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Maize requires human intervention for its propagation. The kernels of its naturally-propagating teosinte ancestor fall off the cob on their own, while those of domesticated maize do not. [2] All maize arose from a single domestication in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. The oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands.
These two plants provide complementary dietary amino acids. Improved bioavailability of maize was discovered using a special process involving limewater, which also added calcium. Maize is also associated with festival and feast foods. Before it was domesticated and became a main crop, maize was used as a basis for beer.
The earliest dated maize cobs was discovered in Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca and dates back to 4300 BC. Maize arose through domestication of teosinte, which is considered to be the ancestor of maize. Maize can be stored for lengthy periods of time, it can be ground into flour, and it easily provides surplus for future use.
Maize (Zea mays) found its way to South America from Mesoamerica, where wild teosinte was domesticated about 7000 BC and selectively bred to become domestic maize. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC; another species of cotton was domesticated in Mesoamerica and became by far the most important species of cotton in the textile industry ...
Maize, beans, and squash, whether grown individually or together, have a very long history in the Americas. [5] The process to develop the agricultural knowledge for cultivation took place over a 5,000 to 6,500 year period. Squash was domesticated first, with maize second and beans third.
Montage of New World domesticated plants. Clockwise from top left: 1. Maize (Zea mays) 2. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) 3. Potato (Solanum tuberosum) 4. Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) 5. Pará rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) 6. Cacao (Theobroma cacao) 7. Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica)
Cereals that became modern barley and wheat were domesticated some 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. [5] Millets and rice were domesticated in East Asia, while sorghum and other millets were domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, primarily as feed for livestock. [6] Maize arose from a single domestication in Mesoamerica about 9,000 ...
Maize is also identified in the Mirador Basin nearby Nakbe in northern Guatemala by 2600 BCE and at Actun Halal in Central Belize by 2210 BCE. [28] Like maize, squash also was domesticated once then spread through trade, but other crops appear to have been domesticated multiple times by different groups of Mesoamerican peoples. [26]