more than thirteen thousand years ago

from maize to corn -- 2/25/15

Today's selection -- from The American Plate by Libby H. O'Connell. Corn, an American dietary staple:

"People started farming in the Americas more than thirteen thousand years ago. In Mexico, archaeologists have found evidence of the cultivation of maize -- what most Americans today call corn -- since 7000 BC when ancient people domesticated and hybridized a wild grass called teosinte, the genetic ancestor of this versatile grain. Dispersed by wind, rain, and farmers sharing seeds hand to hand, the maize seeds traveled in all directions./.../