When did people in Central America begin shifting from hunting and gathering to plant cultivation?

In Central America, the transition from hunting and foraging to plant cultivation occurred between 4000 and 1000 BCE. While this period marks the broader regional shift, archaeological evidence indicates that early experimentation with plant domestication in the wider Mesoamerican region began much earlier, with some evidence of plant use and domestication dating back to approximately 8000–8900 BCE.1234

By 3500 BCE, the cultivation of crops such as beans and improved varieties of corn had begun to influence settlement patterns, leading to the development of semipermanent villages. This process of increasing sedentariness and reliance on agriculture continued over several millennia, setting the stage for the emergence of organized, sedentary farming communities by 1000 BCE.21