Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Plant Domestication

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week

Plant Domestication Aug 13th 2011, 10:00 The domestication of plants is one of the first steps in moving towards a full-fledged agricultural economy, although the process is by no means a one-directional movement. A plant is said to be domesticated when its native characteristics are altered such that it cannot grow and reproduce without human intervention. Domestication is thought to be the result of the development of a symbiotic relationship between the plants and humans, called co-evolution, because plants and human behaviors evolve to suit one another. In the simplest form of co-evolution, a human harvests a given plant selectively, based on the preferred characteristics, such as the largest fruits, and uses the seeds from the largest fruits to plant the next year. The following table is compiled from a variety of sources, and detailed descriptions of the domesticates will be added to as I get to them. Thanks again to Ron Hicks at Ball State University for his suggestions and information. See the Animal Domestication table for the latest on animals. Plant Domestication Plant Where Domesticated Date Fig trees Near East 9000 BC Rice East Asia 9000 BC Barley Near East 8500 BC Einkorn wheat Near East 8500 BC Emmer wheat Near East 8500 BC Chickpea Anatolia 8500 BC Bottle gourd Asia 8000 BC Potatoes Andes Mountains 8000 BC Squash (Cucurbita pepo) Central America 8000 BC Maize Central America 7000 BC Broomcorn millet East Asia 6000 BC Bread wheat Near East 6000 BC Manioc/Cassava South America 6000 BC Avocado Central America 5000 BC Cotton Southwest Asia 5000 BC Bananas Island Southeast Asia 5000 BC Chili peppers South America 4000 BC Amaranth Central America 4000 BC Watermelon Near East 4000 BC Olives Near East 4000 BC Cotton Peru 4000 BC Pomegranate Iran 3500 BC Hemp East Asia 3500 BC Cotton Mesoamerica 3000 BC Coca South America 3000 BC Squash (Cucurbita pepo ovifera ) North America 3000 BC Sunflower Central America 2600 BC Sweet Potato Peru 2500 BC Marsh elder (Iva annua) North America 2400 BC Sorghum Africa 2000 BC Sunflower North America 2000 BC Pearl millet Africa 1800 BC Chocolate Mexico 1600 BC Chenopodium North America 1500 BC Coconut Southeast Asia 1500 BC Eggplant Asia 1st century BC Vanilla Central America 14th century AD

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