CORN-UCOPIA

Maize has become one of the most reconizable plant foods in the world today. Maize is a grain bearing plant unlike any other found in nature or among the cultivated plants. Through selective breeding humans have created a plant that no longer has the ability to disperse seeds and produce offspring. From relatively obscure beginnings in Mesoamerica maize has risen in prominence to become one of the worlds primary food staples. Today maize is one of the three essential grains that make up the corner stone of the modern diet, wheat and rice are the other two. There are five principal types of corn today, dent, flint, flour, pop, and sweet corn. All of which were already in existence when the first European's arrived in the America's. The five main varieties form the foundations of todays modern hybrids (Mangelsdorf 1974).

Little was known concerning the origins of maize until archaeologist working in the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico unearthed what is believed to be the oldest evidence of maize anywhere in the Americas. From Mexico maize spread north into the Southwestern United States, south down the coast to Peru and finally by paths as yet undetermined into the Eastern Woodlands of present day North America.

Most anthropologist would agree that maize originate from a wild indigenous grass called teosinte. By the time of European contact maize had become a staple for most of the Native populations living in the Americas. Today maize is eaten the world over and is an important food crop in many nations

There are many facets to the resourceful maize plant, and many topics which could be discussed, but, for our purposes we will confine most topics to the four-subdisciplines of anthropology. Investigating each with the intend of covering the origins of maize through archaeological investigation, cultural practices surrounding the planting and everyday use of maize, linguistic connections between maize and societies, and finally the physical effects produced on populations from eating a diet of maize.

Below is a list of topic areas, simply click on the intended topic and it will take you to the text.