Marginal Horticulturalists or Maize Agriculturalists? Archaeobotanical, Paleopathological, and Isotopic Evidence Relating to Langford Tradition Maize Consumption

Abstract Langford Tradition horticulture was long viewed as representing a marginalized form of Middle Mississippian agriculture resulting from an adaptation to the less fertile landscapes and marginal climatic conditions of northern Illinois. This adaptation was characterized as involving semi-sedentary maize horticulture combined with an intensive use of wild game and plants. Until recently direct evidence for reconstructing Langford diet and subsistence practices had been limited. In this first systematic study of the specific evidence of Langford maize consumption from archaeology, paleopathology, archaeobotany, and isotopic studies we suggest that these people are best characterized as maize dependent agriculturalists. If maize was universally available in the Midwest by at least A.D. 900 … why did the Oneota not practice agriculture with the same flourish as their nearby Middle Mississippian neighbors?—John P. Hart (1990)