Advent Of Agriculture Research Articles

A mouse in a box is like a warlord in a city (mice as characters of Russian folklore)

Mice have accompanied a man throughout much of his history. With the advent of agriculture, mice are pests that must be exterminated by any means and rational means of extermination coexisted with magical ones. Unlike real life, in folklore and cult practice it is a complex and ambiguous character. Mice were used in divination, conspiracies and folk medicine, their image was often associated with death and evil spirits. At the same time, in fairy tales the mouse often acts as a helper, rather than a pest. All this proves the binary perception of mice which were close to the mythological world and its inhabitants and, accordingly, acted as bearers of both harm and good.

Scientific application in the Islamic World: Advent of agriculture in Saudi Arabia

Abstract – The paper explores a survey of texts as well as physical surveys in Saudi Arabia to establish the importance that the Islamic culture places on scientific and technological development, along with preserving traditions and culture. This has led them to become reasonably large producers of food grains, fruits, vegetables as well as horticultural plants. Also, industries around these produce have also been encouraged. The political turmoils of the region notwithstanding, the Islamic people are part of the great human endeavour of life. Key words: Islamic Agronomy, Nomadic Pastoralists, Rose Oils.

The evolution of cropping structure in prehistoric Xizang

The origin and spread of agriculture facilitated a decline in human mobility and eventually led to a predominantly sedentary lifestyle globally, including on the Tibetan Plateau. Previous studies have proposed an evolution of prehistoric agriculture, from millet-based to barley-based farming. However, details regarding the process are vague. Here, we present diachronic changes in cropping structure from Xizang on the basis of a quantitative analysis of archaeobotanical remains from 12 sites located in southeastern Xizang. The advent of agriculture in Xizang began in the southeastern region around 4800 cal a BP and resulted in a quick spread of millet agriculture from the Hengduan Mountains to the Yarlung Zangbo River region. Subsequently, the introduction of barley and wheat in Xizang led to the transformation of millet-based farming into mixed farming after 3600 cal a BP. Eventually, around 3000 cal a BP, barley and wheat dominated across the entire Xizang with declining occurrences of millet. It took more than 600 years for barley and wheat to dominate in the Tibetan cropping system, which may reflect the time required for these exotic species to adapt physiologically to their new niche. In addition to the diachronic changes in crop farming, the ratio of barley to wheat and foxtail millet to broomcorn millet also varied at different elevations possibly due to local environmental variations and the crops’ physiological requirements.

Sustainable Farm Care System Using IoT

Throughout history, the quest for sustenance has been a constant struggle. With the advent of agriculture, humankind has witnessed remarkable progress over the centuries. In the present era, the Internet of Things (IoT) has permeated every sphere of life. Inspired by this, We have embarkedon a project to develop an IoT-based application tailored specifically for the agricultural domain, with a focus on revolutionizing plant management. Plant management encompasses a range of agricultural activities, including seedbed preparation, seed sowing, and plant maintenance. Ourwork aims to automate crucial processes such as water irrigation, water storage management, artificial lighting, and plant security systems. To achieve this, We have devised a dedicated mobile application that interfaces withIoT devices. These interconnected devices form a network, enabling real-time data monitoring and seamless activation of various operations within the system. This ambitious work consists of four major modules. To handle each module effectively, an individual nodemcu device has been allocated. By combining the power of IoT technology and agriculture, this work strives to optimize plant management, enhance productivity, and ultimately contribute to the advancement of this vital field

A comparative study of robusticity indices of long bones among hunter-gatherers and early agro-pastoral groups of India.

Diaphyseal robusticity and cross-sectional shapes of the bone tissues are influenced by mechanical loading history. It changes according to work demand on the body. It is the objective of this study to identify the shifts in the modes of subsistence, activities and mobility patterns through the comparison of the shape and strength of bone diaphyses among the Mesolithic, Chalcolithic and Harappan populations of India. For the analysis, 7 sites including 2 from Mesolithic (8000-4000 bc), 2 from Chalcolithic (2000-700 bc) and 3 from Harappan (3500-1800 bc) contexts are considered. The ratio obtained from the maximum length of the bones to their girth (at 50% or 35% from the distal end) and that from anterior-posterior and medio-lateral diameters were calculated (following Martin and Saller codes, 1957) to understand certain functional adaptations and stress markers on preserved long bones. Independent-sample T-tests and ANOVA were applied to detect mean differences of statistical significance within and between cultures. The robusticity indices obtained from the humeri increase from the hunting-gathering phase (M/F; 19.39/18.45) to the Chalcolithic phase (M/F; 21.99/19.39) showing a slight drop in the Harappan phase (M/F; 18.58/18.37). The right humeri of Mesolithic females show a directional asymmetry of length (4.08%-5.13%) while that in males reach up to 26.09% indicating right-dominant lateralization. In the Harappan phase, females show a greater value for the right ranging from 0.31% to 3.07%. The femoral robusticity of females increases from 11.42 in hunting-gathering societies to 13.28 in Harappan times while mid-shaft of the Mesolithic population clearly shows greater loading along the anterior-posterior (A-P) plane as the index in most cases exceeds 100. There are significant differences among males and females within each group in terms of the indices but significant differences could be discerned between the Mesolithic, Chalcolithic and Harappan populations in case of tibiae, radii and ulnae only. The occupation patterns certainly changed as humans became a food-producer from a hunter-gatherer. Occupations involving the extensive flexion and extension of upper limbs in the Chalcolithic period increase particularly in the Harappan phase. Sedentism gave rise to roundness of the femur and reduced the magnitude of lateralization. While equal level of mobility can be traced in case of both the sexes before the advent of agriculture, this distinction increases between the males and females in the agro-pastoral phases.

The evolution of dog diet and foraging: Insights from archaeological canids in Siberia.

Research on the evolution of dog foraging and diet has largely focused on scavenging during their initial domestication and genetic adaptations to starch-rich food environments following the advent of agriculture. The Siberian archaeological record evidences other critical shifts in dog foraging and diet that likely characterize Holocene dogs globally. By the Middle Holocene, body size reconstruction for Siberia dogs indicates that most were far smaller than Pleistocene wolves. This contributed to dogs' tendencies to scavenge, feed on small prey, and reduce social foraging. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of Siberian dogs reveals that their diets were more diverse than those of Pleistocene wolves. This included habitual consumption of marine and freshwater foods by the Middle Holocene and reliance on C4 foods by the Late Holocene. Feeding on such foods and anthropogenic waste increased dogs' exposure to microbes, affected their gut microbiomes, and shaped long-term dog population history.

Porotic Hyperostosis Observed in the 16th to 19th Century Crania of Native Siberians, Russian Settlers, and Joseon Dynasty Koreans

Porotic hyperostosis (PH) is the skeletal marker used in the estimation of physiological stress suffered in childhood. Despite a conventional hypothesis that mankind’s health conditions declined with the advent of agriculture, there are few reports comparing the PH seen on ancient crania of hunters-fishermen-gatherers and agrarian peoples. In this study, we examined the crania of 16th to 19th century Eurasian peoples: Siberian natives (hunters-fishermen-gatherers), Russian settlers, and Joseon Koreans (agriculturalists) to see whether PH could be observed to differ between populations with varying subsistence strategies. The prevalence of PH decreased in the order of Joseon people (18.9 %), Russian settlers (6.3 %), and Siberian natives (3.8 %). In brief, the hunters-fishermen-gatherers’ stress level was lower than agriculture-based Joseon people and Russian settlers. In addition, Joseon people might have been exposed to more serious stressful episodes than Russian settlers were. We assume that the former might have lived under much stressful conditions than the latter did, though both people depended on intense agriculture. As for sexual dimorphism of PH: in all groups, males were identified with more PH signs than females were. Our report successfully shows that the detailed pattern of stress markers might have been influenced by complex interactions between various factors that existed under different conditions in history.

Long time-series ecological niche modelling using archaeological settlement data: Tracing the origins of present-day landscape

Human activities have shaped the environment since long before the advent of agriculture and resulted in anthropogenic landscapes, which are sometimes perceived as natural, but are clearly shaped by dozens of previous generations. This study is the first to apply ecological niche modelling on a long time-series of archaeological data to illuminate the development of the landscape from the perspective of settlement behaviour and its dependence on environmental conditions. Using a large dataset of evidence of prehistoric settlement activities covering the area of the Czech Republic and spanning 6600 years from the beginning of agricultural prehistory, we analyse to what degree settlement was related to environmental parameters. We quantified the strength of this relation in terms of the predictive power of ecological niche models generated with the MaxEnt method. We observed a significant variability of settlement behaviour over time, but also landscape occupation, which has retained similar general characteristics to now. This shows that settlement strategies were remarkably stable and the presence of previous settlement was beneficial for subsequent land-use. Comparison of prehistoric settlement with contemporary landscape typology also points to a long-term legacy pre-dating historical periods, which makes the landscape our largest and most important heritage monument.

Looking for Leisure in All the Wrong Places: What the Ju/ ’hoansi Can Teach Us About Leisure

The purpose of this research reflection is to revisit the foundations upon which we constitute our understanding of the good life. Specifically, we think it is important for our field to unmoor itself from the myth that the advent of agriculture led to increased leisure time. To make our case, we recount two strikingly different narratives of the settings in which leisure is proported to flourish that we believe help us make sense of the current 21st century paradox of the most technologically advanced globalized society yearning for leisure, but endlessly falling short of its aspirations. In contrast, we revisit ethnographies of the Ju/’hoansi, hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite cyclical famine, drought, colonial incursions and de facto post-colonial rule, the Ju/’hoansi held superior leisure time to people living in Western societies, begging the question of why our field has paid them so little attention.

Gluten intolerance and hashimoto thyroiditis: an integrated review

The advent of agriculture about 10,000 years ago enabled the massive and widespread use of grains containing gluten in food. Thus, it represented an evolutionary challenge that has not yet been overcome and created the conditions for the development of diseases related to exposure to gluten in humans. The so-called hypersensitivity involves any abnormal reaction resulting from eating a particular food. We are now looking at another interesting phenomenon that is causing great confusion among healthcare professionals. The number of individuals embracing a gluten-free diet appears far greater than the predicted number of celiac patients, fueling a global gluten-free product market approaching $2.5 billion (US) in global sales in 2010. This trend is supported by the notion that, along with celiac disease, other conditions related to gluten intake have emerged as health concerns. Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease and the most common cause of hypothyroidism in our environment. It occurs with high familial aggregation and there seems to be a clear genetic predisposition, with an apparent autosomal dominant inheritance of autoantibodies in affected individuals. Food intolerance and allergies and intestinal permeability can accompany hypothyroidism. Food (food intolerance and allergies), bacteria, viruses, chemicals, excess bacterial growth in the intestine, intestinal permeability, and contaminants are the main culprits for the autoimmune thyroid disease – Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Palaeo or Neo? Bataille, Lévi-Strauss and the Rewriting of Prehistory

This article's polemical thrust begins with Georges Bataille's 1956 critique of Tristes Tropiques, where Lévi-Strauss omits the Palaeolithic while extolling the Neolithic advent of agriculture and sedentism. Whereas Lévi-Strauss describes his own thinking as Neolithic, he characterizes it in ways that resemble the behaviour of hunter-gatherers and nomads. I trace this contradiction to current scholarship willing to challenge the long-standing narrative bias that either ignores the Palaeolithic and/or derides it in favour of the Neolithic, now subject to refutations of its alleged advantages. Further theoretical backbone is provided by Ibn Khaldun and Bataille on the centrality of luxury. Thus, Palaeolithic cave art's social dimension as the expression of a privileged few is contrasted with the view of scholars who see it as the product of an egalitarian society indifferent to material gain. Bataille remains a key reference due to his exceptional commitment to prehistory, a relatively underexploited facet of his work.

English

It is believed that since the advent of agriculture, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) have happened. However, rates, extents and intensities of LULC changes have become more aggravated at all levels. The current study aims to examine the dynamics and perceptions of LULC change in the last four decades (1973-2013) in Aykoleba, Ethiopia using a combination of remote sensing data and the ground truth data. Focus group discussions were employed to obtain data on the status of land degradation. Remote sensing data were obtained using Landsat imageries of MSS (1973), Landsat TM, 1986 and 2000, and Landsat ETM+ (2013) with 30 m spatial resolution. ArcGIS10.2 and ERDAS Imagine13.1 were used to generate LULC classes. Accordingly, four LULC classes were identified, of which forest and bare LULC have been augmented by 8.8 and 54.9%, respectively. The escalation in forest cover is associated with plantation of eucalyptus near the home gardens, farmlands, and degraded areas. Nevertheless, open bush and grassland, and cultivated and settlement land cover classes were lessened by 27.4 and 37.8%, respectively although increase in bare land is related to abandonment of the cultivated land in hilly and sloppy areas, and overgrazing, among other factors. The local community perceived that population pressure is a top driver of LULC change in the study area. Overgrazing and lack of appropriate land use policy are also significant causes of change. Thus, the establishment of land use plan and appropriate population policy is recommended in Ethiopia.   Key words: Analysis, dynamics, Ethiopia, land cover, land use.

Earliest Evidence for Geophyte Use in North America: 11,500-Year-Old Archaeobotanical Remains from California's Santarosae Island

There is growing evidence for human use of geophytes long before the advent of agriculture. Rich in carbohydrates, geophytes were important in many coastal areas where protein-rich marine foods are abundant. On California's Channel Islands, scholars have long questioned how maritime peoples sustained themselves for millennia with limited plant resources. Recent research demonstrates that geophytes were heavily used on the islands for 10,000 years, and here we describe geophyte and other archaeobotanical remains from an approximately 11,500-year-old site on Santa Rosa Island. Currently the earliest evidence for geophyte consumption in North America, our data extend geophyte use on the Channel Islands by roughly 1,500 years and document a diverse and balanced economy for early Paleocoastal peoples. Experimental return rates for a key island geophyte support archaeological evidence that the corms of blue dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus) were a high-ranked staple resource throughout the Holocene.

THE MILL TRADITIONAL CRAFTS OF DAGESTAN: ETHNIC CULTURE, TERMINOLOGY

The article is devoted to the characteristics of the traditions of mill crafts in Dagestan, their development in the historical perspective. The topic is poorly researched. At the same time, there are valuable observations on the topic made by Dagestani ethnographers. Admittedly, "mill" adaptations and crafts appear with the advent of agriculture, and crafts using water mills begin to develop in the conditions of arable farming. The design of water mills with a horizontal turbine is considered an invention of the Caucasian peoples. Watermills in Dagestan in the conditions of mountain rivers have become widespread. Researchers attribute the emergence of such crafts in Dagestan to the beginning of a new era. Written sources about such mills belong to the middle of the XIV century. On the basis of linguistic (terminology) materials, we can make a cautious conclusion that initially watermills were widespread in the Dagestan foothills. Then they spread to the mountain zone. The mill industries of Dagestan can be divided into flour-milling, grain-milling, and production of oils, pastes (urbech) from fruit seeds (apricot seed oil was especially popular), cereals (flax, hemp), oilseeds (sunflower), vegetables (pumpkin), and others.In the past, if a river flowed near the village, water mills were actively built. They were in every village and often there were several of them. In addition to public mills, there were privately owned and owned by individual tukhums mills. Water mills in Dagestan "survived" until the end of the twentieth century. Presumably in EIGHTEENTH and early NINETEENTH century in the plains and foothill zone of Dagestan began to spread of water mills with a vertical turbine, borrowed from Russian. In the twentieth century, steam, electric, and windmills were also used here. Today, historic watermills are still used in a number of places to make traditional urbecha paste (oil) and rarely flour.

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene.

The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.

An overview on types of farming & crops in India

India is a significant agricultural powerhouse Agriculture employs two-thirds of the country's population. Agriculture is a main activity that produces the majority of the food we eat. It generates raw materials for a variety of industries in addition to food grains. The geographical situation of India is special in terms of agriculture since it gives several favorable circumstances. Plain regions, good soil, a lengthy growth season, and a broad range of weather conditions, among other things, exist. Apart from its unique geographical location, India has constantly made creative attempts to enhance output via the use of science and technology. Cropping trends and agricultural practices in the nation some of the most significant crops cultivated in the nation include various types of food and fiber crops, vegetables and fruits, spices and sauces, and so on. Agriculture is one of the most significant areas in both India and the rest of the world. We can't fathom a world without agriculture. As a result, understanding the relevance of diverse forms of agriculture in India is a must. Agriculture is comparable to farmers, and it is incomplete without farmers. An agricultural system might be a single farm or a collection of farms with similar agricultural characteristics. The act of cultivating crops and raising livestock for human consumption and use is referred to as agriculture. Many various kinds of production have been implemented since the advent of agriculture.

Agricultural valorization by biotransformation of fish wastes combined with grape marc and molasses

<p>Since the advent of agriculture, organic wastes have been used to fertilize agricultural soils. The sustainability of the recovery of these wastes depends on the quality of the products developed in order to meet the expectations of the agricultural profession. The objective of our study was to evaluate the quality of the biotransformation of a ternary mixture of industrial waste: fish waste, molasses, and grape marc. Several balanced mixtures were developed and underwent natural biotransformation for two weeks to produce a fertilizer of good nutritional and microbiological quality. Quality control parameters (pH, conductivity, dry matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, carbon, etc.) were monitored during the time stipulated for biotransformation.</p><p>The results showed that the bio-fertilizer generated from the mentioned wastes is characterized by good agronomic quality (rich in phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium), mature, with a stable pH and had an excellent hygienic condition, due to the absence of spoilage microorganisms, which would constitute a major obstacle to the adoption of this practice.</p><p>The fertilization test showed that our product is more interesting than commercial fertilizer. Triangular surfaces of iso-responses are established to identify the relevant formulations leading to a product of specific interest to build in practice a predictive operational model for industrial waste management. The biotransformation of a mixture consisting of approximately 50% of fish waste, 12.5% molasses, and 37.50% grape marc is an optimal formulation to generate a product rich in the nutrients essential for optimal growth plants (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). The formulas do not integrate the grape marc was the most unfavorable mixtures from their efficacy and/or health safety criteria.</p>

The Animal Kingdom, Agriculture⋯ and Seaweeds

Marine macroalgae (seaweeds), are amongst the first multicellular organisms and, as such, the precursors to land plants. By the time ‘land’ animals arrived on the scene, terrestrial plants were plentiful and varied, and herbivorous diets developed in concert with the food sources most commonly available. However, skip forward several hundred millennia, and with the advent of agriculture, approximately 10,000 years ago, dietary diversity began to change. Today, the world is experiencing increasingly higher rates of debilitating, non-communicable diseases—might there be a connection? This paper reviews scientific evidence for the judicious use of various seaweeds in the reduction of heat stress, enhanced immunity, improved growth performance, and methane reduction in animals. The extensive, (super) prebiotic effects of selected macroalgae will also be highlighted. Key studies conducted across the animal kingdom provide considerable support that there is an overwhelming need for the guided and wise applications of increased usage of selected seaweeds in feed, food and supplements. Particular attention will be paid to the bioactive components, and nutraceutical qualities, of various seaweeds, i.e., the brown, Saccharina (Laminaria) spp. and Ascophyllum nodosum, and the red alga Chondrus crispus. Suggestions are put forward for benefits to be derived from their further applications.

Local Motion Planner for Autonomous Navigation in Vineyards with a RGB-D Camera-Based Algorithm and Deep Learning Synergy

With the advent of agriculture 3.0 and 4.0, in view of efficient and sustainable use of resources, researchers are increasingly focusing on the development of innovative smart farming and precision agriculture technologies by introducing automation and robotics into the agricultural processes. Autonomous agricultural field machines have been gaining significant attention from farmers and industries to reduce costs, human workload, and required resources. Nevertheless, achieving sufficient autonomous navigation capabilities requires the simultaneous cooperation of different processes; localization, mapping, and path planning are just some of the steps that aim at providing to the machine the right set of skills to operate in semi-structured and unstructured environments. In this context, this study presents a low-cost, power-efficient local motion planner for autonomous navigation in vineyards based only on an RGB-D camera, low range hardware, and a dual layer control algorithm. The first algorithm makes use of the disparity map and its depth representation to generate a proportional control for the robotic platform. Concurrently, a second back-up algorithm, based on representations learning and resilient to illumination variations, can take control of the machine in case of a momentaneous failure of the first block generating high-level motion primitives. Moreover, due to the double nature of the system, after initial training of the deep learning model with an initial dataset, the strict synergy between the two algorithms opens the possibility of exploiting new automatically labeled data, coming from the field, to extend the existing model’s knowledge. The machine learning algorithm has been trained and tested, using transfer learning, with acquired images during different field surveys in the North region of Italy and then optimized for on-device inference with model pruning and quantization. Finally, the overall system has been validated with a customized robot platform in the appropriate environment.

Thr92Ala polymorphism in the type 2 deiodinase gene: an evolutionary perspective.

In the past, a role of thyroid hormones in human evolution has been hypothesized. T3, the metabolically active form, derives from extrathyroidal conversion of T4 by deionidase 2 (D2) enzyme encoded by DIO2 gene. In thyroid-deficient patients, decreased levels of free T3 have been associated with the polymorphism rs225014 A/G in DIO2, which causes the substitution of Threonine with Alanine (p.Thr92Ala) at protein level. We compared DNA and protein sequences of D2 from archaic human subspecies with those of contemporary humans. Neanderthals and Denisovans displayed only the G allele at the rs225014 polymorphism, which encodes for an Alanine on the amino acid level. These data suggest that these hominines were homozygous for the Ala amino acid. These arcaic humans often lived in condition of iodine deficiency and thus, defective mechanisms of T3 biosynthesis could be life threatining. A reduced D2 activity is likely to cause decreased T3 levels, which could be critical for those individuals. Neanderthals and Denisovans were hunters/gatherers, and their diet was mainly based on the consumption of meat, with a low intake of carbohydrates. The need for circulating T3 is reduced at such alimentary conditions. On the basis of our genome comparisons the A allele, corresponding to Threonine and associated with higher levels of circulating T3 in thyroid-deficient patients, appeared for the first time during evolution in Anatomically Modern Humans during the Upper Pleistocene and has been conserved during the Neolithic age. With the advent of agriculture and herding, individuals carrying A allele might have a higher probability for surviving and reproducing. Thus, the variant was positively selected during the evolution. Here we present an evolutionary perspective for p.Thr92Ala variant of D2 from Neanderthals to Anatomically Modern Humans.