The amount of time and effort it took to grow and maintain maize kernels was not worth the low yield. As a result, small changes were made throughout the growing process in order to adapt the corn to that environment. While the exact location of the domestication of maize is unknown, some archaeologists are pointing towards the Gulf Coast of Tabasco as the "earliest record of maize cultivation" (Pope, 2001). In addition to the Gulf Coast of Tabasco, some are even stating Guatemala serves as the origin of the cultivation of maize. Guatemala has many different varieties of maize than can be found in all of the United States put together (Coe & Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, 2013). This suggests that this must be a very old center for the evolution of this plant under human guidance. As agriculture became a more significant part of the Mesoamerican diet, the people would have increasingly established permanent villages and developed increased labor and social stratification as surplus grew. Christopher A. Pool even states that this surplus is needed for the development of social and political hierarchies, which will provide the guidance needed for a civilization to flourish. (Pool, 2007) .
Plants were not the only things Mesoamerican people domesticated. In fact, many animals such as dogs and turkeys were domesticated from a wilder species and served as a primary source of protein in Mesoamerican diet. In addition to benefiting their diet, many domesticated animals served as offerings during ritual ceremonies. The domestication of plants and animals helped future developments because it led to bigger species that was adapted for the surrounding agriculture. For example, each domesticated form of maize was also able to reproduce more offspring more quickly than previous variations of maize. This meant that there was more food to feed the growing population. The second area of change that influenced the transition to permanent village lifestyles was the change in both the location and the technique of "farming".
