ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the maize origin theories of the Teenek of San Luis Potos and Veracruz, Mexico, and presents unpublished field data from San Luis Potos. Mesoamerica lies roughly between the Tropic of Cancer and southern Honduras. Throughout Mesoamerica, maize continues to be respected as a symbol of cultural identity; even in downtown Mexico City one sees the occasional maize plant left to flower wherever it appears along a street. Maize-based foods are a central part of the diet, and maize plays a vital role in annual ritual cycles across Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Teenek zone dates to 7000 BC, although permanent villages with ceremonial centers do not appear until around 500 BC. One reading of the Thipaak history could be that through the introduction of maize, an older Brosimum-based religion with a vital female deity demanding human sacrifice coexisted with and was eventually displaced by a hierarchical male-dominant theocracy.
