Teosinte, the ancestor to Maize.
No event was more critical in the emergence of Mesoamerican civilisation than the domestication of plants, especially maize. This took place between 8000 and 2000BC in an era known as the archaic or proto-agricultural. Much of our knowledge of this era is owed to the work of Richard MacNeish, who discovered beans and gourds in Tamaulipas, as well as chiles, avocado, squash and amaranth in the Tehuacán valley of Mexico.
The earliest remains of maize, or sweetcorn, were also found in the Tehuacán valley, dating to 5000BC. They indicate a crop that is far evolved from its wild ancestor, teosinte – a maize-like plant with tiny, edible fruits. The evolution from teosinte into domestic maize was not an accidental affair. The ancients were not unfamiliar with the concept of genetic engineering and relied on methods of selective breeding to produce a plant with an increasingly greater yield and larger type of fruit.
It took thousands of years to develop a maize plant productive enough to support a wholly sedentary lifestyle. But by 5000BC, maize could be grown and stored in large quantities. It soon became the staple diet of the Mesoamerican peoples, for when served with beans in the form of tortillas, maize provides all the protein and nutrition necessary for survival. Prior to this, the early Mesoamericans lacked any sizeable domestic animals (only dogs and turkeys were on the menu) and were forced to subsist on traditional hunting and gathering. By 2000 BC agricultural villages were firmly established throughout Mesoamerica.
An array of multi-coloured maize. Even today, many Mesoamericans regard maize as sacred, believing that the gods fashioned the first man from it.
