Despite the fact that small seeds are often inefficient to exploit, they are consumed and sometimes cultivated in many parts of the world, including eastern North America. Foraging models predict that seeds are likely to be utilized only if preferred resources become scarce, or if their own profitability is increased through processes such as domestication or technological innovation. Ethnographic, experimental, and nutritional studies of the small grains used prehistoric ally in eastern North America suggest that they offered low rates of return (measured as energy per unit time spent) compared to many alterna tive resources. These estimates rely on the assumption that some degree of post-harvest processing was required to make seed foods palatable and nutritious. That this assumption is reasonable is supported by archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence from rockshelters in eastern Kentucky. Resource stress and technological innovation are unlikely explanations for the adoption of such low-ranking resources in this region around 3500 B.P. However, estimation of return rates does not take account of the lowered significance of time costs in the winter season, when seed processing could take place with little competition from other productive tasks. The timing of the adoption of small seeds also reflects historical factors such as spatial distribution of plant populations and habitats. /// A pesar de que la explotación de semillas pequenas no suele ser eficiente, aún se consumen y cultivan en varias partes del mundo, incluso en la zona este de América del Norte. Los modelos de predicción de forraje sugieren que la explotación de semillas tiene lugar sólo cuando escasean otros recursos naturales preferidos o cuando se puede incrementar su productividad mediante procesos locales o avances tecnológicos. Estudios etnográficos, experimentales y nutricionales sobre los granospequeños utilizados en la época prehistórica en la zona este de America del Norte, demuestran que dichos granos generaban un bajo índice de rendimiento (medido en términos de la energía producida por cada unidad de tiempo utilizada) en comparación con otros recursos. Este cálculo supone que era necesario realizar cierto nivel de procesamiento luego de la cosecha, de modo que el alimento basado en semillas resultara nutritivo y agradable al paladar. Esta suposición está basada en descubrimientos arqueológicos, antropológicos y biológicos realizados en la region rocosa del este de Kentucky. Résulta poco probable que la razón por la que se adoptó dicho recurso tan precario esté relacionada con la escasez de recursos o las innovaciones tecnológicas de unos 3500 años atrás. Por otra parte, el cálculo del índice de rendimiento no toma en cuenta el costo de la unidad de tiempo durante los meses del invierno, cuando el procesamiento de semillas se podría realizar sin mayor competencia por parte de otros sectores de producción. La decisión oportuna de cosechar semillas pequeñas está también relacionada con ciertos factores históricos, como la distribución espacial de las plantas y sus hábitats.
Since 1935 American Antiquity has published original papers on the archaeology of the New World and on archaeological method, theory, and practice worldwide. Beginning in 1990, most papers on the archaeology and prehistory of Latin America appear in the Society for American Archaeology's Latin American Antiquity.
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