Domestication of maize from teosinte in Mesoamerica
- Date
- c. 7000 BCE (c. 9,000 years ago)
- Category
- Science, technology & invention
- Region
- Mesoamerica (Balsas Valley, Mexico)
- Era
- Prehistory
- Significance
In the tropical lowlands of the Central Balsas River Valley of southwestern Mexico, early farmers began selecting the wild grass teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis) for desirable traits, initiating the domestication of maize (corn).
Starch grains and phytoliths recovered from grinding stones and from Xihuatoxtla Shelter indicate maize and squash cultivation between about 8,990 and 8,610 calibrated years ago — the earliest secure evidence for the crop. Genetic data point to a single domestication event from Balsas teosinte, a plant whose tiny, hard-cased cob looks nothing like modern corn. Through generations of selection, maize developed into a highly productive cereal that, together with beans and squash (the 'Three Sisters'), formed the agricultural foundation of every major Mesoamerican civilisation, from the Olmec to the Maya and Aztec. Maize subsequently spread across the Americas, reaching the Andes, the Caribbean and eventually eastern North America, and became one of the world's principal food crops.
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Related science, technology & invention events
- Independent agriculture at Kuk Swamp, New Guinea highlandsc. 7000–5000 BCE (c. 9000–7000 years ago)
- Pottery becomes a Neolithic mainstay across western Eurasiac. 7000 – 5000 BCE
- Earliest milk processing: the dawn of dairyingc. 6500–6000 BCE
- Domestication of rice in the Yangtze River basinc. 8000–6000 BCE
- Domestication of foxtail and broomcorn millet on the Yellow Riverc. 8000–6000 BCE
- First canal irrigation at Choga Mami and the Samarra culturec. 6000 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
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