Another cultivated legume, peanut/maní , was domesticated in South America in the prehispanic era, likely in eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina, Paraguay, and Southern Brazil , where its cultivation then spread across South America. Peanuts are best suited to sandy, well-drained loamy soils; for optimal yields, peanuts require steady, warm temperatures and only a moderate amount of water, as well as a four to five month growing period . The optimal growing ranges for peanuts in the Andes range from approximately 0 to 1,000 masl . Along with other members of the Fabaceae family, peanuts would have been beneficial for their nitrogen-fixing properties when planted in fields alongside other cultigens. High in protein, peanuts were prepared and consumed in a multitude of ways: roasted, fried, salted, boiled, and ground, used as additives in sauces and in some cases for chicha production . While various scholars consider peanuts to be a luxury item primarily associated with elite contexts, the widespread nature of this practice is not particularly well understood. Milk also can be extracted from peanuts in a manner similar to almond milk; peanut milk, along with pressed peanut oil, was used for a variety of medicinal purposes, including to treat 140hemorrhoids, as a laxative, and to soothe colicky infants . Cotton/algodónwas cultivated widely along the coast and in the Amazon in the prehispanic era, primarily for its vegetable seed fiber, the raw material for a large volume of textile products . Domesticated in the Preceramic Period ca. 2600 B.C., cotton domestication, along with squashes/gourds and other root crops, was underway in northern Peru before maize arrived . Aside from its primary economic use in textile production, oil from pressed cotton seeds also is consumed, and cotton seeds, leaves, and fibers possess a variety of medicinal uses, including as a diuretic, to treat hemorrhoids, dental abscesses, ear aches, coughs, and fevers . Irrigated fields in coastal yunga zones are ideal for growing cotton, as cottons are sun-loving plants, but cultivation requires an abundance of water. The highlands are too cold and the eastern slopes of the Andes generally are too humid for the plant to thrive . Newly planted fields yield their first crops after approximately eight months growth; however,mobile grow system the best fibers are harvested from plants that are four or five years old .
Gourd/mate , along with cotton, was domesticated in the Preceramic Period and served primarily as an industrial plant. On the Peruvian coast, evidence for domesticated bottle gourd comes from the Middle Preceramic Siches Complex , and from the La Paloma site in the Chilca Valley of central Peru ; squash, guava, and Phaseolus beans also were documented at La Paloma . The flesh generally is too bitter to eat , but gourds generally are used to make durable containers and floats. Although ubiquitous in the archaeological record, gourd is not a New World native. Rather, it is believed that African gourds were washed out to sea in the Atlantic and floated to coastal Brazil or northern South America . Bottle gourds can be grown throughout the tropics, subtropics, and into the temperate zone. Cultivated widely in the prehispanic era on the coast of Peru, gourd remains have been documented at several Preceramic cites including Huaca Prieta in the Chicama Valley and Guanape in the Virú Valley of northern Peru and at the Buena Vista site in the Chillón Valley of central Peru . An artistic tradition that continues in Peru today is elaborate gourd carving. This practice has great antiquity; indeed, remains of mates buriladoswere recovered from the Preceramic component at Huaca Prieta in the Chicama Valley in Junius Bird’s 1946 excavations. Bird describes the remains of 15 gourds, some dated to 2,000 B.C., with Z-shaped and anthromorphic carvings . Potato/papais cultivated in the Andes from sea level to 4,000 masl . Andean potato crops are renowned for their immense diversity, with seven domesticated species and several thousand land races, as well numerous closely affiliated wild relatives. The potato complex is spread across the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, with early potato cultivation beginning approximately 7,000 years ago . Today, the diversity of potatoes is clustered in the eastern Andean valleys and uplands of south-central Peru and north-central Bolivia, i.e., from the Huancayo and Ayacucho highlands southward to the Cochabamba and Potosí sierras. In many parts of the Andes, growers rotate their potatoes and other crops among scattered field plots, typically sowing potato fields for 1-3 years before rotating the planting to another site .
As environmental factors including pests, diseases, weeds, climate hazards , and soil conditions are common, Andean farmers typically attempt to reduce crop losses by relying on potatoes with broad habitat tolerances . Sammells notes specifically that in highland Bolivia, women plant potatoes, but in rare instances, if no women are available, men will do so. Potatoes are prepared and consumed in a variety of ways, including roasted, boiled, steamed, or freeze-dried into chuño . Potatoes are a common ingredient in soups and stews in Andean cuisine.In addition to consuming the potato tuber for food, the leafy plant of the potato can be cut and fed to animals . Several varieties of squash/zapallowere cultivated during the prehispanic era in Peru, including pumpkin , butternut squash , and winter squash . The domesticated squashes were derived from separate ancestral species; C. maxima may be derived from a wild ancestor C. andreana, found today in Uruguay and Argentina . Remains of squash seeds have been recovered from Peruvian coastal sites dating to ca. 1800 B.C., and C. moschata seeds have been documented in coastal burials dating to 1100 B.C. . Squashes can be cultivated in a variety of climates, including the tropical desert, subtropics, temperate zones, and tropics, but require good soil fertility with abundant organic material . Aside from their technological uses, squash and gourd fruits are edible when eaten young and consumed in many forms, including stews, compotes, and purees; squash flesh is also pickled, and seeds are roasted or toasted. Squashes have a variety of other uses as well, including ornamental ; medicinal ; and as an antiparasitic agent for livestock. Studies have demonstrated that administering ground squash seeds to livestock has proven effective as a form of parasite control ; it is possible that such a veterinary use could have been used in the prehispanic era as well. A number of fruits were recovered in the five archaeological assemblages; these fruits are actively managed in the Moche Valley today or grow wild in the local vegetation. There are many known uses for each, either as food, beverage, medicine, or dye, which I discuss below. Small seeds of fleshy fruits are less likely to be recovered in archaeological assemblages as they are often consumed in their entirety with the fruit; however, seeds from a fleshy fruits including opuntia , elderberry/sauco , golden berry/aguaymanto , passion fruit/maracuyá , and a member of the genus Prunusare present in the assemblages.
Other tree fruits are present in the assemblage as well, in the form of both seeds and rind fragments, including avocado/palta , guava/guayaba , lucuma/lúcuma , and pacay/pacae . When Andean scholars refer to agriculture, they often discuss field cultivation, of maize, beans, cotton, etc.; however, the process of clearing, cultivating and fallowing fields is also tied to choices made with respect to tree management. Tree crop management was an important part of pre-Columbian farming systems; on-farm tree planting has been documented ethnographically in the Andes , and more broadly in tropical agricultural systems in the Americas . Indeed, fruit trees are cultivated along the edges of fields and along canals in the Moche Valley today, as well as in house gardens . Active tree management produces additional comestible resources for communities, and also can provide an alternative or addition to fuel wood and fodder collected from common forests. Certain fruit trees also had elevated importance in Andean cosmologies, as documented for the Inka . Avocado/paltais a cultivated tree with many varieties, distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical Americas, including along the coast, Amazon, and in interande an valleys. Avocado trees required well-drained sandy soils, and spacing is critical to ensure productive crops; avocados trees should be adequately spaced apart so that they are exposed to full sun. Production begins at 5-15 years, and some trees can produce up to 300 fruits . Cultivated primarily for their edible fruits; avocado fruits are very nutritious. They are high in fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins A, B, C, and E. Avocados have a wide variety of uses aside from their comestible use, from cosmetic to medicinal. The pulp of the fruit can be applied as a face mask, and both the fruit pulp and leaves have known medicinal properties from ranging from antidiarrheal,mobile vertical rack anti-diabetic, to analgesic. The ingestion of great quantities of avocado seeds also can serve as an abortive agent. Furthermore, avocado tree hardwoods can be used to make tools . Guava/guayaba is native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America and are distributed throughout the tropical Americas. Cultivated in humid and dry climates, guavas can be grown up to 1,200 masl.The fruits are consumed raw, but as guava fruits contain high levels of pectin, present day uses in Peru include preparing the fruit into marmalades, jams, and ice creams . Guavas are rich in dietary fiber, folic acid, and vitamin C; indeed, a single guava fruit contains four times the amount of vitamin C as an orange .
Guava also has some documented medical uses, often in the form of infusions prepared with leaves from the guava tree, to treat a range of maladies from gastritris to conjunctivitis to menstrual cramps . Guava tree hardwoods are also used to manufacture wooden tools . Lucuma/Lúcumatrees are distributed throughout the Peruvian coast and highlands, as well as the highland Amazon; indeed, lucuma trees can be cultivated up to 3,000 masl. Adapted to various soils, lucuma trees are most productive when planted in rows spaced 4-5 m apart, and are suitable for mixed cultivation, as they are good shade trees. Production begins at 4-5 years; one tree can produce some 300 fruits and they produce for more than 60 years . Lucuma trees were cultivated in the prehispanic era , with fruits consumed fresh or dried and ground into powder. Lucuma also possesses a range of medicinalproperties, used to combat anemia, to treat skin infections, and as an antidiarrheal. Lucuma trees also produce good quality hardwoods used for tools and other artifacts . Pacay/Pacae trees can be cultivated on the coast, in the highlands, and in the jungle up to 3,000 masl . Like other members of the Fabaceae family, including common beans and lima beans , pacay trees produce abundant root nodules that fix nitrogen; thus, their cultivation benefits the land by increasing fertility levels. They require year round irrigation so are generally grown near river banks or canals, but they produce in abundance, are tolerant of diverse soils, and are resistant to disease and fire . Referred to as “ice cream bean” for its sweet, edible white pulp, pacay fruit is eaten fresh, and also has known medicinal properties ranging from digestive relief to skin cancer treatment. Pacay hardwoods were also used to make wooden tools . Pacay trees were cultivated widely in Peru during the prehispanic era , and pacay fruits are represented in in the Moche sculptural vessel canon . Other Fruits Elderberry/Saucois native to the Andes , and grows up to 3,000 masl. Requiring deep soil and a lot of water, elderberry plants thrive near irrigation canals. Aside from their comestible uses, elderberries have known magical and medicinal properties, including as an aphrodisiac, purgative, expectorant, antitussive, and diuretic. Juice from elderberry fruits also can be applied as an insecticide . Golden berry/aguaymantois native to Peru and is distributed throughout the coast, highlands, and Amazonian region up to 2,000 masl . Cultivated during the prehispanic era, golden berries can be eaten raw, pressed into juice, or dried, and possess many nutritive properties. Since the colonial era, it has been widely introduced into cultivation into other tropical, subtropical, and temperate areas, including China, India, and Malaysia .