The maize from Black Dog Cave: Testing the concept of races of maize in the American Southwest
Maize cobs from Black Dog Cave, a Virgin Anasazi Cave site near modern Moapa, Nevada, were measured for twelve morphological characters. Plants, ears, and tassels from living maize plants grown for this study at Las Vegas, Nevada were measured and compared quantitatively to four sets of data: the maize from the cave, a mathematical synthesis of archaeological maize from sites all over the American Southwest, quantifications during living maize races of the Southwest, and statistics from isozyme studies. Comparisons of all data indicate: the Virgin Anasazi raised the flinty Onaveno variant of Basketmaker maize; maize grows differently and environmental selection is extremely strong in the hot, lowland Southwest; new descriptive measurements presented here define the Southwest maize races Pueblo and Pima-Papago for the first time; a Basketmaker II Anasazi presence is established in the desert lowlands; and the maize race Pepitilla is the probable ancestor of Fremont Dent maize.
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