annual pseudo-cereals Goosefoot (
Chenopodium berlandieri) and Erect Knotweed (
Polygonum erectum), the summer annual oilseeds Sunflower (
Helianthus annuus), the winter annual cereal Little Barley (
Hordeum pusillum), the Squash (
Cucurbita spp.), and the near universally domesticated Bottle Gourd (
Lagenaria siceraria) [5]. By 8,000 BP these species can be said to have become properly domesticated. They would be joined around this time by two additional plants: the Thicket Bean (
Phaseolus polystachios) and Blue Flax (
Linum lewisii) [6]. These eight crops would serve as the foundation of Mississippian Civilization.
- What we would call in OTL the Clovis Culture.
- The PoD. Megafaunal migration patterns are just slightly different in this timeline, resulting in overhunting in the Lower Mississippi, which in turn causes the collapse of much of the megafauna population there.
- In OTL, the extinct Flathead Peccary. As a Peccary, they are of course not actually pigs, even if they are the closest living relatives. This fact from modern genetics is entirely irrelevant to its naming centuries before the development of that field, of course. It likely existed in a very similar to niche to the Eurasian Boar, and owing to its similar size, appearance, and behavior, the names for the two in most TTL languages are the same. This trend of the same names is relatively common TTL for Old-New World domestic pairs.
- This is more or less the OTL Eastern Agricultural Complex, just earlier. There are two omissions from the OTL EAC though. Neither Maygrass or Sumpweed are present among the Mississippian founder crops. In the case of Maygrass, it competes poorly with weeds (for this reason it was likely grown in a co-culture with Little Barley, where it grows much better) and also has a low germination rate - making it a poor plant on its own (it is also one of the only EAC plants to not show any signs of domestication). Interestingly though, it does have the potential to flower a second time in the fall, creating a second harvest (Mueller, N). For that reason it might become prevalent later on in TTL, but we'll see. Sumpweed meanwhile has its own problems, the biggest of which is that is noxious and causes rashes, it also possesses an unpleasant smell, and requires moist soil to germinate (making it less useful for upland planting). Sunflower produces oilseeds just as well, doesn't have the same noxious qualities, and is much more flexible in its habitat.
- The Bottle Gourd, otherwise known as the Calabash, is a fascinating plant. It is unique in that it was domesticated several times throughout the world (in East Asia, Africa, and in multiple locations in North and South America). It's native to Africa and Asia, but managed to float across the Atlantic and establish itself in the Circum-Caribbean (Kistler, L. et al.) where it was domesticated multiple times.
- A relative of Common Flax, Blue Flax was used OTL as an oilseed and fiber crop, much like Common Flax in the old world. It's another summer annual and serves the dual purpose of an oilseed and fiber crop for the Early Mississippians.
References:
Mueller, N. G., White, A. & Szilagyi, P. Experimental Cultivation of Eastern North America’s Lost Crops: Insights into Agricultural Practice and Yield Potential.
etbi 39, 549–566 (2019).
Kistler, L.
et al. Transoceanic drift and the domestication of African bottle gourds in the Americas.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111, 2937–2941 (2014).
