XVI International Botanical Congess

Cucurbita pepo may be the oldest cultivated plant of eastern North America where it is known over a wide region from mid-Holocene archaeological sites (as early as 7300 BP). Genetic studies on modern material support an interpretation that this was a center of domestication distinct from the Mesoamerican center, and that present-day scallop-form, crookneck, and acorn squash cultivars and many fancy gourd types have eastern North American ancestry. The mid-Holocene archaeological specimens are carbonized rind and kernel fragments unsuited for a morphologically based assessment of their wild or domesticate status. From the past and present distribution and ecology of free-living wild/weedy C. pepo, one can reasonably infer that the mid-Holocene distribution reflects intentional human dissemination, probably because the (bitter?) fruits were used as containers, rattles, and floats.