Sunflower debate ends in Mexico, researchers say

“The Cueva del Gallo shells are in excellent condition and have unmistakable sunflower traits, removing all doubt about the pre-Columbian presence of domesticated sunflower in Mexico,” Pohl said.

Furthermore, the Mexican sunflower achenes are significantly larger than those from eastern North America providing further evidence that the Mexican domestication was a separate process. One of the achenes was radiocarbon dated to about 300 BC.

Ancient people used the Cueva del Gallo cave for rituals, even bringing their dead to be buried there, Pohl said. Mesoamerican people traditionally believed that caves were the conduit for the passage of the sun beneath the Earth at night and the home of fertility deities as well as the avenue of communication with their ancestors in the Underworld.

“The Cueva del Gallo sunflower shells give us another perspective on how Mexican people used sunflowers in worship and provide a clue as to why cultivation of the Mexican sunflower mysteriously disappeared after Spanish conquest,” Pohl said. “The Spanish priests probably felt that the sunflower represented both pagan worship and native political power and tried to wipe out its use.”

In addition to the physical evidence, researchers also looked at linguistic traditions to bolster their argument that sunflowers existed in Mexico before the Spaniards arrived. For example, the modern Otomi word for sunflower, dä nukhä, translates to “big flower that looks at the sun god,” a clear reference to pre-Columbian solar worship.

The San Andrés and Cueva del Gallo sunflower finds are further documentation of prehistoric Mexican peoples’ significant contribution to our repertoire of domesticated plants, Pohl said. Besides sunflowers, crops of Mexican origin include corn, peppers, beans, squash and avocadoes.

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