Does RFLP analysis of ancient Anasazi samples suggest that they utilized hybrid maize?
While hiking in S. Utah, I was intrigued by the abundance of corn cobs lying around ancient Anasazi Indian ruins that were abandoned when the culture dissipated in the 12th-13th century A.D. While very dry, these cobs were still otherwise in very good condition. Realizing that the first step in our RFLP analysis is a DNA preparative protocol which utilizes lyophilization of the material, I wondered whether we could prepare DNA from these samples that would then be analyzable through our normal procedures. I obtained 8 cob samples which had been tentatively dated to the 13th century from Winston Hurst, Curator at the Edge of the Cedars State Park in Utah. I tried several procedures to prepare DNA from the samples and found that one, with modifications, was most effective (C. Lichtenstein and J. Draper, In: DNA Cloning Volume II, D.M. Glover ed., IRL Press, Oxford, pp.67-120). I was able to repeatedly obtain DNA from the same set of 5 of the original 8 samples. Examination of the DNA on
