Peach Pits and Sheep Bones: Digging into the Columbian Exchange

Read an archaeologist's field notes from two layers of a Pueblo village and trace what crossed the Atlantic.

Field notes

These field notes are imagined, but the kinds of finds are like real ones from sites in New Mexico. Read them. Then answer the questions.

Field Notebook: Site 14, Rio Grande Valley

1June 3. Our team is digging a trash mound beside the ruins of a Pueblo village in what is now New Mexico. Pueblo peoples, such as the Tewa and the Keres, still live in many communities along the Rio Grande today. A trash mound is a gift to archaeologists, because people threw away food scraps, broken tools and pottery there for centuries. We can see two main layers. The lower layer comes from before 1598, the year Spanish colonists arrived in this region. The upper layer comes from the 1600s. Tree rings in roof beams from the rooms nearby, and pieces of Spanish-style glazed pottery, help us date it.

2June 5. Lower layer finds: burned corn cobs, bean and squash seeds, bits of cotton cloth, turkey bones, and bones of deer and rabbits. We also found stone knives and grinding stones. So far there is no metal of any kind, and no bones of sheep, goats, cattle or horses. Peoples of the Americas had grown maize, beans and squash for thousands of years.

3June 9. Upper layer finds: sheep and goat bones, a few cattle bones, grains of wheat, about a dozen peach pits and part of an iron knife blade. These animals, crops and iron tools came from the Eastern Hemisphere with the Spanish. Corn cobs are still the most common plant remains in this layer, and turkey bones still turn up.

4June 12. Archive day. I read copies of mission records from the 1600s, written by Spanish priests. They describe epidemics that killed many people in the pueblos. Back at the site, we found that several rooms from the 1600s had been left empty and slowly filled with windblown sand. Diseases from the Eastern Hemisphere, such as smallpox and measles, were new to the Americas, and Native peoples had never built up resistance to them. Hunger and violence under Spanish rule took lives too. Estimates vary widely, but many historians think the Native population of the Americas fell by more than half in the century after 1492.

5June 14. Thinking beyond Site 14. The exchange ran in both directions. Maize from the Americas became an important food in parts of Africa and Asia. Potatoes from the Andes became a main crop in parts of Europe, and tomatoes from the Americas changed Italian cooking. Cacao, used to make chocolate, traveled from the Americas to Europe. Horses, which arrived with the Spanish, spread north to the Great Plains, where peoples such as the Comanche and the Lakota became skilled riders.

Why is comparing the two layers useful for studying the Columbian Exchange?

A. The upper layer is older, so it shows life before the Spanish.
B. Both layers come from the same year, so they can be compared easily.
C. The layers come from before and after the Spanish arrived.
D. Only the lower layer has food remains in it.

Which find would most surprise the team if they dug it out of the LOWER layer?

A. A burned corn cob
B. An iron knife blade
C. A squash seed
D. A turkey bone

Sort each item by the way it traveled in the Columbian Exchange.

PeachesPotatoesSheepCacaoSmallpoxTomatoesWheatMaize

Eastern Hemisphere → Americas	Americas → Eastern Hemisphere

In the upper layer, corn cobs are still the most common plant remains. What does this suggest?

A. The village farmers added new foods but kept their old main crop.
B. People in the village stopped farming after 1598.
C. The Spanish did not allow the village to grow any wheat.
D. Corn had just arrived from the Eastern Hemisphere.

Circle the sentence from the June 12 entry that is evidence found at the SITE itself, not in written records.

They describe epidemics that killed many people in the pueblos.Back at the site, we found that several rooms from the 1600s had been left empty and slowly filled with windblown sand.Hunger and violence under Spanish rule took lives too.Estimates vary widely, but many historians think the Native population of the Americas fell by more than half in the century after 1492.

The mission records were written by Spanish priests. What is one limit of using them as the only source on the epidemics?

A. They were written by archaeologists centuries later.
B. They may not tell how Pueblo people themselves saw the events.
C. Priests in the 1600s could not write or keep records.
D. They describe the years before the Spanish arrived.

What changed

Use the table and the field notes.

Some Travelers in the Columbian Exchange
Item	Started in	Spread to (examples)
Maize	Americas	Africa, Asia, Europe
Potato	Andes, South America	Europe, Asia
Horse	Eastern Hemisphere	Americas, incl. Great Plains
Sheep	Eastern Hemisphere	Americas, incl. Southwest
Smallpox	Eastern Hemisphere	Americas

Why did diseases such as smallpox kill so many people in the Americas after 1492?

A. The diseases first began in the Americas.
B. Smallpox spread mainly among people who farmed.
C. Native peoples had no earlier exposure to them.
D. Native healers knew little about treating illness.

Around 1700, a people on the Great Plains began to use horses. Which change would most likely follow?

A. They could follow and hunt bison over much longer distances.
B. They would trade their horses back to Spain for potatoes.
C. They would move to the Andes to farm terraces.
D. They would stop hunting and grow wheat instead.

Draw a line from each traveler to one result described in the field notes.

Potatoes
Sheep
Smallpox
Horses

A. Skilled riders among the Comanche and Lakota
B. New animal bones in the upper layer
C. Epidemics that left rooms in pueblos empty
D. A main crop in parts of Europe

10.

Which statement best sums up the Columbian Exchange as the field notes show it?

A. Goods moved mainly from Europe to the Americas, bringing gains.
B. Native peoples gave up their own crops once new ones came.
C. The exchange changed diets in Europe but not in the Americas.
D. Living things and diseases moved both ways, with gains and losses.

11.

Claim: The Columbian Exchange brought the people of this Pueblo village both new resources and terrible losses. Do you agree? Use at least two finds or records from the field notes as evidence, and explain your reasoning.