Could Utah be home to the earliest known domestication of potato? We have been examining that possibility through archaeological and botanical studies of the Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii), a species that is native to southern Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The work has highlighted the importance of collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to complex problems in deep time.

We predict that at certain archaeological sites there are remnant, now apparently wild populations of this species, descended from strains that had once been subjected to domestication. With the demise of the cultural groups that originated and maintained them, these earliest crops ceased to exist and reverted back to what now appears to be wild.

Although once ubiquitous in Escalante (which the pioneers called “Potato Valley”), S. jamesii is now hard to find on the landscape. We are partnering with the USDA/ARS US Potato Genebank to incorporate population genetics into a conservation strategy for archeologically associated outposts of the species in the Four Corners region. By establishing the cultural significance and potential agronomic importance of S. jamesii we hope to facilitate conservation through better land management practices and local outreach.