ABSTRACT
Somewhere in what today constitutes Mexican territory, about 4,500 years ago – around the twenty-fifth century BCE – groups of people who were growers of corn and other domesticated species achieved such dependence on their crops that they gradually became sedentary. In this manner, they abandoned their ancient practices of seasonal migrations that alternated agriculture with hunting and fishing. The life of these initial sedentaries, alongside the transformations that change implies, gave birth to the Mesoamerican tradition. Thus, sedentarism gradually extended throughout vast areas, and with the passing of time Mesoamerica embraced southern Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador, Western Honduras, the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, and north-western Costa Rica.
