Valley of the Gods, Bears Ear National Monument, Utah, where the Pueblo peoples practiced a form of sustainable agriculture long ago. The plants they planted are now being used as a clue for finding other possible archaeological artifacts nearby .
Source: Thoffman / Adobe Stock
Researchers working in the Bears Ears region of southeastern Utah have discovered some fascinating details about the plant-producing practices of the area’s former Pueblo peoples. Led by conservationist Bruce Pavlik, a team of plant scientists and anthropologists from the University of Utah conducted a survey of 25 archaeological Pueblo peoples’ sites within the boundaries of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument and have now published a highly interesting study of their findings on PNAS.
The Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii) growing in sand at the base of slick rock waterfall, just above site 42SA244, a two-story Pueblo peoples’ cliff dwelling in Bears Ears. The species reproduces only by tubers that have very limited dispersal capability. This situation repeats itself among archaeological sites in southern Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. (Kari Gillen / PNAS)
Culturally Significant Plant Species of the Pueblo Peoples
The latest study focused on artifact-rich locations that had at one time been occupied by the Pueblo peoples of the Colorado Plateau, including the Hopi, Zuni, Utes, and the Navajo (Diné).
The scientists were primarily interested in searching for culturally significant Pueblo peoples’ plant species that grow in the area. Puebloan populations in the region were at their peak 1,000 years ago, and these species would have been used back then and in later years for food, medicine, and ceremonial or religious purposes.
In total, the researchers identified and collected samples from more than 117 species of plant they knew had some significance to ancient and modern indigenous residents related to the Pueblo peoples. All of these species were found in the vicinity of various Puebloan archaeological sites , and other locations in the area were checked to see if the same types of plants could be found outside those sites.
The distribution of these plant species was surprising and revealing. As the scientists explained in their May 17 report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the plant ecology of the landscape appeared to have been shaped by intentional planning.
Many plant species were found growing almost exclusively near the Puebloan archaeological sites, where native groups had settled in large or small populations. In locations away from Pueblo peoples’ settlements, these particular plants were rarely found. Near the biggest and most complex archaeological sites, the researchers found a greater number of different culturally important species, in comparison to smaller sites that had less plant diversity .
“The plants weren’t randomly just there,” Pavlik explained in a University of Utah press release. “People brought propagules [ seeds or buds] of the species in with them.”
The Pueblo peoples of the Colorado Plateau had left behind a clear footprint of their presence. Except in this instance, the artifacts discovered were plants, instead of the usual cultural productions like pottery, tools, or weapons.
“This is one of the rare times in the archeological literature where people invested in native species and brought them to their habitations,” Pavlik continued. “It indicates this higher level of landscape manipulation, what we call ‘an ecological legacy’ of past human occupation.”
Overall, there were at least 31 species that appeared to have been intentionally planted or cultivated in areas where Pueblo peoples lived. There may have been more, but some of the plant species common at archaeological sites were also common in other areas, making it impossible to tell whether they had been planted intentionally or spread there naturally.
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