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Science 13 January 1978:
Vol. 199. no. 4325, pp. 177 - 178
DOI: 10.1126/science.199.4325.177
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Articles

Phytolith Analysis of Archeological Soils: Evidence for Maize Cultivation in Formative Ecuador

DEBORAH M. PEARSALL 1

1 Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801

Soil samples from the archeological sites of Real Alto and OGCh-20, Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador, show the presence of cross-shaped silica bodies identifiable as maize (Zea mays L.) phytoliths by size comparison with known wild grass and maize phytoliths. These results support arguments for the cultivation of maize at 2450 B.C. in coastal Ecuador.

Submitted on July 25, 1977


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Directly dated starch residues document early formative maize (Zea mays L.) in tropical Ecuador.
S. Zarrillo, D. M. Pearsall, J. S. Raymond, M. A. Tisdale, and D. J. Quon (2008)
PNAS 105, 5006-5011
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microscopic evidence for the domestication and spread of maize.
V. M. Bryant Jr. (2007)
PNAS 104, 19659-19660
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Beans for Valdivia.
J. E. DAMP, D. M. PEARSALL, and L. T. KAPLAN (1981)
Science 212, 811-812
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