Preceramic Maize in Central Panama: Phytolith and Pollen Evidence

Starch grains from dental calculus reveal ancient plant foodstuffs at Chenqimogou site, Gansu Province

“…Plants in our comparative collection include foxtail millet (Setaria italica), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), rice (Oryza sativa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), oat (Avena sativa), and maize (Zea mays). In addition, the morphology of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), whitethorn (Crataegus pinnatifida), and so on are polygonal [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][19][20][21][22]. However, sizes of rice, oat, buckwheat, whitethorn, and others are all smaller than Group 1.…”

“…Genera include the grasses Panicum, Setaria, Lolium, and Aegilops, tree seeds of Quercus, Castanea, Corylus, and Juglans, as well as beans like Vigna (Figure 2). For starch identification, we also used description from many other studies of starch grain morphology [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]18].…”

“…In the past decades, starch grain analysis has been successfully employed to study the origins and dispersals of agricultural crops, artifact function, and paleoclimate reconstruction in America, Australia, and other areas [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Identifying crop plants with phytoliths (and starch grains) in Central and South America: A review and an update of the evidence

“…-5000 B.P. maize leaf phytoliths and pollen at the site (Table 3) (Pipemo et al 1985). Recent studies by the author indicate that cob phytoliths are present in the same sediments that contained the earliest maize leaf phytoliths and pollen (author, laboratory notes).…”

Profile of Dolores R. Piperno

“…Nevertheless, the phytolith evidence that contradicted these ingrained views grew, and it appeared that important crops like maize had been dispersed to, and grown in, Panama during the Preceramic era 7,000 years ago (6)(7)(8).…”