Domestication of Sweet Potato in Peru
c. 8000 BCE · Prehistoric
Carbonized remains of sweet potato recovered from caves in the Chilca Canyon of south-central coastal Peru represent some of the earliest evidence of this tuber's use by humans. Radiocarbon dating of specimens from the Tres Ventanas cave yielded dates of approximately 8080 BCE. Whether these remains reflect wild harvesting or deliberate cultivation at this early date remains debated, as clear evidence of systematic sweet potato farming in Peru appears millennia later, around 2500-750 BCE.
Locations
Chilca Canyon, Peru
Topics
radiocarbon datingarchaeobotanytuber domesticationAndean agricultureplant cultivationfood origins
Connected Events — 4 Connections
Parallel process of successful crop domestication and oceanic transfer Banana Cultivation Introduced to East Africa
Sweet potato domesticated in South America later spread to Polynesia, providing evidence of trans-Pacific contact around 1200 CE Polynesians Make Contact with South America
Sweet potato use in Peru represents an independent trajectory of plant domestication during the Neolithic transition The Agricultural Revolution
Heyerdahl's raft voyage demonstrated the feasibility of contact that sweet potato distribution between South America and Polynesia had implied Kon-Tiki Raft Crosses the Pacific Ocean
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