Product Description

Maize has been described as a primary catalyst to complex sociocultural development in the Americas. State of the art research on maize chronology, molecular biology, and stable carbon isotope research on ancient human diets have provided additional lines of evidence on the changing role of maize through time and space and its spread throughout the Americas. The multidisciplinary evidence from the social and biological sciences presented in this volume have generated a much more complex picture of the economic, political, and religious significance of maize. The volume also includes ethnographic research on the uses and roles of maize in indigenous cultures and a linguistic section that includes chapters on indigenous folk taxonomies and the role and meaning of maize to the development of civilization.

Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published to date. This book will appeal to a varied audience, and have no titles competiting with it because of its breadth and scope. The volume offers a single source of high quality summary information unavailable elsewhere.

* Introduces the breadth of multidisciplinary research in the anthropological, archaeological, earth, and biological sciences
* Reveals the cultural, religious, and economic significance of maize and goes beyond its role as a primary catalyst to complex sociocultural developments in Mesoamerica, North America and Andean South America
* Provides new information about the importance of maize to pre-Hispanic diets
* Enables readers to follow subjects and related topics through its organization
* Enhances accessibility by means of a consistent article format and extensive index
* Includes chapters on folk taxonomies of maize and linguistic information on it spread and significance to ancient religion, and economic, political and agricultural uses
*Introduces state of the art methodologies and approaches to the identification of maize lineages and their spread and cultural significance in the Americas

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #976786 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 4.11 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 704 pages

Review
"Histories of Maize is... certain to be the definitive source on the subject for a generation."
-Brian Fagan, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

"An absolute must for all serious researchers of this dynamic crop as well as students of New World Prehistory and the interested layperson."
-Kay Catherine S. Fowler, Foundation Professor of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno

"It will be a key reference for biologists, anthropologists, and many others for decades to come."
-Gayle J.Fritz, Professor, Washington University in St. Louis

From the Back Cover
Among many themes that recur throughout this multifaceted examination of Zea mays L. is the contention that maize was not initially the important economic food sources that many have assumed. Domesticated only once, maize played important roles in many sociocultural developments, but it did not always achieve economic importance and it probably became a primary staple in the Americas much later than previously thought. Drawing upon new techologies and their associated methodologies, the editors have developed a holistic approach to maize that highlights the prehistoric record, chronology, and contextual associations of maize, particularly through molecular, biological, and morphological research as well as stable carbon isotope analysis, paleodiet, ethnographic, and linguistic analyses. This sweeping summary of maize studies offers a useful consolidation of research agendas, at once providing new conclusions and opportunities for new research.