SoylentNews

Phoenix666 writes:

UNM researchers document the first use of maize in Mesoamerica:

The research, titled Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas and published by Prufer and his team in the journal Science Advances, reveals new information about when the now-ubiquitous maize became a key part of people’s diets. Until now, little was known about when humans living in the tropics of Central America first started eating corn. But the “unparalleled” discovery of remarkably well-preserved ancient human skeletons in Central American rock shelters has revealed when corn became a key part of people’s diet in the Americas.

[...] Maize was domesticated from teosinte, a wild grass growing in the lower reaches of the Balsas River Valley of Central Mexico, around 9,000 years ago. There is evidence maize was first cultivated in the Maya lowlands around 6,500 years ago, at about the same time that it appears along the Pacific coast of Mexico. But there is no evidence that maize was a staple grain at that time.

The first use of corn may have been for an early form of liquor.

Why eat tortillas when you can make booze?

Journal Reference:
Douglas J. Kennett, Keith M. Prufer, Brendan J. Culleton, et al. Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3245)

Original Submission