Solving the puzzle of the 700-year-old Anasazi Cave beans

 Solving the puzzle of the 700-year-old Anasazi Cave beans



The Legend of the Anasazi Cave Beans

You've probably heard some version of the mysterious 700-year-old beans found in some unnamed Anasazi (the Ancestral Puebloan) cave presumably in the Lowry Ruins of Southwestern Colorado, a flat land with rich soil, with cave dwellings carved in places with deep sandstone canyons. 

If the legend is to be believed then the speckled beans, deep maroon with white flecks discovered deep in a cave, carefully preserved in earthen vessels in the early 1980s, surprisingly germinated.

Today more than one seed company sells the beans, Fabaceae Phaseolus vulgaris, as Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean, New Mexico appaloosa, Jacob’s Cattle or New Mexico Cave Bean.


The Anasazi Caves

Anasazi is the Navajo word for “the ancient ones” or "enemy ancestors"

The Anasazi (the Ancestral Puebloan) once inhabited vast swathes of land compassing almost 10,000 square miles (26,000 square km), to the south and east where the modern states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all meet and where the Pueblos are today. They grew corn, squash and beans, supplementing these crops by hunting game and collecting wild plants.

The National Park Service estimates that there are about 600 inhabitable caves preserved at Mesa Verde National Park. Built near springs, the naturally enclosed sites offered protection against both the elements and intruders.

"Many of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde are small, only one or two rooms built in alcoves or shallow caves," wrote archaeologist Larry Nordby in a chapter of the book "The Conservation of Decorated Surfaces on Earthen Architecture" (J. Paul Getty Trust, 2006). 

It was a tough place to make a living. "Cold, snowy winters give way to hot, dry summers, and periods of relatively abundant moisture are punctuated by sporadic — but sometimes prolonged — periods of drought," wrote a team of Crow Canyon researchers.  

By 1299 AD, long before the white people arrived, the Anasazi Indians following a 27-year drought migrated from the Colorado Plateau, moving south to places like Arizona and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

The most believable scenario of the Anasazi Cave Beans


There is no official or reliable record of any archaeological find of cave beans stored in pottery, nor is there a reliable dating of the pottery itself. 

Legume seeds found in adobe (mud brick) from California and Northern Mexico were still alive after 200 years (Börner 2006), but these are some of the oldest viable seeds ever found. Seeds rarely survive for over a century (Bewley and Black 2012), so seven centuries seemed an unrealistically long time for Anasazi bean seeds to stay viable.

Archaeologist Jeff Bentley offers the following hypothetical scenario: After the Anasazi (the Ancestral Puebloan) people abandoned southern Colorado and southern Utah in the late 1200s, Navajo settlers moved in and eventually planted gardens of maize and beans in the country. Over time they left small caches of seed in pots in dry alcoves, perhaps even in abandoned Anasazi cave sites. When collected by Anglo-American farmers in 1980, these beans, less than 200 years old, germinated and started the urban legend of the 700-year-old Anasazi cave beans.


The delicious Anasazi Cave bean



Notwithstanding the veracity of the legend, the Cave Bean, Fabaceae Phaseolus vulgaris, is a dry shell variety that can also be used as a fresh snap bean, if picked early, when the pods start to plump. The strong pole-type plants produce large amounts of wide flattened 7" string beans with a sweet, creamy flavour in approximately 50 days. For dry beans, pods are ready to pick when they mature and dry down in about 90 days. 

The kidney-shaped beans are related to pinto beans and many people use them interchangeably, although they are milder, sweeter and more mealy. Dry beans need to be soaked overnight. After cooking, the beans turn a light reddish-brown. According to one source (see recipe below) the beans have about 75% less flatulence properties — oligosaccharides — than other dried beans, thus are easier to digest.

Anasazi Bean Soup (Source: beyondgumbo.com)


Serves: 6 to 8
Time: 2 -1/2 hours (excluding overnight soaking)
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients:
  • 1-1/2 cups dried Anasazi beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped ham (optional, omit for vegan version)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium or two small jalapeno peppers, chopped finely
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tsp salt (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 3 cups (or two cans) chicken broth (for vegan version, substitute vegetable stock)
  • 3 cups water or more

Method and Steps:
  • Soak the beans overnight in water
  • Place beans in a large stock pot and cover with 2 inches of water (about 8 cups). 
  • Bring to a boil on the stove and boil, uncovered, for 2 minutes. 
  • Turn the burner off and let it set for at least one hour. 
  • Pour beans in a large colander and drain, rinse with cold water.
To make soup: 
  • Add beans back to a large stock pot along with the rest of the ingredients. 
  • Bring to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for one hour until beans are tender, stirring occasionally.  
  • Add more water if the water evaporates.


References

  1. Bentley, J. (2017, June 18). Anasazi beans. Agro-Insight. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.agroinsight.com/blog/?p=1925
  2. Jarus, O. (2017, June 15). Mesa Verde: Cliff dwellings of the Anasazi. livescience.com. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.livescience.com/27360-mesa-verde.html
  3. Bewley, J. Derek, and Michael Black 2012 Physiology and Biochemistry of Seeds in Relation to Germination: Volume 2: Viability, Dormancy, and Environmental Control. Springer Science & Business Media.
  4. Börner, Andreas 2006 “Preservation of Plant Genetic Resources in the Biotechnology Era” Biotechnology Journal 1: 1393–1404 DOI 10.1002/biot.200600131.
  5. Let’s cook something new: Anasazi beans. (2023, December 29). Beyondgumbo. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://beyondgumbo.com/2019/01/13/lets-cook-something-new-anasazi-beans/
  6. Rd, A. P. M. (2022, April 4). What are oligosaccharides? All you need to know. Healthline. Retrieved July 19, 2024, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/oligosaccharides
Location: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA

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