New World farming may be twice as old as researchers had believed, judging from fossilized seeds and other plant remains found sealed in floors and hearths buried on the slopes of the Andes in northern Peru. Radiocarbon dating of the scraps pushed back the earliest cultivation of squash¿the first New World crop [seeds shown above]¿from 5,000 to 10,000 years before present, according to research published in this week's Science magazine. Peanuts and cotton followed at 8,500 and 6,000 years ago, respectively.