Brown uses comparative methods of historical linguistics to research the development of agriculture in prehistoric Mesoamerica. He proposes dates for the formation of contemporary languages and proto-languages and the initial appearances of plant names in their vocabularies, which suggest the localized initiation of agriculture. Lexical reconstruction, glottochronology, Levenshtein Distances, elevations where languages are spoken, and mean average plant altitudes (MAPAs) are methods and calculations used in this investigation. Archaeological data were not considered. An objective basic analysis is provided, which is then followed by an expanded analysis that considers the broader implications of the study's findings.

Drawing from lexicographical and ethnobotanical resources, a list of 41 indigenous cultivated and protected plant species were analyzed from 68 contemporary languages. A wealth of tables, figures and appendices are provided that represent developments in languages, proto-languages, their locations and plant names (in Spanish, English and Latin), making this paper a rich source of reference material. Of note is the first purely objectively derived schematization of Levenshtein Distance dates for the 31 Mesoamerican proto-languages, organized according to ancestor-descendant relationships.

Results of the study suggest that plant domestication in Mesoamerica initiated in the highlands of southwestern Mexico (possibly in Oaxaca) 7000 years before present (BP), at the latest, among speakers of Proto-Otomanguen. The first plants to be cultivated were Zea mays, Persea americana, Agave spp. and Opuntia spp. In the timespan from 7000 years BP to 3200 BP, highland people slowly began cultivating other plants. From 3200 BP to 2400 BP, the rate of plant domestication quickened. Also, after 3200 BP, lowland people commenced agricultural practices, Proto-Mayan speakers being the first. Because the Proto-Mayan language reconstructs to have a large plant-name inventory, it is suggested that they were the first Mesoamerican group to live fully incorporated in agricultural villages. By 2000 BP, all but 1 of the 41 plants investigated were fully established in Mesoamerica.