Agriculture in Mesoamerica

[1] At the beginning of the Archaic period, the Early Hunters of the late Pleistocene era (50,000–10,000 BC) led nomadic lifestyles, relying on hunting and gathering for sustenance.

The reliability of cultivated plants allowed hunting and gathering micro-bands to establish permanent settlements and to increase in size.

Eventually, the Mesoamerican people established a sedentary lifestyle based on plant domestication and cultivation, supplemented with small game hunting.

This sedentary lifestyle reliant on agriculture allowed permanent settlements to grow into villages and provided the opportunity for division of labor and social stratification.

Squash and beans were also important staples of the ancient Mesoamerican agricultural diet and along with maize, are often referred to as the "Three Sisters".

Bruce D. Smith discovered evidence of domesticated squash (Cucurbita pepo), in Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca.

[1] The bottle gourd provided storage space for collecting seeds for grinding or planting as well as a means of carrying water.

Maize can be stored for lengthy periods of time, it can be ground into flour, and it easily provides surplus for future use.

However, unlike the arid plains of the Fertile Crescent, the Mesoamerican area has a rougher terrain, therefore making irrigation less effective than terraced farming and slash-and-burn techniques.