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¿Es posible que los primeros usos del maíz fueron más diversos de lo que arqueólogos y botánicos han pensado tradicionalmente? Estudios recientes proponen que la hierba silvestre del teocinte fue de utilidad para los primeros habitantes de México, que practicaban la caza y la recolección, ya que la jugosa caña del teocinte podía ser usada para obtener azúcar y preparar alcohol, además de que producía semillas comestibles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists studying emergent complexity face significant interpretive challenges as they move beyond societal classification to explore associations of social, economic, or political variables. Analyses claiming surprising associations of variable states can no longer be dismissed out of hand, but they also need to be carefully scrutinized for weaknesses of logic and evidence. Previous analyses of architecture and artifact distributions at the Early Formative site of Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico, have yielded just such surprising results, one pointing to significant inequalities between households while the other suggests greater equality. After a review of both analyses, we argue that it is not necessary to dismiss one or the other. It may be that at this early point in the period of settled village life on the Chiapas Coast significant status differences between residential groups, as expressed in architecture, had emerged but that they were still tied only ineffectively to the economy, as represented by various classes of artifacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on a study, which analyzes stable-carbon and nitrogen measures in prehistoric human bone samples from the Soconusco region, Mexico and neighboring Guatemala. Both geographic and diachronic variation have been suggested by these measures in diet during the long course of occupation of the region. It has been noticed that Stable-isotope analysis is considered to be an important tool for understanding prehistoric diet because provides a direct measure of the relative importance of the categories of plants and animals consumed.

The article presents the authors' comments in response to the criticism of their article "Prehistoric subsistence in the Soconusco region" that was previously published in the journal. The authors say that their sample preparation procedures have been criticized in that article. They say that they had mechanically cleaned bone samples to remove any contamination.

Molecular DNA analyses of the New World grass (Poaceae) genus Zea, comprising five species, has resolved taxonomic issues including the most likely teosinte progenitor (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis) of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays). However, archaeologically, little is known about the use of teosinte by humans both prior to and after the domestication of maize. One potential line of evidence to explore these relationships is opaline phytoliths produced in teosinte fruit cases. Here we use multidimensional scaling and multiple discriminant analyses to determine if rondel phytolith assemblages from teosinte fruitcases reflect teosinte taxonomy. Our results indicate that rondel phytolith assemblages from the various taxa, including subspecies, can be statistically discriminated. This indicates that it will be possible to investigate the archaeological histories of teosinte use pending the recovery of appropriate samples.