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Microscopic crystals
from the rinds of squashes and gourds are helping scientists
to discover the origins of agriculture in the New World. It
was previously thought that plant domestication started some
10,000 years ago in the upland regions of Mexico and South
America, but scientists are learning that agriculture may
actually have originated in the lowland regions of Central
and South America.
Microscopic plant
crystals, known as phytoliths, as well as tiny starch grains
and fossilized pollen reliably record the earliest use of
domesticated plants.
Fossilized pollen
evidence from cultivated plants similar to modern forms of
maize were found in the Mexican state of Tabasco was dated
to around 5,100 BC--about 1,000 years earlier than previously
thought.
According to scientists,
since the ancient pollen was found so far from its native
habitat, it indicates that people brought the seeds there
to be planted. The plants would have been selectively bred
over thousands of years to produce the type of corn we see
today.
Finding plant remains
can be difficult since leaves, wood, fibers, nuts and cobs
quickly rot in tropical lowland regions. Upland regions were
searched more commonly because access was easier and the chances
of finding evidence were higher.
Despite this, some
archaeologists did search lowland regions and found microscopic
plant remains that had been overlooked for some time. Scientists
say that research has shown that pollen, starch grains, and
phytoliths are reliable evidence that can be linked to the
origins of domesticated plants to prove where and when agriculture
began.
Science
Blog February 14, 2003
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