Archaeology

April 30, 2013April 29, 2013

Tracing the Polynesian migrations through DNA, but not only

I know you probably don’t have an hour to spare to listen to a lecture on the evidence for pre-Columbian contacts between Polynesians and South American cultures, but Dr Lisa Matisoo-Smith does a really good job of galloping though the DNA and archaeological evidence from humans, commensals and livestock in a recent podcast from the Bishop Museum. She even mentions crops.

The bottom line? The human anatomical and artifact evidence is compelling, but the DNA is not cooperating yet. At least the human DNA. But listen to it. While you’re preparing dinner or something. I just wish the Bishop had thought to put the slides online too.

April 29, 2013

Nibbles: Alcohol, Cannabis, Pollination tool, EU seed law, Fruit cloning

I need a drink.
Or maybe some Viking ganja.
I know I don’t need a VegiBee. But maybe you do.
I guess we all need to write to the EU about the new seed law.
Nobody needs another discussion of whether cloning is good or bad.

April 15, 2013April 12, 2013

Brainfood: Wild pepper, Lettuce gene, Qat genetic structure, Date oases, Raised fields, Waxy sorghum, Striga resistant cowpea, Wild soybean, Kenaf diversity

Domestication, Conservation, and Livelihoods: A Case Study of Piper peepuloides Roxb. — An Important Nontimber Forest Product in South Meghalaya, Northeast India. Managed crop wild relative manages to turn a profit for Indian forest dwellers.
Expression of 9-cis-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE4 Is Essential for Thermoinhibition of Lettuce Seed Germination but Not for Seed Development or Stress Tolerance. Managed crop wild relative gene could eventually turn a profit for commercial lettuce growers.
Evaluation of microsatellites of Catha edulis (qat; Celastraceae) identified using pyrosequencing. Can be used to trace origin. The Man exults.
Date palm as a keystone species in Baja California peninsula, Mexico oases. Jesuit-introduced exotics can be keystone species too. The Pope exults.
Ancient human agricultural practices can promote activities of contemporary non-human soil ecosystem engineers: A case study in coastal savannas of French Guiana. Formerly managed landscape now managed by soil organisms.
A novel waxy allele in sorghum landraces in East Asia. Out of East Asia…
Identification of new sources of resistance to Striga gesnerioides in cowpea germplasm. As ever, they are not the ones farmers actually like.
Development of EST-SSR markers for diversity and breeding studies in opium poppy. And, they work on the related species! Afghans exult.
Kunitz trypsin inhibitor polymorphism in the Korean wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.). In other news, there is wild soybean in Korea.
Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) accessions evaluated by SRAP and ISSR. Originated in Kenya-Tanzania area.

April 11, 2013April 11, 2013

Nibbles: Wine and climate change, Botanic gardens video, Forest restoration video, Deforestation live, European breeders meet, Yams and gender and insurance, N, Fish pots, Ancient ag books, Bioinformatics training, Sustinable ag

Blogging machine Tom Barnett worried about effect of climate change on his favourite tipple.
BGCI shell out for cool animation on social role of botanic gardens, and it’s totally worth it.
As also, but differently, are IUCN’s videos on forest restoration.
All the world’s forests, online, any day now, to monitor the opposite of their restoration.
Europe tries to stimulate innovation in plant breeding. By holding a meeting. Ah, but there’s a hashtag.
Development economists illustrate interesting point about gender and yam cultivation with photo of sweet potatoes.
The organic attitude to inorganic nitrogen.
Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers ate fish. Well I never.
Reviews of couple books on agricultural origins.
Need bioinformatics training? Who doesn’t.
ICRAF reviews efforts to monitor sustainable intensification. Somewhere. I can’t for the life of me find the actual document.

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013

The grapevines of Pompeii

Sign explaining the story behind a vineyard planted in the ruins of Pompeii — Sign explaining the story behind one of several vineyards planted among the ruins of Pompeii

Although I knew that grapevines were cultivated in Roman times in and around Pompeii, I had no idea, until I visited the place for the first time in decades last week, that they’re there again, and in force. Various varieties apparently dating back to the time of the eruption that destroyed the city in AD 79 were planted in the late 1990s, more or less where they were originally grown.

According to Mastroberardino, wine played a central role in the lives of the Vesuvian people. Archaeological excavations, botanical studies, and the discovery of casts of vine roots and their support stakes have confirmed that vines were grown within ancient Pompeii’s city walls, in the gardens and orchards which beautified villas, and especially in the quarters located on the outskirts of the city, near the amphitheatre.

And they seem to be doing very well, though you perhaps wouldn’t know it from my photos taken in early April. Fortunately, the internet can help with that.