WI California Natives Develop Agriculture ~3000 BCE

Around 5000 years ago a dry period hit mot of (Western?) North America. In this period we see drastic changes in resource usage throughout California, most notably along the coast of Southern California, the Central Valley, and the Bay Area.

In the Bay Area for example, we see the development of lots of mortars and pestles, implying sedentary lifestyles and far more intensive grinding of seeds and nuts into flour than previously, where manos were dominant instead.

In the Bay Delta/Central Valley, there's still mostly manos being used, but trash middens show that less wetlands fauna and flora were used, presumably because the wetlands were growing scarcer with lass snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada.

In Southern California there's more dependence on ocean resources, and this might be an early period of the really advanced seafaring and canoe building technologies of the area around the Chumash coasts.

IOTL this period led to further intensification and cultivation of wild resources, a sort of sedentary hunter-gatherer region that had a rather amazing population density considering the lack of proper agriculture, but nonetheless did not till the land (whether this is a good or bad thing is up for debate, I'm simply asking what if it hadn't been the case).


My question is what if this period prompted the development of actual agriculture in the region?

As for founder crops, I think wapato, goosefoot, or powell's amaranth would work. The former would likely be a result of Valley people deciding to cultivate the tubers in the receding wetlands to "make up" for less wetlands area in total. The latter two could feasibly be cultivated any of the groups, but considering the Bay Area people began using mortars and pestles around this time for acorn processing, and with oak trees being rather difficult to plant and harvest in a reasonable time-frame, maybe they would develop a goosefoot or amaranth pseudo-grain agriculture.

Amaranth, being a C4 photosynthesizer, flourishes in hot and dry areas where other plants don't due to incredibly rapid growth and deep roots, but the wild versions are (as with most plants) inconvenient to grow. Yet as a founder crop it may work, and later on other native grasses (grass seeds were used extensively throughout California's prehistory) could be cultivated as well.

There are tons of useful plants that could be cultivated, legumes, berries, tubers, cereals and pseudocereals, etc. But they'd require a culture that understands the concept of plant cultivation already.



I chose 3000 BCE because it's already a period of rapid and drastic change in the region, but theoretically any later drought period might provide the same driving force.

As for consequences, I imagine another heart of agriculture would obviously develop states later on down the road, but would more importantly end up developing continental trade routes, which were extensive IOTL, into something that could more easily spread crops and technologies around.

Maybe maize agriculture would make it to California, and might make it to the Mississippi far earlier than OTL (which was somewhat earlier than 1000 CE). Overall a more connected Americas is a good thing, I'd imagine.
 
While the spread of agriculture is going to result in denser populations, the Pacific Northwest is I think primed to have extremely dense populations, as salmon on top of grain-equivalents will be able to sustain massive numbers of people-though once it gets to the point that they need to start irrigation projects to feed everyone, they reach a point where the balance between their two major food sources will be very difficult to maintain. A misstep could see rivers drained and unusable for salmon, or hunger as the rivers are left but the fields whither. This could prompt migration from the region.

Californian agriculture will probably make its way eastward via the Colorado and Columbia river systems, and from their branch into the Missouri and Arkansas river systems to travel to the eastern woodlands. The medieval westward expansion of Souian-speaking peoples onto the plains IOTL will be preceded by millennia ITTL by farmers migrating east from the Rocky Mountains. They may speak a language completely unknown to OTL, though if you're looking for an OTL language family to conlang with, the Colorado-Arkansas expansion could be driven by farmers speaking a Uto-Aztecan language since this family originated around southern California circa 3500 BC (admittedly timing the birth of language families is not an exact science).

The very first mounds in the archaeological record had already been built by the time of your POD, so that tradition will be bolstered rather than averted by the time agriculture crosses the Great Plains to the Eastern Woodlands-let's say around or a bit before 0 AD, assuming a 1/km a year spread from California. This means that the Hopewell culture, with its trade network that spanned the gulf coast to the northern shores of the Great Lakes, is the culture that receives the gift of California agriculture. They may rapidly spread agriculture through this network, though the switch from the Eastern Agricultural Complex to the California one will probably be patchwork at first, especially as plants adapted for California's Mediterranean climate will take some breeding to adapt to the wetter east-if they ever do.

Even assuming they do, based on the fact that Andean peoples enthusiastically adopted maize even if it was not their principle crop, I think that this timeline will still see maize adopted in the southwest and east. In the eastern woodlands the Californian crops may even be relegated to second class status in the lower Mississippi valley and neighboring regions when cold-tolerant varieties of maize are developed, since those varieties might be better suited for growing in that wetter region than the California crop package.

When the Norse visit the Americas in the 1000, they will probably make contact with people growing California crops. I don't know of any potential California plants that would be 'cash crops' that interest the Norse and trade and change the course of their contact. However, if the people they meet have managed to make a Californian plant their staple for food-maybe a variety pitted goosefoot, since it's so widespread IOTL-they may grow maize to drink rather than eat (as the Andean peoples brewed chicha from maize). Corn liquor would probably interest the Norse enough to stay, and "vinland wine" could become the trade good that links the hemispheres 500 years before OTL.
 
There would definitely be all kinds of early settlements in and around the Bay Area, as well as numerous settlements up and down the modern Sam Joaquin River. Really, once viable agriculture is able to take off, the Central Valley is extremely fertile at it's best and the first major civilizations would arise there.

It would still be some time before the modern San Francisco Peninsula and Golden Gate could be truly explored and exploited, since even for far more technologically advanced ships, it was very treacherous navigating the entrance from the ocean into the bay, especially when the fog rolls in. It is actually very easy to sail up and down the coast and sail right by the opening to the Bay because of that heavy fog and the fast currents.

The sites where modern cities and towns like Sacramento, Stockton, Antioch, Fresno, and Modesto are would become the major settlements, especially once river travel is developed. Flooding will be a constant threat to daily life and I can see this agricultural society developing a profound respect and devotion to the river and the delta, possibly even a religious attachment. Proto-Antioch especially could become very important, since it controls access between the Bay and the Valley. It would be perpetually contested.

The south would be more isolated and likely lag behind the north at first. The modern Los Angeles River isn't particularly long, but was also a river prone to constant flooding (it was walled up with concrete in the early to mid 1900s). The best sailors in California were from Southern California and used canoes very similar to the types used by Polynesian sailors. Whether or not there was any interaction between both is up for debate, but yucca could potentially be domesticated and cultivated in the south. If trade allows for potatoes and maize to make their way into California, it would change everything. Modern Bakersfield is on the Kern River, which unlike the vast connectivity of the San Joaquin further north, is of little commercial value as far as trading goes, but would be the locus of a southern valley society that would eventually become a vital stop on a North-South trade route once one is established.
 
Even assuming they do, based on the fact that Andean peoples enthusiastically adopted maize even if it was not their principle crop, I think that this timeline will still see maize adopted in the southwest and east. In the eastern woodlands the Californian crops may even be relegated to second class status in the lower Mississippi valley and neighboring regions when cold-tolerant varieties of maize are developed, since those varieties might be better suited for growing in that wetter region than the California crop package.
It depends, and Andean maize is way different from Mesoamerican maize no?

The issue with maize is it needs lots of nutrients in the soil and lots of water, the deserts of the West probably will prefer amaranth assuming that amaranth is bred to be a good grain and introduced of course.

The sites where modern cities and towns like Sacramento, Stockton, Antioch, Fresno, and Modesto are would become the major settlements, especially once river travel is developed. Flooding will be a constant threat to daily life and I can see this agricultural society developing a profound respect and devotion to the river and the delta, possibly even a religious attachment. Proto-Antioch especially could become very important, since it controls access between the Bay and the Valley. It would be perpetually contested.

Honestly I think the floods may be a little too much, as every century or so all but the tallest hills will be inundated with a massive flood. It would be difficult to develop the infrastructure necessary to build huge water management projects well until the "civilization already exists" phase. I do expect lots of large villages and chiefdoms, but until the population grows enough and there's some mystical semi-legendary king that's basically Yu the Engineer of the North China Plain, or a coastal state begins expanding east and decides dams and such would be good for agriculture and architecture, idk how much "development" there could be.

Lots of people, but lots of death in flood years as the floods would be large and most importantly irregular.
 
California with agriculture would have a larger population and probably more political centralization. It would be very likely to find some use for all that gold. They could have more of it than the Aztecs and Incas combined, a true El Dorado. Unless they are also far better at war they would be conquered very early.
 
Another thread here mentioned chinampas and Lake Tulare. That part of California with the soil and water resources could be very densely populated (as it was OTL by the standards of Northern America). Domesticated tule--for food and especially fibrous materials--could be a result of this sort of aquaculture.

I'd love to see how oak trees would fit into this sort of indigenous California. I imagine their towns as being filled with oak trees of which acorns are harvested from regularly. I wonder how much these oaks in question could be managed/domesticated? Slightly faster growth/earlier production of acorns (say 20 years instead of 25-30), disease resistance, larger/more acorns per tree?

If you can get California silviculture/ these orchards of oak trees to work, I mentioned in another thread that they might be good for making silk from, since there's a moth species where others in same genus are used in India and some other parts of Asia for making silk.
California with agriculture would have a larger population and probably more political centralization. It would be very likely to find some use for all that gold. They could have more of it than the Aztecs and Incas combined, a true El Dorado. Unless they are also far better at war they would be conquered very early.
That's hard to say. There's a decent amount of copper mines, and they're using gold, they're using copper too and will probably eventually make arsenical bronze (I believe the Californian copper ores would result in this). The best source of tin nearby is in the northwest corner of Nevada, so trade routes with desert dwellers should eventually result in this discovery.

So now you have a Bronze Age civilization in the area, or at least the foundation of something which could be a Bronze Age civilization.
 
Don't forget the Salinas Valley, "the salad bowl of the world", one of the most productive agriculture areas in the US if not the world. Lots of oaks for acorns, wild cress, mushrooms, miners lettuce, elderberries (not sure if they are native), pine nuts, wild mustard, wild fennel, prickly pear, wild strawberries and other native foods that can be exploited and some can be planted as crops.

I live in the upper part of the watershed and forage for some of those crops when they are in season. If you forage, make sure you get permission from the property owner first.

Thank You,
MrBill
 
That's hard to say. There's a decent amount of copper mines, and they're using gold, they're using copper too and will probably eventually make arsenical bronze (I believe the Californian copper ores would result in this). The best source of tin nearby is in the northwest corner of Nevada, so trade routes with desert dwellers should eventually result in this discovery.

So now you have a Bronze Age civilization in the area, or at least the foundation of something which could be a Bronze Age civilization.

Any source on California arsenic copper ore? AFAIK most of the copper is in north eastern California and there were a few tin mines in LA and Riverside. Best place for a bronze age civilization in the US would be the Southwest. Arizona has the bulk of US copper deposits, with major mines near Tuscon. Meanwhile the only major American tin mine outside Alaska is at El Paso.
 
Any source on California arsenic copper ore? AFAIK most of the copper is in north eastern California and there were a few tin mines in LA and Riverside. Best place for a bronze age civilization in the US would be the Southwest. Arizona has the bulk of US copper deposits, with major mines near Tuscon. Meanwhile the only major American tin mine outside Alaska is at El Paso.
Major tin mines, but smaller tin mines existed historically in Nevada. There'd definitely be some long distance trade for tin, maybe by sea to northwest Mexico or interior to Nevada.

Arsenical copper ores occur at several mines in California (Shasta County and near the Nevada border), according to searching the minerals in question on Mindat. Since Shasta County is pretty rich in copper and near enough the Sacramento Valley, that's where you'd likely start with your arsenical bronze. Although Nevada is richer in arsenical ores.
 

SwampTiger

Banned
The Paiute were more horticultural, if that. No real evidence of developing improved wild strains of plants. The real problem of this type of ditch irrigation is the increasing of water surface area in an arid environment, resulting in high water evaporation. Similar systems are seen in the Four Corners Pueblo predecessors. These were true agriculturalists utilizing a similar irrigation process. This system proved inadequate during extreme drought.

Taboose, Cyerus Esculentus is an introduced plant. The Paiute apparently gained access to the plant after Spanish colonization. I am certain better adapted local plants were available.

The chinampa system, or something similar, does not increase the water surface, but reduces it. Water depth is increased by digging out the channels from the lake/pond bottom to place on the growing beds. This system, with added wind breaking trees, creates higher humidity micro environments, allowing more variety of plants to grow within the same area in higher numbers. The true agriculturalists chose plants with specific qualities and developed these qualities.

Could the Paiute or neighboring tribes have developed agriculture? Of course. Some Pueblo language families are related to the Paiutes, as are the Aztec. These tribes developed agriculture in similarly arid environments. I just don't see such a development from what little I see of this Paiute group.
 
I once said commercial fishing is professional hunting gathering. The people of the PNW had a mostly fish based diet, the earliest New World civilization, the Norte Chico heavily depended on maritime food sources in addition to crops. Could there be a similar California civilization?

Down south the Chumash built plank boats using washed up redwood trees. In northern California people would have access to whole redwood forests. If they built catamarans of dugout redwood trees they would dwarf anything the Polynesians could make.
 
I once said commercial fishing is professional hunting gathering. The people of the PNW had a mostly fish based diet, the earliest New World civilization, the Norte Chico heavily depended on maritime food sources in addition to crops. Could there be a similar California civilization?

Down south the Chumash built plank boats using washed up redwood trees. In northern California people would have access to whole redwood forests. If they built catamarans of dugout redwood trees they would dwarf anything the Polynesians could make.

Fishing the sea would probably gradually lessen in importance but the thrice-annually salmon runs would be rather important for awhile I would imagine.

Plus the (formerly) widespread Sacramento Perch (Archoplites interruptus) fish is suuuuuper convenient for aquaculture.
 
The Paiute were more horticultural, if that. No real evidence of developing improved wild strains of plants. The real problem of this type of ditch irrigation is the increasing of water surface area in an arid environment, resulting in high water evaporation. Similar systems are seen in the Four Corners Pueblo predecessors. These were true agriculturalists utilizing a similar irrigation process. This system proved inadequate during extreme drought.

Taboose, Cyerus Esculentus is an introduced plant. The Paiute apparently gained access to the plant after Spanish colonization. I am certain better adapted local plants were available.

The chinampa system, or something similar, does not increase the water surface, but reduces it. Water depth is increased by digging out the channels from the lake/pond bottom to place on the growing beds. This system, with added wind breaking trees, creates higher humidity micro environments, allowing more variety of plants to grow within the same area in higher numbers. The true agriculturalists chose plants with specific qualities and developed these qualities.

Could the Paiute or neighboring tribes have developed agriculture? Of course. Some Pueblo language families are related to the Paiutes, as are the Aztec. These tribes developed agriculture in similarly arid environments. I just don't see such a development from what little I see of this Paiute group.

Cyperus Esculentus was found at Sandy Hill excavation site at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Connecticut at 9kya. It was and is found throughout the Americas before europeans.

Secondly, Chufa has the world's greatest caloric return per sq meter of all known crops and has arguably the highest potential of cropping with a 70-150 day growing season.

Its use throughout the Americas could provide much opportunity for Californians whose land throughout the valley could allow its proliferation in conjunction with blue dick and other geophytes.
 

SwampTiger

Banned
I stand corrected. The Owens Valley Paiute did use Cyperus Esculentus at two sites within 600 years of contact. However, it was not a major food resource used by the Paiute. The Paiute were a hunter-gathering level of culture with incipient horticulture at contact. The Owens Valley Paiute were in a great location for early agriculture. They were at an incipient stage for horticulture at contact.

Really, any group in a river/lake valley with developed horticultural techniques could have used chinampa types of field preparation. Water control structures in the form of dams, canals, weirs and bulkheads are easily adapted, once their utility is understood. This will require a certain level of community organization and sedentary settlement pattern.
 
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