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Arrowroot, or maranta arundinacea, contains data placing it among the earliest plant foods being processed or managed in the New World tropics

Maranta arundinacea probably originated in the Amazon rainforest of northwestern Brazil and adjacent areas of South America

Radiocarbon dating indicates arrowroot was one of the earliest plants managed or cultivated in the neotropics, (northern South America and Panama), between 8200 BC and 5600 BC
Grinding tools found at San Isidro, Colombias archaeological site, contained arrowroot starch, and were dated to 8200 BC.

Early peoples likely harvested wild stands, began to manage and plant desirable individuals near camps and gardens, and over generations selected for larger, less fibrous, more starchy rhizomes
Like many root crops, it was likely vegatatively propagated from rhizome pieces rather than seed.

Difficulty of starch extraction from the natural fibrous roots suggests that successful cultivation was tied to cultural processing practices (pounding, washing) that people developed alongside cultivation.

Bibliography: Piperno, D.R. & Pearsall, D.M., The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics (Academic Press)

Piperno, D.R. et al., “Starch grains reveal early root crop horticulture,” Nature (2000).
Nature

Brito-Salentim, Vitor Hugo & Nascimento, Renata & de Oliveira, Jeniffer & Joffer, Nathalia & Fattori, André & Cereda, Marney & Oliveira, Carina & Brito da Costa, Reginaldo & Tiburtino-Silva, Lorene & Maciel, Josemar. (2021). Arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea L.): Botany, Horticulture, and Uses. 10.1002/9781119750802.ch4.

The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics: Patterns, Process, and New Developments Dolores R. Piperno Current Anthropology 2011 52:S4, S453-S470