Pretty good infographic on the history of animal domestication from the oddly named Visual Capitalist. References and a map would be good, but we mustn’t…ahem…look a gift horse in the mouth.
Brainfood: Rice domestication, Roman wine, Dog domestication, Earth ovens, Forest orchards, Saffron origins
- The Fits and Starts of Indian Rice Domestication: How the Movement of Rice Across Northwest India Impacted Domestication Pathways and Agricultural Stories. While cultivation of (indica) rice in South Asia began in the Ganges around 6500 BC, its domestication really speeded up 3000 years later in the Indus.
- Archaeobotanical and chemical investigations on wine amphorae from San Felice Circeo (Italy) shed light on grape beverages at the Roman time. In the second century BC the ancient Romans may have traded a medicinal wine made from wild or semi-domesticated grapevines. I wonder how it would have gone with a nice risotto.
- Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs. Either dogs were domesticated independently in E and W Eurasia and then the two lineages merged, or they were domesticated in the E and then there was geneflow from wild dogs. Sounds a bit like rice actually. ((No, really, check it out. Japonica gets domesticated in one place, then taken to another place where it gets into geneflow with indica, which is being domesticated elsewhere. Only difference is that 2 different wild species are involved, rather than just a single wild wolf species. Also maybe echoes of what happened in tomato too?))
- Bulbs and Biographies, Pine Nuts and Palimpsests: Exploring Plant Diversity and Earth Oven Reuse at a Late Period Plateau Site. For 2000 years Native Americans returned to specific food processing sites dug into the soil to cook up a storm. No word on the use of wild grapevines.
- Coupled archaeological and ecological analyses reveal ancient cultivation and land use in Nuchatlaht (Nuu-chah-nulth) territories, Pacific Northwest. Native Americans nurtured forest gardens to enrich them with edible species. Including wild apples though again not wild grapevines apparently.
- Ancient Artworks and Crocus Genetics Both Support Saffron’s Origin in Early Greece. Ok now everything is in place for a nice risotto alla Milanese with a Falanghina at the House of the Tragic Poet.
Nibbles: Ag & biodiversity, Sattu, African crops, New rice, Maya religion
- Good roundup of the latest thinking on land sharing vs sparing.
- Hummus is not the only thing to use chickpeas for: you can also make sattu sherbert.
- Africa looks to fonio. Again.
- A new, uniquely high-protein, low-glycemic index rice.
- The Maya Maize God’s sacrifice was re-enacted in a cave. And if you want more background, do listen to this fabulous podcast on the Popol Vuh.
Brainfood: Red rice beer, Chicken domestication, Perennial rice, Biofortified rice, Ancient wheats, Brassica domestication, Potato domestication, Sunflower domestication, Early agriculture
- The quest for red rice beer: transregional interactions and development of competitive feasting in Neolithic China. In the 4th millennium BCE, in China, people brewed a sacred red beer in vats called dakougang using rice, millet, Job’s tears, wheat and snake gourd root.
- The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens. The earliest domesticated chickens are found 1650-1250 BCE in central Thailand and were attracted by stored rice and millet. No word on the role of beer.
- Performance, Economics and Potential Impact of Perennial Rice PR23 Relative to Annual Rice Cultivars at Multiple Locations in Yunnan Province of China. But does it make decent beer and attract chickens?
- Genomic prediction of zinc-biofortification potential in rice gene bank accessions. Check out in particular the aus subspecies. No word on whether the resulting beer and chickens are also high in zinc.
- Do ancient wheats contain less gluten than modern bread wheat, in favour of better health? More to the point, do they make better beer?
- Evidence for two domestication lineages supporting a middle-eastern origin for Brassica oleracea crops from diversified kale populations. Chickens not involved at all.
- Genome evolution and diversity of wild and cultivated potatoes. Propagation by tubers had a big effect on the cultivated potato genome compared to propagation by seed. And no, I’m not going to get into the whole chickens-in-South-America controversy right now, but you can google it.
- The genomics of linkage drag in sunflower. Introgression from wild relatives has been good for some things, bad for others, but in general pre-breeders should stick to the primary genepool. And watch out for chickens.
- From horticulture to agriculture: New data on farming practices in Late Chalcolithic western Anatolia. While domestic units were small and agriculture extensive, cooperation was widespread and inequality low. Then those Bronze Age elites got chickens…
Nibbles: Seed quality, New rice, Australian seeds, New wheat, Ceramics genebank
- Video on a participative system for seed quality control in Colombia.
- Pushing out high quality new rice varieties in India.
- Collecting high quality seeds after fires in Australia.
- The road to high quality wheat starts in Obregón.
- China’s latest genebank conserves ancient ceramics. No word on quality.