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three sisters
John A. Giacobbe (Catalinus@AOL.COM)
Thu, 28 Sep 1995 15:54:50 -0400
Hello again Mr. Kessel!
The term "three sisters" is one of several colloquial terms (such as
"tres
Marias") used to designate the triad of subsistence staples used in the
prehistoric and
historic American southwest, maize, beans, and squash. I do not know the
exact
origin of the word, but reference may be found in several sources, such as:
Cordell, Linda S.
1984 Prehistory of the Southwest. Academic Press, New York,.
Eggan, Fred
1979 Pueblos: Introduction. pp. 224-235 In: Handbook of North American
Indians:
Volume 9, Southwest, Alfonso Ortiz, Volume Editor. Smithsonian Institution
Press,
Washington, D.C..
Hodges, Denise C.
1989 Agricultural Intensification and Prehistoric Health in the Valley of
Oaxaca,
Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, Volume 9, Kent
Flannery, General Editor. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, No. 22,
University
of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI.
Woodbury, Richard B., and Ezra B.W. Zubrow
1979 Agricultural Beginnings, 2000 B.C. - A.D. 500. pp. 43-60 In:
Handbook of
North American Indians: Volume 9, Southwest, Alfonso Ortiz, Volume Editor.
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C..
and if all else fails, you may sight a colleague of mine, a Native American
himself,
Dr. William Hawk, Professor of Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico University,
Portales, New Mexico, he confirmed the antiquity of the expression in
Puebloan
society, as a personnel communication.
Hope this helped a bit!
John A. Giacobbe
catalinus@aol.com
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