has a bearing on our own findings. In a later, more complete 
report, we shall discuss some of the more recent contributions 
in South American archaeology that have come to our atten- 
tion, notably an article by Zevallos et al.2 
THE MAIZE REMAINS 
The prehistoric remains of maize from the Huarmey site 
comprised a total of 238 specimens including all parts of the 
plant from the roots to anthers in the spikelets of the tassels. 
Their description follows: 
Coss: Cobs, 61 specimens in all, were found at all levels in 
the pits. With respect to their size the cobs reveal an evolution- 
ary sequence, those from the lower levels being generally 
shorter and more slender with fewer kernel rows and fewer 
spikelets per row. Since the majority of the cobs were not intact 
with respect to length and many of them were somewhat 
eroded, the only datum that could be obtained from all of the 
specimens was kernel-row number. The data for this charac- 
teristic are shown in TABLE 1, along with such other data as we 
TABLE | 
Kernel-row numbers of the cobs from five stratigraphic levels. Level 1 is 
most superficial: level 5 is deepest. 
Level Kernel-row numbers 
4 8 10 12 14 
l 2 2 
2 4 8 l 
3 | 1S 5 
4 16 l 
5 2 l 
“Carlos Zevallos M., Walton C. Galinat, Donald W. Lathrap, Earl R. Leng, Jorge G. 
Marcos, Kathleen M. Klumpp. 1977. **The San Pablo corn kernel and its friends’. 
Science, Vol. 196, pp. 385-389. 
226 
