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Maize Domestication
Maize domestication was the result of millennia of selective breeding of wild teosinte by the peoples of Mesoamerica, forming the foundation of New W…
Timeline
- c. -5000–-3000Southern Mexico · MexicoEarly peoples gradually selected ancestral maize with edible kernels from wild teosinte. The domestication process took thousands of years, evidenced by charred maize kernels and cob fossils unearthed at archaeological sites.
- c. -3000–-500Mesoamerica · MesoamericaMaize formed a complementary planting system with beans, squash, and other crops (the Three Sisters agricultural system), spreading across the Mexican highlands and throughout Mesoamerica to become the main food base of settled agricultural societies.
- c. -500–1Core region of Mesoamerican civilizations · MesoamericaStable, high-yielding maize cultivation supported population concentration and division of labor, providing the economic foundation for early complex societies such as the Olmec and Maya; maize also became a core symbol in religion and mythology.
Sources
- The Origin and Evolution of Maize in the Americas — John Doebley (2004)
- First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies — Peter Bellwood (2005)