美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-02-26

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　　For decades, researchers have argued about whether corn was a dietary staple⁴ in the late Archaic. The answer, it turns out, was hidden in the turf, tools and toilets of 13 archaeological sites along the coast of Peru. Of 126 soil samples dating back to the late Archaic, 48 percent contained maize pollen⁵. Of 14 stone tools found at one site, 79 percent still carried traces of maize. And finally, scientists analyzed⁶ 62 human and canine⁷ coprolites, or fossilized feces. Maize was the dominant⁸ starch⁹, present in 69 percent of the ancient samples.

　　Some of the evidence is literally¹⁰ crap, but the conclusion isn’t: a corny dietary staple helped drive the growth of civilization in the late Archaic.

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