9408475 Adair This grant permits Dr. Mary Adair to obtain radiocarbon dates on domesticated maize specimens excavated from the archaeological site of Trowbridge. The materials were collected from an ancient trash pit which was excavated by an amateur archaeologist. Ceramics also recovered in the pit suggest a date of Middle Woodland times, ca. A.D. 250-400. However such contextual dating is not definitive and a series of radiocarbon dates on the maize itself will solve the issue. If the material in fact is Middle Woodland, it will represent the earliest domesticated maize found on the Great Plains. Small quantities of maize associated with the late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 700-900) have been recovered but earlier materials are unknown. Archaeologists know that a high degree of social complexity developed in prehistoric North America and that sites such as Cahokia brought together large numbers of people at places that may be termed "cities." They believe that the local domestication of some crops and the importation of others such as maize played a central role in this process. However because floral materials are not well preserved in the archaeological record, it is difficult to substantiate this hypothesis. The Trowbridge maize kernels and cobs which were discovered in an unexpectedly early context will shed new light on this issue and provide data of interest to many archaeologists.
