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Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest describes the agricultural practices of the Indians inhabiting the American Southwest, which includes the states of Arizona and New Mexico plus portions of surrounding states and neighboring Mexico. Maize (corn) was the dominant crop. Introduced from Mesoamerica, it was first cultivated in the Southwest about 2100 BCE. Sedentary cultures based on farming developed afterwards including the Hohokam, Mogollon, Anasazi, and Patayan. Due to a deficiency in precipitation throughout the region, irrigation and several techniques of water harvesting and conservation were essential for successful agriculture. ==Earliest agriculture== Although it is possible that Indians grew several native plants such as gourds and chenopods at very early dates, the first evidence of maize cultivation in the Southwest dates from about 2100 BCE. Small, primitive maize cobs have been found at five different sites in New Mexico and Arizona. The climatic range of the sites is wide as they range from the Tucson basin in the Arizona desert, at an elevation of 700 m (2300 ft), to a rocky cave on the Colorado plateau at 2200 m (7200 ft). That suggests that the primitive maize they grew was already adapted to being grown in both hot and dry and short-season climates.〔Merrill, William L. et al, "The Diffusion of Maize to the Southwestern United States and its Impact." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.'' Vol. 106, No. 50 (December 15, 2009), pp. 21019-21020〕 Maize reached the Southwest via an unknown route from Mexico. Its diffusion was relatively rapid. One theory is that the maize cultivation was carried northward from central Mexico by migrating farmers, most likely speakers of a Uto-Aztecan language. Another theory, more accepted among scholars, is that maize was diffused northward from group to group rather than migrants. The first cultivation of maize in the Southwest came during a climatic period when precipitation was relatively high. Although maize cultivation spread rapidly in the Southwest, the hunter-gatherers living in the region did not immediately adopt it as their primary source of nutrition, but rather integrated maize cultivation as one element, initially a minor element, in their foraging strategy. Hunter-gatherers usually exploit a broad spectrum of food sources to minimize risk in the event that one or more of their principal sources of food fails.〔Merrill, et al, p. 21024〕 Pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer bands were typically small, comprising only 10-50 members, although several bands joined together on occasion for ceremonies or mutual cooperation. As maize cultivation became more important, communities became larger and more settled, although hunting and gathering wild foods remained important. Several of the agricultural towns in the Southwest, such as Casa Grande and Casas Grandes plus Pueblo and Opata settlements may have had populations of 2,000 or more at the peak of their influence. Many more people lived in smaller satellite settlements of 200 to 300 people each or in isolated settlements. It is a mystery why maize cultivation in the Southwest predates by many centuries maize cultivation in the eastern United States which has a much more favorable climate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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