2000 years of agriculture in the Atacama desert lead to changes in the distribution and concentration of iron in maize

We performed a histological and quantitative study of iron in archaeological maize seeds from prehispanic times recovered from Tarapacá, Atacama Desert. Also, we examined iron distribution changes at the cell level in embryos from ancient versus new varieties of maize. Our results show a progressive...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-08, Vol.11 (1), p.17322-17322, Article 17322
Main Authors: Vidal Elgueta, Ale, Navarro, Nathalia, Uribe, Mauricio, Robe, Kevin, Gaymard, Frédéric, Dubos, Christian, Pérez, María Fernanda, Roschzttardtz, Hannetz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/449
704/158
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Corn
Deserts
Embryos
Historic buildings & sites
Human remains
Humanities and Social Sciences
Iron
Life Sciences
multidisciplinary
Quantitative research
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Seeds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We performed a histological and quantitative study of iron in archaeological maize seeds from prehispanic times recovered from Tarapacá, Atacama Desert. Also, we examined iron distribution changes at the cell level in embryos from ancient versus new varieties of maize. Our results show a progressive decrease in iron concentration from the oldest maize to modern specimens. We interpret the results as an effect of prehispanic agriculture over the micronutrient composition of maize.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-96819-1