Mid-Holocene Evidence ofCucurbitaSp. from Central Maine

Abstract

A fragmentary specimen of Cucurbita sp. has been recovered from an early context at the Sharrow site in central Maine. Directly dated to the mid-Holocene epoch on the basis of an accelerator mass spectrometer assay of 5695 ± 100 B.P. (AA-7491), this squash or gourd represents one of the earliest such finds in eastern North America. It greatly expands the distribution of mid-Holocene Cucurbita beyond previous finds in the Midwest, Midsouth, and Southeast. Three alternative hypotheses derived from this discovery are that (1) Cucurbita represents a previously unrecognized native plant in the far Northeast; (2) it was present in Maine as a trade item or an unintentional introduction; or (3) it was present as the result of early cultivation, whether introduced from Mesoamerica or elsewhere in eastern North American outside of Maine. Current evidence suggests that the first two hypotheses are unlikely. This leaves open the possibility that the presence of early Cucurbita at the Sharrow site represents the introduction of a cultivated plant into Maine during the mid-Holocene.