Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas
| Autor: | Erin Ray, Said M. Gutierrez, Douglas J. Kennett, Brendan J. Culleton, Mark Robinson, Gina Buckley, Heather J.H. Edgar, Clayton Meredith, Keith M. Prufer, Emily Moes, Christopher Merriman, Emily Kate, Richard George, Ethan C. Hill, Willa R. Trask, Lexi O'Donnell, Asia Alsgaard, Jaime J. Awe, Thomas K. Harper |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
010506 paleontology
Multidisciplinary 060102 archaeology biology Cultigen food and beverages SciAdv r-articles Agriculture 06 humanities and the arts Consumption (sociology) Before Present biology.organism_classification 01 natural sciences Agronomy Anthropology 0601 history and archaeology Research Articles 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Science Advances |
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 |
| Popis: | We use carbon isotopes in human bone as the earliest direct evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas. Maize is a cultigen of global economic importance, but when it first became a staple grain in the Americas, was unknown and contested. Here, we report direct isotopic dietary evidence from 52 radiocarbon-dated human skeletons from two remarkably well-preserved rock-shelter contexts in the Maya Mountains of Belize spanning the past 10,000 years. Individuals dating before ~4700 calendar years before present (cal B.P.) show no clear evidence for the consumption of maize. Evidence for substantial maize consumption (~30% of total diet) appears in some individuals between 4700 and 4000 cal B.P. Isotopic evidence after 4000 cal B.P. indicates that maize became a persistently used staple grain comparable in dietary significance to later maize agriculturalists in the region (>70% of total diet). These data provide the earliest definitive evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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