Evidence that ancient farms had very different origins than previously thought

[Judi Lynn]

Dramatic new hypothesis could change the way we understand human history.

ANNALEE NEWITZ - 8/3/2017, 5:30 PM




These are the relatively recent remains of an ancient temple in the tropical forest of Cambodia.



It's an idea that could transform our understanding of how humans went from small bands of hunter-gatherers to farmers and urbanites. Until recently, anthropologists believed cities and farms emerged about 9,000 years ago in the Mediterranean and Middle East. But now a team of interdisciplinary researchers has gathered evidence showing how civilization as we know it may have emerged at the equator, in tropical forests. Not only that, but people began altering their environments for food and shelter about 30,000 years earlier than we thought.

For centuries, archaeologists believed that ancient people couldn't live in tropical jungles. The environment was simply too harsh and challenging, they thought. As a result, scientists simply didn't look for clues of ancient civilizations in the tropics. Instead, they turned their attention to the Middle East, where we have ample evidence that hunter-gatherers settled down in farming villages 9,000 years ago during a period dubbed the "Neolithic revolution." Eventually, these farmers' offspring built the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and the great pyramids of Egypt. It seemed certain that city life came from these places and spread from there around the world.

But now that story seems increasingly uncertain. In an article published in Nature Plants, Max Planck Institute archaeologist Patrick Roberts and his colleagues explain that cities and farms are far older than we think. Using techniques ranging from genetic sampling of forest ecosystems and isotope analysis of human teeth, to soil analysis and lidar, the researchers have found ample evidence that people at the equator were actively changing the natural world to make it more human-centric.

It all started about 45,000 years ago. At that point, people began burning down vegetation to make room for plant resources and homes. Over the next 35,000 years, the simple practice of burning back forest evolved. People mixed specialized soils for growing plants; they drained swamps for agriculture; they domesticated animals like chickens; and they farmed yam, taro, sweet potato, chili pepper, black pepper, mango, and bananas.

More:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/evidence-that-humans-had-farms-30000-years-earlier-than-previously-thought/

[Tactical Peek]

1. Black pepper?

Maybe that will seem more logical later in the daylight.

[CottonBear]

2. The Piper genus includes important culinary & medicinal plants like black pepper.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_(plant)

Culinary use of pepper plants is attested perhaps as early as 9,000 years ago. Peppercorn remains were found among the food refuse left by Hoabinhian artisans at Spirit Cave, Thailand. It is not too likely that these plants were deliberately grown rather than collected from the wild.

But this dearth was hardly ever absolute and altogether rather short-lived. Black peppercorns, storing easily and having a high mass per volume, never ceased to be a profitable trade item. In the Middle Ages, international traders were nicknamed Pfeffersäcke ("pepper-sacks&quot in German towns of the Hanseatic League and elsewhere. As the Modern Era came into full swing, wars were fought by European powers, between themselves and in complex alliances and enmities with Indian Ocean states, about control of the supply of spices, perhaps the most archetypal being Black Pepper fruit. Today, Black Pepper corns of the three preparations (green, white and black) are one of the most widely used spices of plant origin worldwide.

One Piper species has gained large-scale use as a stimulant. Betel (P. betle) leaves are used to wrap betel palm nut slices; its sap helps release the stimulating effect of these "cookies" which are widely known as pan in India.

Conversely, another Piper species, Kava, is used for its depressant effects, although paradoxically it also acts as an euphoriant. In the Pacific region, where it has been widely spread as a canoe plant, kava (P. methysticum) is used to produce a calming and socializing drink somewhat similar to alcohol and benzodiazapines but without many of the negative side effects and less of an addiction risk. It has also become popular elsewhere in recent decades, and is used as a medical plant. However, pills that contain parts of the whole plant have occasionally shown a strong hepatotoxic effect, which has led to the banning of kava in many countries.[needs update] On the other hand, the traditional preparation of the root as a calming drink appears to pose little, if any, such hazard.[7][8][needs update]

See also betel leaf, Kava, kava culture.