Prehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla in the Central Valley of Oaxaca

A handful of caves above Oaxaca's Tlacolula valley rewrote the story of farming in the Americas. At Guilá Naquitz, squash seeds some 10,000 years old are the continent's earliest known evidence of plant domestication, and maize cob fragments from the same cave document the first steps toward corn. Together with the pre-Hispanic complexes of Yagul and Mitla, this cradle of Mesoamerican agriculture was inscribed by UNESCO in 2010.