Archaeology

June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Dog domestication controversy growls away

Awesome, by @ewencallaway RT @mammuthus: Nice summary of recent research into dog evolution http://t.co/sZ92QM5wt4 (h/t @paleogenomics)

— Ed Yong is not here (@edyong209) June 18, 2013

Scientists investigating the transformation of wolves into dogs are behaving a bit like the animals they study, as disputes roil among those using genetics to understand dog domestication.

Sound familiar? Remember the chicken story? It’s a genomic jungle out there.

LATER: A jungle that goes way back.

June 6, 2013June 6, 2013

Nibbles: Pretty, Peak soil, Wine history, Ancient foodways, Offal, Durian, Exotic plant foods, Cassava, Mozzarella, Nutrition report, Superfoods

Jules Pretty meditates on the impermanence of things.
Like soil. And bumblebees.
Ah, well, let’s not get maudlin. Pass the bottle. Well looky here. The French got wine from the Italians. I feel better already.
And Canadians had clam gardens a thousand years ago. Probably still do, actually.
Along with offal, no doubt. Which did not, however, seem to play any role in a recent Mesolithic dinner. Though French wine did. Which is weird.
The best fruit in the world gets the Kew treatment.
And is included in a weird list of the 100 weirdest food plants.
Cassava‘s pretty weird too.
The best cheese in the world is not French either.
All of which foods no doubt feature in FAO’s new report on nutrition. Which is really important, so don’t let the flippancy fool ya. The Lancet agrees. And you can do your bit too.
Ah, but does quinoa feature in that FAO report? The backlash continues…

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013

Nibbles: Coffee, Farming origins, Trees and gender, Peach award

Nice piece from NPR on the coffee genebank in Costa Rica and the importance of breeding for resistance to coffee rust. Where’s the diversity for that going to come from, you ask?
Weird piece from NPR on why humans took up farming. Hard to swallow.
At least in India and Uganda, men and women use trees differently, and have different access. Good to know.
“David Byrne receives national 2013 Carroll R. Miller Award for peach research.” Settle down! Not that David Byrne.

May 16, 2013May 16, 2013

Nibbles: Beer edition

Genebank saves beer!
Not so fast…
So, lets get back to basics shall we, and the dawn of brewing, recreated (again).

May 9, 2013

Nibbles: Lemons, Quinoa, Sago, Onions

Iron Chef edition:

Preserve Amalfi lemons. (No, not that kind of preserve.)
Ist International Quinoa Research Symposium comes to Washington. (No, not that Washington.)
Sago before rice in Ancient China. (A remark about sago being dessert isn’t going to fly, is it?)
Know your onions and, er, “make love to them”?