Abstract
In spite of recent progress towards an understanding of prehispanic Maya agriculture, relatively little is known about plants grown prehistorically in the Petén, Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. Little plant material has been reported from Maya sites, and almost no detailed archaeobotanical analyses have been done. The Cuello site (18°05′N, 88°35′W) in northern Belize is unique in having numerous intact floors of very early ceremonial structures which separate plant remains into clearly defined units. Flotation of soil samples has yielded a wide range of carbonized plant material including many maize cupules (cob fragments) and kernels. As we report here, these can be classified into several types which seem to relate to a range of archaeological types of maize found elsewhere.
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Miksicek, C., Bird, R., Pickersgill, B. et al. Preclassic lowland maize from Cuello, Belize. Nature 289, 56–59 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/289056a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289056a0
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