EarliestCucurbitafrom the Great Lakes, Northern USA

AbstractDirectly datedCucurbitafrom archaeological sites near Lake Huron expand the range and human usage of adventive, cultivated wild gourds or squash into the Great Lakes region, USA, by 400014C yr BP. The data also show that domesticatedC. peposquash was cultivated there by 300014C yr BP. Although milder Hypsithermal climate may have been a contributing factor, squash and gourds expanded northward during the mid-Holocene mainly by human agency and may be the first human-introduced adventive plant in temperate North America. Even after 300014C yr BP, when domesticated squash generally replaced wild varieties at northern sites, squash stands were probably informally managed rather than intensively cultivated.