Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Pre-Columbian distribution of the bottle gourd (Lagenaria sicerarid): A Re-evaluation

  • Published:
Economic Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Conclusion

Recently, Whitaker (1971: 327) has reaffirmed his position that the bottle gourd is indigenous to Africa and may have been diffused either by transoceanic drift or by human transport. The evidence elaborated herein, however, supports the conclusions that (1)Lagenaria is not a monotypic genus and had an ancient pantropical distribution; (2) human utilization ofLagenaria is at least 15,000 years old in the New World and 12,000 years in the Old World; (3) the early dates for the use ofLagenaria are far too early convincingly to suggest transoceanic diffusion by man, although drifting of gourds from Africa or Asia may have occurred; (4) the earliest use ofLagenaria was probably as a wild plant in the context of a hunting and gathering society; and (5)Lagenaria was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Ames, Oakes. 1939.Economic Annals and Human Cultures. Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, H. H. 1933. Fruits and Other Plants.In: Karanis. The Temples, Coins Hoards, Botanical and Zoological Reports, Seasons 1924–1931. By A. E. R. Boak,University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series, Vol. 30.

  • Bruyere, B. 1937. Rapport sur les Fouilles de Deir el Medineh (1934–1935). Deuxiome Partie: La Necropole de L’Est. InFouilles de L’Institute France due Caire, Vol. 15.

  • Bird, Junius. 1948. Preceramic Cultures in the Chicama and Viru. In A Reappraisal of Peruvian Archaeology by Wendell C. Bennett,Memoir of the Society for American Archaeology, No. II: 21–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1963. Preceramic Art from Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley.Ñawpa Pacha, No.I: 29–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Candolle, Alphonse de. 1885.Origin of Cultivated Plants, Hafner Pub. Co., N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castetter, Edward and Willis H. Bell. 1942.Pima and Papago Indian Agriculture. University of New Mexico Press.

  • Chang, Kwang-Chih. 1968.The Archaeology of Ancient China. Yale University Press.

  • Childe, V. Gordon. 1958.The Dawn of Euroyean Civilization. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coginaux, A. and H. Harms. 1924. Cucurbitaceae curcurbitae cucumerinae.Engler Das Pflanzenreich 4: No.2, Leipzig.

  • Cole, Sonia. 1963.The Prehistory of East Africa. Macmillan Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, H. R. 1956. University of Michigan Radiocarbon Dates I.Science 124: 664–672.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, Hugh C. 1952. A Preliminary Survey of Plant Remains of Tularosa Cave. In Mogollon Cultural Continuity and Change, Paul Martin et al.,Fieldiana: Anthropology 40: 461–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, Hugh C. and Thomas W. Whitaker. 1961. History and Distribution of the Cultivated Cucurbits in the Americas.American Antiquity 26: 469–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1967. Cucurbits from the Techuacan Caves.In: The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley: Vol. 1: Environment and Subsistence edited by Douglas S. Byers. University of Texas Press. Austin and London: 212–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, Ernest S. 1943. Gourd Growers of the South Seas.The Gourd Society of America Ethnological Series No. 2.

  • Emory, Kenneth P. and Y. H. Sinoto. 1961. Oahu Excavations.Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication, No. 49.

  • Emory, Kenneth P. 1928. Archaeology of Nihoa and Necker Islands.Bernice Bishop Museum Bulletin, No. 53.

  • Fagan, Brian. 1970. Hunter-Gatherers at Gwisho. InIntroductory Readings in Archaeology. Edited by Brian Fagan. Little, Brown and Co.: 168–174.

  • Golson, J., R. J. Lampert, J. M. Wheeler and W. R. Ambrose. 1967. A Note on Carbon Dates for Horticulture in the New Guinea Highlands.The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 76, No. 3: 369–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorman, Chester. 1969. Hoabinhian: A Pebble-tool Complex with Early Plant Association in Southeast Asia.Science 163: 671–3.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1971. The Hoabinhian and After: Subsistence Patterns in Southeast Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Recent Periods.World Archaeology 2: 300–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goslin, Robert M. 1957. Food of the Adena People.In: The Adena People No. 2 by William Webb and Raymond S. Baby, Ohio State University Press: 41–46.

  • Griffin, James B. 1951. Some Adena and Hopewell Radiocarbon Dates. In Radiocarbon Dating, edited by Frederick Johnson,Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology, No. 8: 26–29.

  • Guppy, Henry B. 1917.Plants, Seeds and Currents in the West Indies and the Azores. William and Norgate, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, David R. 1967. New Light on Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture: A Review.The Geographical Review 57: 90–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedrick, A. P. 1919. Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants.Report of the New York Experiment Station for the year 1919.

  • Izumi, Seiichi. 1971. The Development of the Formative Culture in the Ceja de Montaña: a Viewpoint Based on the Materials from the Kotosh Site. InDumbarton Oaks Conference on Chavin, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, Washington, D.C. pp. 49–72.

  • Jeffrey, C. 1962. Notes onCuairbitaceae, Including a Proposed New Classification of the Family.Kew Bulletin 15: 337–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiemer, L. 1924.Die Gartempflansen in Alten Agypten. Vol. I., Hamburg.

  • Kobyakova, J. A. 1929/30. The Bottle Gourd.Bulletin of Applied Botanical Genetics and Plant Breeding 23: 475–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanning, Edward P. 1967.Peru Before the Incas. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lathrap, Donald W. 1966. Review of Early Formative Period of Coastal Ecuador: The Valdivia and Machalilla Phases, by M. J. Meggers, C. Evans and E. Estrada.American Anthropologist 69: 96–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lathrap, Donald W. 1970.The Upper Amazon. F. A. Praeger, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M. D. and L. S. B. Leakey. 1950.Excavations at the Njoro River Cave. Clarendon Press.

  • Li, Hui-Lin. 1969. The Vegetables of Ancient China.Economic Botany 23: 253–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacNeish, Richard S., A. N. Nelken-Terner and A. G. Cook. 1970.Second Annual Report of the Ayacucho Archaeological Botanical Project. Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, Andover, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangelsdorf, Paul C, Richard S. MacNeish and Gordon R. Willey. 1964. Origins of Agriculture in Middle America. InHandbook of the Middle American Indians edited by Robert West, University of Texas Press: 427–445.

  • Meeuse, A. D. J. 1962. TheCucurbitaceae of South Africa.Bothalia 7: 1–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meggers, Betty J. 1966.Ecuador. F. A. Praeger, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, E. D. 1950. Observations on Cultivated Plants with Reference to Certain American Problems.Ceiba, Vol. I, No. I.

  • —. 1954. The Botany of Cook’s Voyages.Chronica Botanica, Vol. 14, No. 5/6: 161–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newberry, P. E. 1889. On the Vegetable Remains Discovered in the Cemetery of Hawara.In:Hawara, Biahmu and Arsinol by W. M. Flinders, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordenskiold, Erland. 1933. Origin of the Indian Civilizations in South America. InAmerican Aborigines edited by D. Jenness, University of Toronto Press: 247–312.

  • Pathak, G. N. and S. M. Singh. 1950. Genetical Studies inLagenaria. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 10: 28–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philippi, Rudolf A. 1890. Ursprung der in Chile gebauten Kiirbis Arten.Das Ausland, Vol. 63.

  • Pickering, Charles. 1849.The Races of Man and their Geographic Distribution. London.

  • -. 1879.Chronological History of Plants. Boston.

  • Pickersgill, Barbara. 1969. The Archaeological Record of Chili Peppers. (Capsicun spp.) and the Sequence of Plant Domestication in Peru.American Antiquity 34: 54–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, James B. III. 1969.The Preceramic Sequence and the Pleistocene and Post-Pleistocene Climate of Northwest Peru. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois.

  • Rowe, John H. 1966. Diffusionism and Archaeology.American Antiquity 31: 334–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, Carl. 1950. Cultivated Plants of South and Central America. Handbook of the South American Indians,Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143, Vol. 6: 487–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • -. 1952.Agricultural Origins and Dispersals, New York.

  • Schweinfurth, Georg. 1884a. Further Discoveries in the Flora of Ancient Egypt. Nature29: 312–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1884b. Neue Funde auf dem Gebiete der Flora des alten Ägyptens.Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie, Vol. 5: 189–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • -. 1885. Notice sur les Restes de Végetaux de L’Anciénne Égypte Contenus dans une Armoire due Musée de Boulag.Bulletin Institute Egyptian 2nd Series, Vol. 5, Le Caire.

  • Sinoto, Yosihiko. 1966. A Tentative Prehistoric Cultural Sequence in the Northern Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia,Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 75:287–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speck, Frank G. 1941. Gourds of the Southeastern Indians.The Gourd Society of America Ethnographical Series No. I. Sterns, F. A. 1917. Darfur Gourds.Harvard African Studies, Vol. I: 193–198.

  • Suggs, Robert C. 1961. The Archaeology of Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 49, Part I.

  • Täckholm, Vivi. 1961. Botanical Identification of the Plants found at the Monastery of Phoebammon. InLa Monastere de Phoebammon dans La Thebaide, by Charles Eachatly, Vol. 3: 1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Täckholm, Vivi and Gunner Täckholm. 1941. Flora of Egypt No. I.Bulletin of the Faculty of Science, No. 17, Fouad I University Press (Cairo University).

  • Thompson, R. C. 1949.A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany. British Academy, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unger, Franz. 1860. On the Principal Plants Used as Food by Man. Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Patents for 1858: Agriculture: 299–362.

  • Watson, Patty J. 1969. The Prehistory of Salts Cave, Kentucky.Reports of Investigations No. 16, Illinois State Museum.

  • Whitaker, Thomas W. 1948.Lagenaria: A Pre-Columbia Cultivated Plant in the Americas.Southivestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. I: 49–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1957. ArchaeologicalCucurbitacae from a Cave in Southern Baja California,ibid, Vol. 13, No. 2: 144–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • -. 1971. Endemism and Pre-Columbian Migration of the Bottle Gourd,Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. InMen Across the Sea, edited by J. Charles Kelley, C. W. Pennington and R. L. Rands. University of Texas Press, pp. 320–327.

  • Whitaker, Thomas W. and Junius Bird. 1949. Identification and Significance of the Cucurbit Materials from Huaca Prieta, Peru.American Museum Novitates, No. 1426: 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitaker, Thomas W. and George F. Carter. 1954. Oceanic Drift of Gourds: Experimental Observations.American Journal of Botany, Vol. 41, No. 9: 697–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1961. Note on the Longevity of Seeds ofLagenaria siceraria after Floating in Water.Torry Botanical Club Bulletin, Vol. 88, No. 2: 104–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitaker, Thomas W., Hugh C. Cutler and Richard S. MacNeish. 1957. Cucurbit Materials from Three Caves near Ocampo, Tamaulipas.American Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 4: 352–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, J. G. 1966.Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns, 7th ed., revised. Cambridge University Press.

  • Winlock, H. E. and W. E. Crum. 1926. The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes. Part I.Publication of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian Expedition.

  • Wormington, Marie H. 1953. Origins: Indigenous Period.Instituto Panamericano de Geografia o Historia, No. 153. Yarnell, Richard. 1964. Aboriginal Relationships between Culture and Plant Life in the Upper Great Lakes Region.Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Anthropology, Universtiy of Michigan, No. 23.

  • Zeuner, Frederic E. 1954. Cultivation of Plants. InHistory of Technology, Vol. I. Edited by Charles Singer, et al., Oxford University Press, London: 353–375.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    James B. Richardson

Authors
  1. James B. Richardson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Richardson, J.B. The Pre-Columbian distribution of the bottle gourd (Lagenaria sicerarid): A Re-evaluation. Econ Bot 26, 265–273 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861040

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861040

Keywords

Search

Navigation