Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas

Douglas J Kennett¹, Keith M Prufer^{2

3}, Brendan J Culleton⁴, Richard J George⁵, Mark Robinson⁶, Willa R Trask⁷, Gina M Buckley⁵, Emily Moes², Emily J Kate⁵, Thomas K Harper⁵, Lexi O'Donnell⁸, Erin E Ray², Ethan C Hill², Asia Alsgaard², Christopher Merriman², Clayton Meredith⁹, Heather J H Edgar², Jaime J Awe¹⁰, Said M Gutierrez¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
² Department Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
³ Center for Stable Isotopes, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA.
⁴ Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁶ Department of Archaeology, Exeter Univ. Exeter, UK.
⁷ Central Identification Laboratory, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawai'i, 96853 USA.
⁸ Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
⁹ New Mexico BioPark Society, 903 10th Street SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
¹¹ Ya'axché Conservation Trust, Punta Gorda Town, Belize.

PMID: 32537504
PMCID: PMC7269666
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3245

Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas

Douglas J Kennett et al. Sci Adv. 2020.

. 2020 Jun 3;6(23):eaba3245.

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3245. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
² Department Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
³ Center for Stable Isotopes, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA.
⁴ Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁵ Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
⁶ Department of Archaeology, Exeter Univ. Exeter, UK.
⁷ Central Identification Laboratory, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawai'i, 96853 USA.
⁸ Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
⁹ New Mexico BioPark Society, 903 10th Street SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
¹¹ Ya'axché Conservation Trust, Punta Gorda Town, Belize.

PMID: 32537504
PMCID: PMC7269666
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3245

Abstract

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.

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

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Figures

**Fig. 1. Map showing the location of MHCP and ST relative to archeological sites in Mesoamerica with early maize, Classic Period Maya sites with dated inscriptions, and paleoenvironmental sequences.**
Paleoenvironmental sequences are shown as green triangles as follows: (A) San Andres, Tabasco (36); (B) SOC05-2 (19); (C) Lake Puerto Arturo (11); (D) Peten Lakes region (57); (E) Cob Swamp (38); (F) Pulltrowser Swamp (38); and (G) Lake Yojoa (58). Archeological sites with early maize are shown as red dots: (1) Ocampo Caves (59), (2) Xihuatoxtla (3), (3) El Riego (60), (4) San Marcos (60), (5) Coxcatlán (60), (6) Guilá Naquitz (5), and (7) Caye Coco (25). Map was produced in ArcGIS 10.4, with all subsequent layout and design performed in Photoshop CC 14.2.

**Fig. 2. Directly radiocarbon-dated skeletal material from MHCP and ST grouped into primary dietary phases.**
(A) Pre-maize diet (9600–4700 cal B.P.), (B) transitional maize diet (4700–4000 cal B.P.), and (C) staple maize diet (4000–1000 cal B.P.). For more details on the skeletal sample in this study, see section S1 and age model parameters in section S2. The radiocarbon plot produced in OxCal 4.2 with subsequent layout and design was performed in Illustrator CC 17.1.

**Fig. 3. Isotopic values from MHCP and ST plotted relative to data from Classic Period maize agriculturalists from across the Maya lowlands.**
(22) (A) δ¹³C_collagen versus δ¹⁵N_collagen. (B) δ¹³C_collagen versus δ¹³C_apatite plotted against dietary regression lines from experimental feeding studies (33). (C) Function 1 versus function 2 discriminant analysis plotted against data from experimental feeding studies (35). Data analysis in R, with subsequent layout and design performed in Illustrator CC 17.1.

Fig. 4. Dietary phases at MHCP and ST plotted relative to sum probability distributions of directly radiocarbon-dated maize from the Gulf Coast of Mexico (Ocampo Caves, Tamaulipas) (59), the highlands of Mexico (Tehuacán and Oaxaca) (5, 60), and nearby Honduras (10).
The earliest radiocarbon dates associated with microbotanical evidence for maize in the Balsas region (Xihuatoxtla) (3), Mexico’s Gulf Coast (San Andrés) (36), and the Maya region (SOC05-2, Caye Coco, Lake Yojoa, Cob Swamp, and Lake Puerto Arturo) (9, 10, 12, 13, 16) are also shown. Summed probability distributions and dietary phases produced in OxCal 4.2 with subsequent layout and design were performed in Illustrator CC 17.1.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas

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Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

References

Publication types

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Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous