Utah is home to earliest use of a wild potato in North America
Tuesday, July 4, 2017 - 09:02
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Potato starch residues have been discovered in the crevices of a 10,900-year-old stone tool in Escalante, Utah -- the earliest evidence of wild potato use in North America. This is the first archaeological study to identify Solanum jamesii, a wild species native to the southwestern United States, as an important part of ancient human diets. The long history could mean that the species was transported, cultivated or even domesticated.