ABSTRACT
In the case of the tropical lowlands, for example, maize was introduced into subsistence systems that were likely based primarily upon tuber and root resources and tree fruits, rather than on small-seeded annuals. In this chapter, the author discusses a case study from the lowlands of western Ecuador, the Jama Valley Archaeological-Palaeoethnobotanical Project, to illustrate one approach to understanding this complex process of innovation in subsistence. Crop introduction and innovation in subsistence are different processes, and may be widely separated in time and space. Maintaining a broad subsistence base, a natural feature of the lowland forest environment and early subsistence systems, would be highly adaptive in a setting subjected to catastrophic events like tephra fall: the more crops/resources used, the more likely some would be to survive. The changing economic and political conditions in the valley marking the emergence of the Jama-Coaque chiefdom may have provided an impetus for maize production in the context of a broad-based subsistence system.
