Escaping the Maize Maze: Implications of Indigenous Food-Plants of the Maya Lowlands

While maize certainly played a central role in ancient Maya subsistence, the Maya Lowlands are endowed with over 500 indigenous food-plants, many of which probably figured prominently in the subsistence economy. The recognition of plant foods other than maize provides the basis for the critical re-examination of food-commodity exchange, agricultural resilience, drought resistance, pollen evidence for deforestation, and the interpretation of carbon isotope signatures as evidence for maize cultivation and consumption.