What evidence suggests that Proto-Uto-Aztecan speakers were not agriculturalists?

The primary evidence suggesting that Proto-Uto-Aztecan speakers were not agriculturalists is derived from historical linguistics and the reconstruction of their ancestral vocabulary. Researchers have found that it is impossible to reconstruct terms for cultivated plants or specific agricultural techniques in the Proto-Uto-Aztecan language.1

Furthermore, only a very limited number of such terms can be reconstructed for Proto-Southern Uto-Aztecan, which contradicts the hypothesis that these groups practiced agriculture and migrated northward from Mesoamerica. While later Uto-Aztecan-speaking groups, such as the Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham, engaged in varying degrees of agriculture, this was a later development influenced by their specific environments and proximity to water sources rather than an ancestral practice.12