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Episode 80: Gettin’ Corny! The Amazing History of Maize.
To celebrate their 80th episode, The Two Humans get a belly full of corn (and we’re not talkin’ about moonshine)!
Episode 80: Gettin’ Corny! The Amazing History of Maize.
An Intro to Anthro with 2 Humans
Human Number One, John McCray, and Human Number Two, John Lehr, re-assess what it means to be human.
http://www.intro2anthro.podbean.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093893313542
IG @introtoanthrowith2humans
Merch: www.cafepress.com/shop/TheCaveShoppe/products?designId=136195011
Resources:
Bailey, Flora L.
1940 Navaho Foods and Cooking Methods. American Anthropologist, Vol. 42(2), pp. 270-290.
Biography
2019 Orville Redenbacher. Biography, April 16, 2019, www.biography.com/business-leaders/orville-redenbacher.
Castetter, Edward F. and Willis H. Bell
1942 Pima and Papago Indian Agriculture. The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Christensen, Clyde M. and Henry H. Kaufman
1969 Grain Storage: The Role of Fungi in Quality Loss. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.
Cleveland Clinic
2025 Pellagra. Cleveland Clinic [website], my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/ 23905-pellagra.
Cordell, Linda S., H. Wolcott Toll, Mollie S. Toll, and Thomas C. Windes
2008 Archaeological Corn from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: Dates, Contexts, Sources. American Antiquity 73(3), pp. 491–511.
Czerwony, Beth
2021 Why Can You See Corn in Your Poop? Cleveland Clinic (website), June 24, 2021, health.clevelandclinic.org/why-can-you-see-corn-in-poop.
Dappen, Nathan and Neil Losin (Directors)
2015 Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn [Video]. HHMI Biointeractive, www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/popped-secret-mysterious-origin-corn.
Davidson, Alan
2002 The Penguin Companion to Food. Penguin Books, London, UK.
Devor, E. J. and Linda S. Cordell
1981 Neural-Tube Defects in a Pre-Historic South-Western Indian Population. Annals of Human Biology, 8(1), pp. 65–75.
Dickerson, George
1992 A Small-Scale Agriculture Alternative: Specialty Corns. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, June 1992.
Fine Dining Lovers Editorial Staff
2023 What Huitlacoche Is and How to Eat It. Fine Dining Lovers (website), March 31, 2023, www.finedininglovers.com/explore/articles/what-huitlacoche-and-how-eat-it.
Fussell, Betty
1992 The Story of Corn. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.
Galinat, Walton C.
1988 The Origin of Corn. Corn and Corn Improvement, Third Edition (ed. G. F. Sprague and J. W. Dudley, American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Madison, WI, pp. 1-31.
Huff, Leah Alexandra
2006 Sacred Sustenance: Maize, Storytelling, and a Maya Sense of Place. Journal of Latin American Geography, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2006), pp. 79-96.
Hussein, Hussein S. and Jeffrey M. Brasel
2001 Toxicity, Metabolism, and Impact of Mycotoxins on Humans and Animals. Toxicology, Vol. 167, pp. 101–134.
Juárez-Montiel, Margarita, Sandra Ruiloba de León, Griselda Chávez-Camarillo, César
Hernández-Rodríguez, and Lourdes Villa-Tanaca
2011 Huitlacoche (Corn Smut), Caused by the Phytopathogenic Fungus Usilago maydis, as a Functional Food. Revista Iberoamericana de Micología, Vol. 28(2), pp. 69–73.
Kavena, Juanita Tiger
1980 Hopi Cookery. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Keoke, Emory Dean and Kay Marie Porterfield
2003 Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World. Checkmark Books, New York.
King, Frances B. and Bonnie W. Styles
1978 2000 Years of Corn in the “Corn Belt.” Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 25, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1978), pp. 180-184.
Kleinman, Evan
2022 Teosinte: Corn’s Wild Unruly Ancestor Had a Spiritual Significance. Good Food (podcast), KCRW, December 30, 2022, www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/masa-corn-history-science-politics-reair/teosinte-corn-ancestors-spiritual-history.
Licht, Mark and Zachary Clemens
2021 The Birds and Bees of Corn Pollination. Integrated Crop Management, Iowa State University, Extension and Outreach (website), July 19, 2021, https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/post/ birds-and-bees-corn-pollination.
Marasas, W. F. O.
1996 Fumonisins: History, World-Wide Occurrence and Impact. In Fumonisins in Food (ed. Lauren S. Jackson, Jonathan W. Devries, and Lloyd B. Bullerman). Plenum Press, New York, pp. 1-17.
McCray, John
2013 Mycotoxins, Maize, and Site Abandonment in the American Southwest [Master’s Thesis]. New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM.
Peraica, M., B. Radic, A. Lucic, and M. Pavlovic.
1999 Toxic Effects of Mycotoxins in Humans. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 77(9), pp. 754–766.
Radford, Benjamin
2013 Why Can’t Humans Eat Grass? Live Science, January 28, 2013, www.livescience.com/32435-why-cant-humans-eat-grass.html.
Rice, Ellie
2018 Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn (Film Guide). HHMI Biointeractive (website), January 2018, www.biointeractive.org/sites/ default/files/ PoppedSecret-Educator-film.pdf.
Robbins, Wilfred William, John Peabody Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco
1916 Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 55. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Smith, Leah
2025 Corn Pollination: The Nerdy Gardener's Complete Guide. Sow True Seed (website), accessed June 24, 2025, sowtrueseed.com/blogs/ gardening/corn-pollination-the-nerdy-gardeners-complete-guide.
Snow, David H.
1990 Tener Comal y Metate: Protohistoric Rio Grande Maize Use and Diet (ed. Paul E. Minnis and Charles L. Redman). Perspectives on Southwest Prehistory, Westview Press, Inc., Boulder, CO, pp. 289-300.
USDA National Agricultural Library
2025 Early History. USDA National Agricultural Library (website), www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/popcorn/early-history, accessed August 29, 2025.
2025 Popcorn Explosion. USDA National Agricultural Library (website), www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/popcorn/popcorn-explosion, accessed August 21, 2025.
Weatherwax, Paul
1918 The Evolution of Maize. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 45, No. 8 (Aug., 1918), pp. 309-342.
1954 Indian Corn in Old America. The MacMillan Company, New York, NY.
Wetterstrom, Wilma
1986 Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.
View all episodes
By John LehrTo celebrate their 80th episode, The Two Humans get a belly full of corn (and we’re not talkin’ about moonshine)!
Episode 80: Gettin’ Corny! The Amazing History of Maize.
An Intro to Anthro with 2 Humans
Human Number One, John McCray, and Human Number Two, John Lehr, re-assess what it means to be human.
http://www.intro2anthro.podbean.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093893313542
IG @introtoanthrowith2humans
Merch: www.cafepress.com/shop/TheCaveShoppe/products?designId=136195011
Resources:
Bailey, Flora L.
1940 Navaho Foods and Cooking Methods. American Anthropologist, Vol. 42(2), pp. 270-290.
Biography
2019 Orville Redenbacher. Biography, April 16, 2019, www.biography.com/business-leaders/orville-redenbacher.
Castetter, Edward F. and Willis H. Bell
1942 Pima and Papago Indian Agriculture. The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Christensen, Clyde M. and Henry H. Kaufman
1969 Grain Storage: The Role of Fungi in Quality Loss. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.
Cleveland Clinic
2025 Pellagra. Cleveland Clinic [website], my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/ 23905-pellagra.
Cordell, Linda S., H. Wolcott Toll, Mollie S. Toll, and Thomas C. Windes
2008 Archaeological Corn from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: Dates, Contexts, Sources. American Antiquity 73(3), pp. 491–511.
Czerwony, Beth
2021 Why Can You See Corn in Your Poop? Cleveland Clinic (website), June 24, 2021, health.clevelandclinic.org/why-can-you-see-corn-in-poop.
Dappen, Nathan and Neil Losin (Directors)
2015 Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn [Video]. HHMI Biointeractive, www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/popped-secret-mysterious-origin-corn.
Davidson, Alan
2002 The Penguin Companion to Food. Penguin Books, London, UK.
Devor, E. J. and Linda S. Cordell
1981 Neural-Tube Defects in a Pre-Historic South-Western Indian Population. Annals of Human Biology, 8(1), pp. 65–75.
Dickerson, George
1992 A Small-Scale Agriculture Alternative: Specialty Corns. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, June 1992.
Fine Dining Lovers Editorial Staff
2023 What Huitlacoche Is and How to Eat It. Fine Dining Lovers (website), March 31, 2023, www.finedininglovers.com/explore/articles/what-huitlacoche-and-how-eat-it.
Fussell, Betty
1992 The Story of Corn. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.
Galinat, Walton C.
1988 The Origin of Corn. Corn and Corn Improvement, Third Edition (ed. G. F. Sprague and J. W. Dudley, American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Madison, WI, pp. 1-31.
Huff, Leah Alexandra
2006 Sacred Sustenance: Maize, Storytelling, and a Maya Sense of Place. Journal of Latin American Geography, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2006), pp. 79-96.
Hussein, Hussein S. and Jeffrey M. Brasel
2001 Toxicity, Metabolism, and Impact of Mycotoxins on Humans and Animals. Toxicology, Vol. 167, pp. 101–134.
Juárez-Montiel, Margarita, Sandra Ruiloba de León, Griselda Chávez-Camarillo, César
Hernández-Rodríguez, and Lourdes Villa-Tanaca
2011 Huitlacoche (Corn Smut), Caused by the Phytopathogenic Fungus Usilago maydis, as a Functional Food. Revista Iberoamericana de Micología, Vol. 28(2), pp. 69–73.
Kavena, Juanita Tiger
1980 Hopi Cookery. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Keoke, Emory Dean and Kay Marie Porterfield
2003 Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World. Checkmark Books, New York.
King, Frances B. and Bonnie W. Styles
1978 2000 Years of Corn in the “Corn Belt.” Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 25, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1978), pp. 180-184.
Kleinman, Evan
2022 Teosinte: Corn’s Wild Unruly Ancestor Had a Spiritual Significance. Good Food (podcast), KCRW, December 30, 2022, www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/masa-corn-history-science-politics-reair/teosinte-corn-ancestors-spiritual-history.
Licht, Mark and Zachary Clemens
2021 The Birds and Bees of Corn Pollination. Integrated Crop Management, Iowa State University, Extension and Outreach (website), July 19, 2021, https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/post/ birds-and-bees-corn-pollination.
Marasas, W. F. O.
1996 Fumonisins: History, World-Wide Occurrence and Impact. In Fumonisins in Food (ed. Lauren S. Jackson, Jonathan W. Devries, and Lloyd B. Bullerman). Plenum Press, New York, pp. 1-17.
McCray, John
2013 Mycotoxins, Maize, and Site Abandonment in the American Southwest [Master’s Thesis]. New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM.
Peraica, M., B. Radic, A. Lucic, and M. Pavlovic.
1999 Toxic Effects of Mycotoxins in Humans. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 77(9), pp. 754–766.
Radford, Benjamin
2013 Why Can’t Humans Eat Grass? Live Science, January 28, 2013, www.livescience.com/32435-why-cant-humans-eat-grass.html.
Rice, Ellie
2018 Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn (Film Guide). HHMI Biointeractive (website), January 2018, www.biointeractive.org/sites/ default/files/ PoppedSecret-Educator-film.pdf.
Robbins, Wilfred William, John Peabody Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco
1916 Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 55. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Smith, Leah
2025 Corn Pollination: The Nerdy Gardener's Complete Guide. Sow True Seed (website), accessed June 24, 2025, sowtrueseed.com/blogs/ gardening/corn-pollination-the-nerdy-gardeners-complete-guide.
Snow, David H.
1990 Tener Comal y Metate: Protohistoric Rio Grande Maize Use and Diet (ed. Paul E. Minnis and Charles L. Redman). Perspectives on Southwest Prehistory, Westview Press, Inc., Boulder, CO, pp. 289-300.
USDA National Agricultural Library
2025 Early History. USDA National Agricultural Library (website), www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/popcorn/early-history, accessed August 29, 2025.
2025 Popcorn Explosion. USDA National Agricultural Library (website), www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/popcorn/popcorn-explosion, accessed August 21, 2025.
Weatherwax, Paul
1918 The Evolution of Maize. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 45, No. 8 (Aug., 1918), pp. 309-342.
1954 Indian Corn in Old America. The MacMillan Company, New York, NY.
Wetterstrom, Wilma
1986 Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.