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Maize is a tall annual grass with a single stem, ranging in height from 1.2 m (4 ft) to 4 m (13 ft). [31] The long narrow leaves arise from the nodes or joints, alternately on opposite sides on the stalk. [31] Maize is monoecious, with separate male and female flowers on the same plant. [31]
Ancient Mesoamerican relief sculpture of maize, National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico. Maize was domesticated in Western Mexico and Mesoamerican cultures expanded wherever it was cultivated. It became widespread in the Late Archaic Period and was grown wherever conditions allowed.
Guilá Naquitz Cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, is the site of early domestication of several food crops, including teosinte (an ancestor of maize), [1] squash from the genus Cucurbita, bottle gourds (Lagenaria siceraria), and beans.
Maize reached the Southwest via an unknown route from Mexico. Its diffusion was relatively rapid. One theory is that the maize cultivation was carried northward from central Mexico by migrating farmers, most likely speakers of a Uto-Aztecan language. Another theory, more accepted among scholars, is that maize was diffused northward from group ...
Squashes provided an excellent source of protein to the ancient Mesoamericans, as well as to people today. Another major food source in Mesoamerica are beans. Maize, beans, and squash form a triad of products, commonly referred to as the "Three Sisters". Growing these three crops together helps to retain nutrients in the soil.
The head of the tonsured maize god serves to denote the number 1, that of the foliated maize god the number 8. [17] The tonsured maize god is sometimes found associated with the lunar crescent and may therefore have played a role in the divisions of the lunar count; his head seems to occur in glyph C of the Lunar Series (see also Maya moon ...
Though food historians note that ancient Romans used to eat a softer type of polenta that was made with ... It all started when Christopher Columbus brought the “exotic” crop of maize, or corn ...
The maize included flour, flint, and sweet corn plus one ancient variety raised only for inclusion in the "sacred bundles" common among Plains Indians. The Indians were aware that the different varieties of maize could hybridize if grown in close proximity and planted different varieties in fields a substantial distance apart. [24]