Editing Maranta arundinacea (section)

==Prehistoric domestication==
[[Radio-carbon dating]] has established that ''M. arundinacea'' was one of the first plants domesticated in prehistoric South America. Arrowroot, along with leren (''[[Goeppertia allouia]]''), [[squash (plant)|squash]] (''[[Cucurbita moschata]]''), and bottle gourd (''[[Lagenaria siceraria]]'') became cultivated plants in northern South American and [[Panama]] between 8200 BC and 5600 BC.<ref>Piperno, Dolores R. (Oct 2011), "The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics", ''Current Anthropology'', Vol 52, No. 54, p. S 459.  Downloaded from [[JSTOR]].</ref> Some archaeologists believe that arrowroot was first used by indigenous peoples not as food but as a poultice to extract poison from wounds caused by spears or arrows.<ref>Piperno, Dolores R. and Pearsall, Deborah M. (1998), ''The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics,'' San Diego: Academic Press, p. 115, 199</ref>

Evidence of the use of arrowroot as food has been found dating from 8200 BC at the San Isidro archaeological site in the upper [[Cauca River]] valley of Colombia near the city of [[Popayán]]. Starch grains from arrowroot were found on grinding tools. It is unclear whether the arrowroot had been gathered or grown, although the elevation of the site of {{convert|1700|m|ft}} is probably outside the normal range of elevations at which ''M. arundinacea'' grows in the wild. Thus, the plant may have been introduced at San Isidro from nearby lowland rainforest areas in a pioneering effort to cultivate it. Stone hoes for the cultivation of plants have been found which date as old as 7700 BCE in the middle Cauca valley, {{convert|150|km|mi}} north of San Isidro.<ref>Piperno and Pearsall, pp. 199–203</ref>

Domestication of arrowroot at these early dates was probably on a small scale with gardens of only a few plants being planted in alluvial soils near streams to ensure the steady supply of moisture needed during the growing season of arrowroot and other similar root crops. The exploitation of arrowroot was probably complicated by the difficulty of extracting the starch from the fibrous roots. The roots must first be pounded or ground then soaked in water to separate the starch from the fibers. The starch is excellent for digestibility.<ref>Piperno and Pearsall, pp 115, 202</ref>