An AMS Radiocarbon Chronology for a Long Record of Maize Cultivation from Laguna Catarina, Veracruz, Mexico

这项研究解决了最近一场关于墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯热带低地玉米种植首次亮相的确切时间的辩论。传统的历史断言年代约为3500 BP，是基于宏大化石和大宗物质的放射性碳测年。这一历史最近受到了质疑，因为方法上的不确定性，以及关于驯化南瓜的相互矛盾的日期，表明年代长达9500年。对玉米花粉最深处的沉淀层中含有的花粉和非花粉有机物进行加速器质谱仪测年，将可以检验关于该地区玉米驯化最早年龄的两个假说，以及所提出的方法的可行性。这项研究的更广泛的背景在于，在新大陆(如肥沃的新月)，封建制度是否先于植物驯化，以及对社会和生态变化理论的影响。对我们理解玉米的遗传起源和幸存的种质之间的相互关系也是有可能的。

The research addresses a recent debate about the precise timing of the debut of maize cultivation in the tropical lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. The conventional history, which asserts a date of approximately 3500 BP, is based on radiocarbon ages of macrofossils and bulk materials. This history has been questioned recently because of methodological uncertainties and because of contradictory dates on domesticated squash that indicate ages of up to 9500 BP. Accelerator-mass-spectrometer dating of pollen versus non-pollen organics contained in sediment layers corresponding to the deepest location of maize pollen will allow testing of two hypotheses pertaining to earliest age of maize domestication in this region and to the viability of the proposed methodology. The broader context for this research lies in the question of whether sedentism preceded plant domestication in the New World (as in the Fertile Crescent) and the implications for theories of social and ecological change. Contributions to our understanding of the genetic origins of maize and the inter-relationships of the surviving germ plasm are also likely.