Ca 
MBRIDGE, Massacuusetts, Marcu 4, 1949 
BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 
ON EVOLUTION IN MAIZE 
BY 
Paut C. MANGELSDORF AND C. EARLE SMITH, JR. 
THe problem of the origin of maize, which for several 
generations past has commanded the attention of bota- 
nists and archaeologists alike, is appreciably nearer the 
point of final solution as a result of the discovery of im- 
portant prehistoric plant remains in New Mexico during 
the summer of 1948. An expedition sponsored by the 
Peabody Museum of Harvard University’ and led by 
Mr. Herbert W. Dick, a graduate student in anthropol- 
ogy, uncovered many cobs and other parts of maize from 
the accumulated refuse in an abandoned rock shelter, 
known as Bat Cave. This material not only furnishes 
direct proof of the nature of primitive maize but also pro- 
vides for the first time tangible evidence of a well-defined 
evolutionary sequence in this important American cereal. 
Anticipating the evidence to be presented in detail 
later in this paper, it can be said here that direct archae- 
ological evidence is now available to show: (1) that prim- 
itive maize was both a pod corn and a pop corn; (2) that 
‘This expedition, the Early Man Division of the Upper Gila Ex- 
pedition of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, is under the 
general direction of Dr. J. O. Brew and is financed in part by the 
Viking Fund of New York City; the excavation of Bat Cave was in 
cooperation with the University of New Mexico. The general aims of 
the Expedition are set forth by Brew and Danson (1948). 
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