"New archaeological evidence points to an independent origin of agriculture in coastal Ecuador 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Suddenly, the remains of larger squash plants appear in the record. The Las Vegas site... may predate plant domestication sites in the Mesoamerican highlands.

The fertile and amazingly diverse lowland tropics seem like a likely place for agriculture to develop."

Yes, well, a lowland coastal area seems to be a likely place for cataclysm survivors to land!