true also of corn. There are at least three different prim- 
itive races of maize in Peru today (13); two in Colombia 
(36); and four in Mexico (44). Precursors of two of the 
Mexican races, Nal-el and Chapalote, which in their 
characteristics are not far removed from wild corn, have 
been identified in archaeological collections from caves in 
northeastern Mexico (29) and northwestern Mexico (28). 
This shows that even in quite early stages of domestica- 
tion there were already distinct types of corn. One con- 
clusion which might be drawn at this time is that wild 
corn occurred sporadically in restricted sites in the moun- 
tainous region of this hemisphere: in Bolivia, Ecuador, 
and Peru in South America and in Guatemala and Mex- 
ico in Middle America. Once agriculture had been in- 
vented and maize domesticated it may have been domes- 
ticated repeatedly by the American Indians wherever it 
was found. Sucha conclusion might require modification 
at any time as the result of the discovery of new archae- 
ological evidence, especially from South America.” 
In this connection mention should be made of the hy- 
pothesis of Birket-Smith (6), based largely on linguistic 
evidence, that maize originated in Colombia, perhaps in 
the lower Rio Magdalena Valley. In Colombia there are 
3 Since this was written a study (still unpublished) of the most re- 
cent find of archaeological maize from a site in the Ica Valley on the 
coast of Peru shows that the predominating type of corn is remark- 
ably uniform and is similar, if not identical, to the prehistoric precur- 
sor of the still existing Mexican race, Chapalote. Some of the Ica 
ears, however, show various modifications which can be attributed to 
introgression from a race of popcorn, Confite Morocho, which is still 
found in parts of Peru, especially in the Department of Ayacucho. It 
now appears that the great diversity of maize in Peru had its begin- 
nings when a prehistoric popcorn from Mexico hybridized with the 
Peruvian popcorn, Whether the Peruvian popcorn was already in cul- 
tivation when the Mexican race was introduced cannot be determined 
from the evidence now available. Additional archaeological evidence 
from the Peruvian highlands may shed new light on this problem. 
[ 422 ] 
