New evidence indicates maize cultivated in Peru 5,000 years ago

andina.com.pe reported that archaeological testing at ancient sites in the Norte Chico region of Peru demonstrates that corn was widely grown, intensively processed and constituted a primary component of the early Peruvians’ diet.
The breakthrough research led by Field Museum curator Dr. Jonathan Haas is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences early edition.

“This new body of evidence demonstrates quite clearly that the very earliest emergence of civilization in South America was indeed based on agriculture as in the other great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China,” said Haas. Read Article