ABSTRACT
Maize has been described as a primary catalyst to complex sociocultural development in the Americas. State of the art research on maize chronology, molecular biology, and stable carbon isotope research on ancient human diets have provided additional lines of evidence on the changing role of maize through time and space and its spread throughout the Americas. The multidisciplinary evidence from the social and biological sciences presented in this volume have generated a much more complex picture of the economic, political, and religious significance of maize. The volume also includes ethnographic research on the uses and roles of maize in indigenous cultures and a linguistic section that includes chapters on indigenous folk taxonomies and the role and meaning of maize to the development of civilization. Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published to date. This book will appeal to a varied audience, and have no titles competiting with it because of its breadth and scope. The volume offers a single source of high quality summary information unavailable elsewhere.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |2 pages
Part I: Histories of Maize: Genetic, Morphological, and Microbotanical Evidence
part |2 pages
Part II: Stable Isotope Analysis and Human Diet
part |2 pages
Part III: Histories of Maize: The Spread of Maize in Central and South America
part |2 pages
Part IV Histories of Maize: North America and Northern Mexico
part |2 pages
Part V: Histories of Maize: The Language of Maize Northern Mexico