Soil study finds maize farming in Maya region 6,000 years ago

A study published in Communications Earth & Environment reports evidence that people in the Maya-speaking region were farming what was almost certainly maize by 6,000 years ago, according to Phys.org. The study was co-led by Keith Prufer, a University of New Mexico professor of anthropology, and Megan Walsh, a professor in Central Washington University's Department of Geography. Prufer, who directs UNM's Human Ecology and Radiocarbon Lab in the Center for Stable Isotopes, said the farming took place along the edges of wetlands where soil moisture is abundant.

Prufer described the finding as the most significant discovery of the research. He said people changed practices over time to reduce risks to their crops as populations grew and the environment changed. The team identified two major shifts in farming practices during the research, according to the article.

Prufer said the research began in the early 2000s. The team worked in southern Belize in the Maya Golden Landscape, which he described as a region made up of 35 traditional Maya communities. Researchers gathered samples from wetlands and uplands near the ancient city of Uxbenká.

Prufer and his colleagues conducted chemical and microscopic analyses in the United States to identify and map changes in food production methods. The team compared its data with early climate records to assess how changes in past rainfall patterns might have affected decisions farmers made in response to climate change. Maize is a C4 plant, meaning it follows a photosynthetic process that conserves moisture and allows it to be detected in carbon isotopes in tropical soils even after thousands of years, according to the article.

Nine other researchers and authors contributed to the study, many of whom are current or former UNM students, according to the article. One contributor was Jose Mes, a Mopan Maya-speaking farmer from Santa Cruz village in the Maya Golden Landscape. The article states that Mes shared farming strategies, discussed risks, and explained how farmers evaluate each climate condition and situation to achieve the best crop outcomes.

Most people in the Maya Golden Landscape practice traditional farming methods called polyculture, according to the article. Different crops, including maize, beans and squash, are grown in the same fields, and the land is allowed to recover, or lie fallow, for several years before it is cultivated again. The article states that polyculture is a sustainable land use that has been practiced in the region for thousands of years.