Scientists overhaul corn domestication story with multidisciplinary analysis
Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 14:10
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Smithsonian scientists and collaborators are revising the history of one of the world's most important crops. Drawing on genetic and archaeological evidence, researchers have found that a predecessor of today's corn plants still bearing many features of its wild ancestor was likely brought to South America from Mexico more than 6,500 years ago. Farmers in Mexico and the southwestern Amazon continued to improve the crop over thousands of years until it was fully domesticated in each region.