Late ninth millennium B.P. use of Zea mays L. at Cubilán area, highland Ecuador, revealed by ancient starches

Today, maize is acknowledged as a plant with a great culinary and industrial versatility. It also has a deep relationship with the native cultures of the Americas and is still a vital food source for hundreds millions of people worldwide. By means of starch grain extraction from ancient lithic artifacts used more than 8000 years ago, here we report what is so far the oldest documented occurrence of maize in highland South America. This study places maize, together with other important economic plants, in the southern Ecuadorian Andes during a period coinciding with the initial stage of maize diversification and long distance expansion after its domestication in southwestern Mexico. These results allow us to unravel an early episode of human innovation previously unknown for South America which is related to the first steps toward the full re-shaping of human subsistence strategies in the continent.