ABSTRACT
Northwestern Mexico is critical for understanding the spread and adoption of farming as it lies between Mesoamerica, where maize farming began, and the American Southwest where maize had a tremendous impact on local societies. This chapter reviews recent research on the earliest maize in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua and assesses its relevance to current issues and consequences of agriculture. It uses the Early Agricultural Period cross-cuts the traditional Middle and Late Archaic Periods, which are purely temporal units without regard to the presence or absence of agriculture. The chapter employs Smith's scheme, using the term "agricultural economy" as a synonym for "agriculture" to designate the state in which hunter-gatherer adaptations have shifted in settlement, seasonal movement, social organization, and material culture to accommodate farming. Research addressing paleo environment in Chihuahua is relatively recent, but in broad terms the results of this research correspond to findings from southern Arizona and New Mexico.
