Presentated at:

Maya at the Playa 2012 on September 30, 2012

When you hear about Mesoamerican agriculture you think of corn, but modern cotton is a Mesoamerican development. The oldest known cotton textiles come from a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico and have been dated to around 5800 BC. Over 90% of the world’s cotton crop is made up of Gossypium hirsutum, which is native to Mexico and Central America. And G. barbadense, which is believed to come from Peru, makes up most of the rest of the crop. Modern commercial cotton is white, but varieties developed in Ancient America include white, brown, green, red and shades of these colors. This presentation will discuss the history of cotton in the Americas and its relationship to
modern cotton. Photographs and where possible samples of cotton in several colors will be included.