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关于墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯热带低地玉米种植的确切时间的争论。 传统的历史，断言约3500 BP的日期，是基于大型化石和散装材料的放射性碳年龄。 这段历史最近受到了质疑，因为方法的不确定性，因为驯化南瓜的日期相互矛盾，表明年龄高达9500 BP。 加速器质谱仪测年的花粉与非花粉有机物中所含的沉积层对应的玉米花粉的最深位置将允许测试两个假设有关的最早的玉米驯化在这一地区的年龄和可行性的建议的方法。 这项研究的更广泛的背景在于是否sedentism之前植物驯化在新世界（如在肥沃的新月）和社会和生态变化的理论的影响的问题。 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有可能做出贡献。

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.