2000 years of agriculture in the Atacama desert lead to changes in the distribution and concentration of iron in maize

Abstract

We performed a histological and quantitative study of iron in archaeological maize seeds from prehispanic times recovered from Tarapaca, Atacama Desert. Also, we examined iron distribution changes at the cell level in embryos from ancient versus new varieties of maize. Our results show a progressive decrease in iron concentration from the oldest maize to modern specimens. We interpret the results as an effect of prehispanic agriculture over the micronutrient composition of maize.