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Domesticated maize evolved from wild teosinte under human influences in
Mexico beginning around 9,000 BP, traversed Central America by ~7,500 BP,
and spread into South America by ~6,500 BP. Landrace and archaeological
maize genomes from South America suggest that the ancestral population to
South American maize was brought out of the domestication center in Mexico
and became isolated from the wild teosinte gene pool before traits of
domesticated maize were fixed. Deeply structured lineages then evolved
within South America out of this partially domesticated progenitor
population. Genomic, linguistic, archaeological, and paleoecological data
suggest that the southwestern Amazon was a secondary improvement center
for partially domesticated maize. Multiple waves of human-mediated
dispersal are responsible for the diversity and biogeography of modern
South American maize.
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