the maize of northwestern Mexico and adjoining areas 
in New Mexico occurred at about 750+250 A.D. 
THe Dirrusion oF MaizE FROM 
NORTHWESTERN MExXIco 
There can be little doubt that Chapalote, one of the 
ancient indigenous races of Mexico, was spread rather 
widely, and was the principal, if not the only race of 
maize of the early cultures in northwestern Mexico and 
the southwestern United States. Prehistoric remains of 
Chapalote, or something closely related to it, have been 
found by Kelly in the states of Jalisco and Sinaloa in 
Mexico (Anderson, 1944), by Anderson (1947) in the 
material from Painted Cave and by Hurst and Anderson 
(1949) in the maize from Cottonwood Cave in Colorado. 
Wellhausen et al (1952) have pointed out that some of 
the impressions of maize ears in a prehistoric block of 
lava from Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, might well have 
been made by ears of Chapalote. Although the authors 
did not recognize it at the time, it now seems apparent 
that some of the early maize of Bat Cave described by 
Mangelsdorf and Smith (1949) is related to Chapalote. 
The cobs from Strata I and II of their Plate X XIII, as 
well as the kernels (Plate X XIV) are clearly related to 
this race. The Pre-Pottery maize from Tularosa Cave, 
illustrated by Cutler (én Martin et a/, 1952), may also 
well be an early form of Chapalote. 
Chapalote is unique among the Mexican races of maize 
in having brown pericarp color. The center for this char- 
acter is in the highlands of Peru where brown and reddish- 
brown pericarp colors are common. Brown pericarp 1s 
also common among the prehistoric maize ears of coastal 
sites in Peru. Whether Chapalote came originally from 
South America, or whether brown pericarp in Peru de- 
rived originally from Mexico, or whether there is, indeed, 
[ 174 | 
