Chasing Centuries: The Search for Ancient Agave Cultivars Across the Desert Southwest - Softcover

Parker, Ron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 194138448X ISBN 13: 9781941384480

Publisher: Sunbelt Publications, 2019

Synopsis

Chasing Centuries is a one-of-a-kind travel-history book that takes the reader along on an exciting and little known adventure at the crossroads of archaeology and botany that examines the depth and duration of human/Agave coevolution across the desert southwest. Travel with author Ron Parker as he discovers interesting assortments of unusual agaves apparently associated with archaeological sites long since abandoned by residents of extinct ancient cultures. These agaves appear to be anthropogenic cultivars; living archaeological relics developed and planted by indigenous pre-Columbian Native Americans, and many are still growing exactly where they were planted hundreds of years ago.

About this title

About the Author

Ron Parker is an outdoorsman, xeric plant enthusiast, and amateur botanist who spends half his time gardening and the other half exploring natural habitat across Arizona and neighboring states, primarily chasing agaves and archaeological sites. He has been studying agave populations in Arizona for many years, and has been out in the field with renowned botanists and regional archaeologists. When not under the open sky, Ron maintains the well-known xeric plant discussion forum, Agaveville.org, an impressive online repository for information on agaves and other succulent plants.

Review

This is an exciting time for agave research, involving researchers from all disciplines and interests, including archaeologists, botanists, Native Peoples, and others. This book, with its many fine photographs, helps make the science of this fascinating but complex group more accessible to the public, who can better appreciate and care about these wild and domesticated, unique Arizona gems. --Wendy C. Hodgson, Curator of the Herbarium and Senior Research Botanist, Desert Botanical Garden, and author/illustrator of Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert

Fascinating, educational, and a great read! Chasing Centuries fills a large void in our understanding of how humans and agaves have co-evolved...well done! --Tony Avent, Owner of Plant Delights Nursery, and founder of Juniper Level Botanic Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina

This lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched work takes the reader on a fascinating adventure through thousands of years of history of human-agave coevolution in the rugged landscapes of Arizona. Chasing Centuries is a book to be savored, carried into the field, kept as a reference and gifted to anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how Arizona s ancient peoples played an enduring role in shaping the natural habitats of the region. --Michael Wilken-Robertson, anthropologist and author of Kumeyaay Ethnobotany

Edition details

• Publisher: Sunbelt Publications
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 194138448X
• ISBN 13: 9781941384480
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 161