Angela Gordon: Loss of Agricultural Biodiversity (Chenopodium)    Huazontles    Chapatas Agronomists concerned over the loss of agricultural biodiversity are researching how small-scale farmers interact with and affect crop genetic resources. That is, they are studying how farmers select and maintain varieties, and how that affects the genotype of their crops. I am applying this information to a case study that combines ethnoarchaeology and archaeology. My dissertation research focuses on domesticated Chenopodium species in North America. Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. jonesianum was an important member of the eastern North American crop complex, but is one of the lost crops of this region. In Mexico, Chenopodium berlandieri spp. nuttalliae was domesticated sometime prior to Spanish colonization and is grown today for greens, immature inflorescences, and grain. While seed-eating has been documented in eastern North America, non-seed uses are largely invisible in the archaeological record. Modern farmers identify a wide range of factors they consider when choosing particular varieties to plant. One important variable in planned end-use. In Mexico, farmers in the central highlands maintain separate varieties of Chenopodium for three crops: huazontles, quelites, and chia. Huazontle is harvested as immature inflorescences, like broccoli, and    In the Field commonly eaten dipped in egg and deep-fried. Quelites are grown for use as fresh greens, as are many other species in Mexico. Chia is grown for its bright red seeds, which are made into sweet tamales called chapatas. My research will determine whether such selection behavior is manifested as variation in seed morphology. Fieldwork conducted in Mexico in 2003 and 2004 focused on seed collection and interviews with farmers, marketers, and consumers of all three crops. I am using data collected through these interviews and laboratory analysis of seed samples to examine correlations between crop end-use and seed morphology. I am currently completing the analysis. My hope is to be able to identify signals for non-seed uses that are otherwise very difficult to recognize in the archaeological record. The information will be most specifically applied to the eastern North American context. More generally, direct examination of modern intraspecific crop variation may allow archaeologists to correlate variation in sed morphology with variation in crop behavior or end-use. My fieldwork and laboratory analysis is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, and I am currently supported by a Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University.    Truck of Huazontles