ABSTRACT
Macrobotanical archaeological evidence is unequivocal on the antiquity of maize. A reasonably facsimile of maize is present at Guil Naquitz in the Valley of Oaxaca at 4290 cal BC Phytolith analysis of maize origin and dispersal now comprises a significant and widely cited literature. The dispersal of maize from the Southwest into the Eastern US appears to have occurred only once. The most recent entry into the Eastern US and Northern Great Plains may well represent a classic case of allopatric speciation. The culture history of maize, including considerations of its domestication and antiquity, its dispersal and biogeography, as well as evidence documenting maize's importance to humans and vice versa, was catapulted into the domain of archaeology with the work of MacNeish and Flannery during the 1950's and 60s. Technological innovation or social reorganization might be expected to give rise to cladogenic speciation as a product of cultural selection pressure.
