Traces of Precolonial Maize Agriculture at the Edge of the North American Subarctic

Recent archaeological research indicates that maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and other domesticated plants were consumed by Indigenous people in boreal North America by at least 500 CE. It is unclear, however, if cultigens were obtained in these northern settings through long-distance trade or local gardening. We address this question through the analysis of plant microfossil assemblages associated with artifacts and features at a cluster of Initial (Middle) and Terminal (Late) Woodland sites in northern Ontario, Canada. The recovery of domesticated plant remains (including maize) from carbonised food residues, grinding stones, and roasting/drying features, imply that domesticated plants were integrated into a wide variety of behavioural contexts and were processed on-site beginning ∼600–700 CE. This evidence suggests that domesticated plants were cultivated locally, rather than sporadically acquired through long-distance trade in finished food products. We further propose that agriculture in this northerly setting functioned as a low-cost supplement to a forager-based economy, facilitated by the positioning of gardens beside manoomin (wild rice, Zizania spp.) stands. Our results imply that precolonial agriculture was more widespread in North America than archaeologists have previously recognised.