The Earliest Archaeological Maize (Zea mays L.) from Highland Mexico: New Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Dates and Their Implications

Accelerator mass spectrometry age determinations of maize cobs (Zea mays L.) from Guilá Naquitz Cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, produced dates of 5,400 carbon-14 years before the present (about 6,250 calendar years ago), making those cobs the oldest in the Americas. Macrofossils and phytoliths characteristi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2001-02, Vol.98 (4), p.2101-2103
Main Authors: Piperno, D. R., Flannery, K. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Anthropology
Archaeology
Biological Evolution
Biological Sciences
Corn
Fossils
Humans
Mass Spectrometry - methods
Mexico
Pollen
Scientific imaging
Social Sciences
Time Factors
Zea mays - chemistry
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Summary:Accelerator mass spectrometry age determinations of maize cobs (Zea mays L.) from Guilá Naquitz Cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, produced dates of 5,400 carbon-14 years before the present (about 6,250 calendar years ago), making those cobs the oldest in the Americas. Macrofossils and phytoliths characteristic of wild and domesticated Zea fruits are absent from older strata from the site, although Zea pollen has previously been identified from those levels. These results, together with the modern geographical distribution of wild Zea mays, suggest that the cultural practices that led to Zea domestication probably occurred elsewhere in Mexico. Guilá Naquitz Cave has now yielded the earliest macrofossil evidence for the domestication of two major American crop plants, squash (Cucurbita pepo) and maize.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.98.4.2101