The domestication and spread of maize (corn) has been a hot topic in archaeology for a number of years. Recent research from University of Calgary PhD student Sonia Zarrillo and archaeology professor Dr. Scott Raymond using a new technique for examining cooking pots shows that the “spread of maize out of Mexico more than 9,000 years ago occurred much faster than previously believed and provides evidence that corn was likely a vital food crop for villages in tropical Ecuador at least 5,000 years ago”, according to a news report from EurekAlert, an online news service operated by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
You can read the news alert here, or find the full article “Directly dated starch residues document early formative maize (Zea mays L.) in tropical Ecuador” in the March 24 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).