🚀 go-pugleaf

Oscar Schlaf writes,

>In article <mcculloch.2.62.362E32EE@osu.edu>,
>  mcculloch.2@osu.edu (Hu McCulloch) wrote:
>>
>> Oscar Schlaf (aka HornedReaper) writes,
>> concerning confirmation of maize in pre-Columbian Indian temple
>> sculptures by Shakti M Gupta (_Plants in Indian Temple Art_,
>> 1996), as previously reported by Johannessen and Parker
>> (in _Economic Botany_, 1989),

[snip]
>> Johannessen and Parker report maize ears in
>> three different Hoysala temples in Karnataka:
>> Somnathpur, Belur, and Halebid.

>  Jett & Carter, the first two historians outside of India to suggest
>Pre-Colubmian Maize in India, only identified the the statues at
>Somnathpur as Maize, and actually dismissed others.  I guess parker &
>Johanssessen went back and accepted what the other two dismissed.

I spoke to Stephen Jett at UC Davis today.  He is quite familiar with 
Johannessen's work, and does _not_ dismiss any of Johannessen's 
maize sculpture identifications.   Oscar is flat wrong here. 

It was Jett who first identified the objects in question, in
photos from Somnathpur, as maize, circa 1979. 
Johannessen and Parker followed up on Jett's lead by visiting
this and other Hoysala temples first hand, and thoroughly documenting
that the carvings were indeed of maize, in their 1989 
_Economic Botany_ article.  

I haven't spoken to George Carter recently (he's in his 80s, I believe),
but so far as I know he doesn't dismiss any of the P&J identifications
either.

-- Hu McCulloch
   mcculloch.2@osu.edu
   http://economics.sbs.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/outliers.html