Pre-contact agave domesticates: Living legacy plants in Arizona's landscape

Join Wendy Hodgson to learn about agaves and human connections to the plants in Arizona and at the Agua Fria National Monument. 

You can join the presentation two ways:

In person:
Phoenix District Office
2020 E. Bell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85022

Online:
Register online via Microsoft Teams.

About the presentation:

Researchers have long recognized the importance of agaves to Mesoamerica and its cultures, the plants providing food, fiber and beverage. However, their significance to these cultures has overshadowed and distorted the plants’ role for indigenous peoples north of the U.S. - Mexico border. Pre-Columbian farmers grew no less than six and possibly as many as eight or more domesticated agaves in Arizona dating to at least A.D. 600. Because of their longevity and primarily asexual reproduction, relict agave clones have persisted in the landscape to the present, providing an opportunity to study pre-Columbian nutrition, trade, migration and agricultural practices. Additionally, the remnant clones present a rare opportunity to examine domesticates virtually unchanged since they were last cultivated within a prehistoric cultural context. DNA sequence data, in addition to plant morphology, suggests that at least three may have originated in Arizona, suggesting this state as a secondary center of domestication. These discoveries underscore the necessity of viewing landscapes and some plant species from a cultural, rather than “natural,” perspective that may help discern potential cryptic species veiled by traditional taxonomic treatments. Understanding these plants and their ecological/cultural roles requires interdisciplinary collaboration between botanists archaeologists, and Indigenous Peoples.

Part of the Agua Fria National Monument's 25th anniversary celebration.