Corn, the Maya and the Olman

Corn, the Maya and the Olman
By Maria Deltorre

At the Canonfire forum, Sam Weiss wrote:

And relating to 2 above, no it wasn't grown in the slash-and-burn plots of the Maya, but it was grown in the floating garden plots of Tenochtitlan. The two ecosystems, however much they are both "Meso-American", are radically different.

This is not correct, regarding the Maya. Corn/Maize was the staple food in every known Mayan community. Evidence of corn cultivation has been found at Cival, Palenque, Tikal, Chichen Itza and Calakmul. In addition, all of the sites have yeilded religious artifacts related to Itzamna, the god of the moon and corn, who is said to have created Mayan culture by wrapping the earth in corn husks.

Corn was very important to the Mayans, and grew readily in their realms at that time. Since then, the climate of Central America has shifted a bit, and now favors the drastic diversity that Sam mentions, deserts in middle and northern Mexico, and jungles in southern Mexico, Guatemala and other ares south of that.

However, this is sort of a moot point, since the Amedio's climate is obviously based on that of central America today, not 600 to 1000 years ago. Large scale corn cultivation in the jungles of modern Guatemala and Mexico is difficult, even with modern technology. For the Olman to have corn as a staple of their diet, a major reworking of the description of the climate of the Amedio, or an alternate homeland would be required. Obviously, fans agree that the alternate homeland is the answer, but vary on the details.

One of these days I'll have to write up the real homeland of the Olman, which I believe to be, as Sam mentioned, the grasslands southwest of the Amedio where the Hellfurnaces finally end.