Use as the deep-time starting point for maize. The crop was produced through sustained human selection from teosinte.
This evidence was selected to repair the Indigenous agriculture, land, and dispossession gap in the American whiskey history narrative.
Microfossil evidence from the Xihuatoxtla shelter in the Central Balsas region of tropical southwest Mexico indicates that maize had been domesticated by about 8,700 years ago.
Research findings
Research findings
Checked against the cited online source on 2026-09-05; wording is an original paraphrase.
Whiskey Excerpts Database (USWA)
Evidence
Smithsonian summarizes direct starch-grain and phytolith evidence from Xihuatoxtla in the Central Balsas region of tropical southwest Mexico.
Context and use
Use as the deep-time foundation for maize; technical disputes should cite the underlying PNAS article.