Maize from El Gigante Rock Shelter shows early transition to staple crop
Tuesday, August 8, 2017 - 05:32
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Mid-summer corn on the cob is everywhere, but where did it all come from and how did it get to be the big, sweet, yellow ears we eat today? Some of the answers come from carbon dating ancient maize and other organic material from the El Gigante rock shelter in Honduras, according to a team of anthropologists who show that 4,300 years ago maize was sufficiently domesticated to serve as a staple crop in the Honduran highlands.