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

Douglas J Kennett; Keith M Prufer; Brendan J Culleton; Richard J George; Mark Robinson; Willa R Trask; Gina M Buckley; Emily Moes; Emily J Kate; Thomas K Harper; Lexi O'Donnell; Erin E Ray; Ethan C Hill; Asia Alsgaard; Christopher Merriman; Clayton Meredith; Heather J H Edgar; Jaime J Awe; Said M Gutierrez

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aba3245

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

Sci Adv. 2020 Jun 3;6(23):eaba3245. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3245. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

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.

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).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.