Archaeogenomic investigation of stratified domestication of maize in South America

Maize was domesticated around 9,000-years ago in the Balsas region of Mesoamerica, whereupon it spread to both South and North America.

Recent ground-breaking research in this group established that this occurred in several complex waves (Kistler et al 2018 Science 362:1309-1313).

Through the use of ancient DNA to generate genomes from archaeological maize samples it was established that maize most likely left the domestication centre in an incompletely domesticated state and that landraces were subsequently formed outside the domestication centre in a 'stratified' domestication.

This finding predicts the existence of semi-wild forms of maize being used in early agriculture far away from the area of origin. The existence of such samples has yet to be confirmed, and it is unknown how long such types may have persisted.

In recent years archaeological samples of apparently semi-domesticated maize have been unearthed in Brazil, dating to around 1000-years ago.

In this project we will recover archaeogenomes from these maize samples, determine genetically their domestication status and establish whether these samples support the stratified domestication hypothesis.

This project will join a larger NERC funded team investigating maize in South America with a post-doctoral worker, research assistant and a global team of experts in archaeogenomics and archaeology in South America.