Bone Analysis Tracks Growth of Maize in Central America

News June 4, 2020

(Jaime Awe)
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Belize Maize
(Jaime Awe)

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO—According to a statement released by the University of New Mexico, Keith Prufer and an international team of researchers analyzed the chemical composition of the bones of 52 people who lived in what is now Belize between about 9,600 and 1,000 years ago. The study suggests that at first, the people of the region ate wild plants, palms, fruits, nuts, and meat found in tropical forests and savannahs. Then, some 4,700 years ago, maize began to be eaten in substantial amounts that continued to increase over the next 1,000 years as farmers began to grow it, Prufer explained. Maize eventually became a staple of the diet about 4,000 years ago, he added. To read more about the domestication of maize, go to "How Grass Became Maize."

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