Advent Of Agriculture Research Articles

The Impact of Rice on Human Civilization and Population Expansion

Abstract The rice plant was basically a tropical semiaquatic grass. Before the advent of agriculture, it served as a food supplement to people who depended on hunting, fishing, and gathering of other food plants for subsistence living. Even today in many areas of the humid tropics where the environment is harsh, rice farming provides a subsistence level of livelihood. However, in areas outside its home habitat where water control, soil fertilization, tillage and weeding, and plant selection were well managed or practiced, rice yields steadily rose and food surpluses from farms served as the main source in supporting rapid increases in human population. Expansion in rice acreage, rises in rice yield, and multiple cropping have fueled flourishing civilizations of several Asian countries. This paper summarizes the fascinating pathway along which a lowly swamp plant has provided the impetus for accelerated progress in national economy, cultural improvements, and population increases in many Asian countries du...

The Impact of Rice on Human Civilization and Population Expansion

The rice plant was basically a tropical semiaquatic grass. Before the advent of agriculture, it served as a food supplement to people who depended on hunting, fishing, and gathering of other food plants for subsistence living. Even today in many areas of the humid tropics where the environment is harsh, rice farming provides a subsistence level of livelihood. However, in areas outside its home habitat where water control, soil fertilization, tillage and weeding, and plant selection were well managed or practiced, rice yields steadily rose and food surpluses from farms served as the main source in supporting rapid increases in human population. Expansion in rice acreage, rises in rice yield, and multiple cropping have fueled flourishing civilizations of several Asian countries. This paper summarizes the fascinating pathway along which a lowly swamp plant has provided the impetus for accelerated progress in national economy, cultural improvements, and population increases in many Asian countries during the past two millennia.

Stable isotopes in human skeletons of Southern Ontario: reconstructing Palaeodiet

Most native plants of Ontario use the C 3 photosynthetic mechanism and therefore have relatively low 13 C 12 C ratios; maize is a C 4 plant and is relatively enriched in 13C. The proportion of maize in the diet of a human can therefore be estimated from the 13C-content of collagen of fossil bone. We have used this method to follow the increase in consumption of maize in ancient native populations over the interval from AD 400 to 1650, and to quantify the amount of maize consumed. Maize consumption rose gradually to a maximum of 50% of the diet by AD 1400. These data agree with archaeologically derived data for this region, and with previous isotope studies in the northeastern U.S.A. In some of the latter, however, the maximum percentage of maize consumed has been overestimated because maize was assumed to have a δ 13C value of −12·5‰; our studies of archaeological specimens show the correct value to be closer to −9‰. The introduction of beans into the native diet about AD 1100, should have caused a decrease in the 15N content of human bone collagen because legumes are deficient in this isotope, with respect to meat and fish. However, we observe no significant change in the 15 N 14 N ratio of human bone collagen over the period from 2300 BC to AD 1640. We conclude that meat and fish remained the main sources of protein even after the advent of agriculture into this region.

Marginal habitats of chimpanzees

(1) This paper aims to define the marginal habitat of the chimpanzee before the advent of man-made bushfires and agriculture. (The numbers in this abstract refer to the sections of the paper). (2) Written inquiries and personal interviews resulted in a map of the geographical range of the chimpanzee. (3) The rainfall data produced by McGrew et al. (1981) are inadequate because they are based upon short-term measurements during the years of the Sahel drought. On a long-term basis, Mt Assirik probably receives more annual rainfall (1200–1300 or even 1400 mm) than Gombe (∼1100–1300 mm?). The driest chimpanzee sites are Falémé-Bafing in Mali (∼1000 mm) and Ugalla in Tanzania (∼800–900 mm). The annual amount of rainfall is, however, not the decisive factor determining the geographical range. (4) The climatically determined belts of natural vegetation in tropical Africa are described and defined. The ecological limit of the chimpanzee runs obliquely through the Isoberlinia soudanien belt, i.e. from the southern part of the dry soudanien belt in Senegal and Mali to the relatively humid soudano-guinéen belt in the Sudan. This lack of fit between vegetation belts and chimpanzee range cannot be explained by the presence or absence of drinking water in the dry season. (5) Before the advent of agriculture, the chimpanzee's geographical range was covered predominantly by rain forests in the equatorial zone, and by dry forests in the soudanien belt. Man has converted these into mosaic landscapes of savannas, woodlands, secondary forests and relict forests. (6) However, before that time, the social herbivores (from elephants to locusts) had a more or less similar mosaic-forming impact, though to a lesser degree. Statements on ecosystems and their fauna should, therefore, be preceded by and based upon an analysis of the status and dynamics of the vegetation. (7) In mosaic landscapes in Guinea and Senegal, chimpanzee population densities at different sites appear not to be correlated with the local floristic composition in terms of percentages of drought-adapted vs humid flora, but they are correlated with the degree of floristic richness and diversity at these sites. In the dry parts of the chimpanzee range in Tanzania the apes depend on a combination of drought-adapted and humid flora. Apparently their need for a diversified diet determines their ecological limit. The oblique course of the range boundary across the soudanien belt can perhaps be explained by increasing floral impoverishment towards the East, owing to man's activities. The surprising absence of chimpanzees East of the Western Rift system must be attributed to ecological barriers and palaeo-conditions. (8) A confusing phenomenon is that drought-adapted types of arboreal vegetation have, in general, higher powers of regeneration than humid (rain forest) types. (9) The comparison between chimpanzees and Bushmen as made by McGrew et al. is inappropriate because the vegetation of Mt Assirik is degraded whereas that of the Kalahari is natural.

Sondre Norheim: Folk Hero to Immigrant

by JOHN WEINSTOCK 12 Sondre Norheim : Folk Hero to Immigrant THe turies, United has welcomed States, in many the course and diverse of two ethnic centuries , has welcomed many and diverse ethnic groups, and their cultures have gradually become part of the very fabric of this country. Beginning with the departure of Cleng Peerson and his group in 1825, upwards of half a million Norwegians had headed westward by the end of the nineteenth century to tie their destinies to the growing nation. Their achievements are manifold and well documented. Not so well known perhaps is the role played by Norwegians in the development of the sport of skiing and in its spread throughout the world. As a diversion skiing has flourished in recent years nearly everywhere that snow is to be found. Though its origins extend well back into the Stone Age, it could not become a sport until certain steps were taken in Norway during the last century. It was mainly Norwegians who kept skiing alive and popular until it could develop as a sport; it was one Norwegian's invention that brought about the transition; and it was Norwegians who contributed to the growth of the sport before they emigrated and once in the United States helped make it popular here. The purpose of this article is to outline Sondre Norheim's contributions to skiing and also to consider why a folk hero 339 John Weinstock of his stature would choose to leave his native Telemark.1 The ski and its close relative the snowshoe have long been part of circumpolar man's tool kit. They were invented near the end of the Stone Age soon after the bow and arrow, and thus predate even the advent of agriculture . Among the hard evidence suggesting such an early origin are a rock carving from Rpd0y in Helgeland of a hunter on skis which has been dated at around 2000 B.C. and a ski found in a peat bog at Hoting in Sweden which is about 4,500 years old.2 This Hoting ski is quite advanced technologically; more primitive types must have existed earlier. It can also be shown that the ski is an offshoot of the snowshoe. How did these devices come into existence? One theory has it that when the last glacial period ended around 9000 B.C., the reindeer herds headed north to the colder regions they preferred.3 Hunters dependent on the reindeer followed them north but were impeded by the deep snows of the boreal forests, and since "necessity is the mother of invention," snowshoes and skis were created to aid hunters in reaching their prey.4 On distributional grounds it appears that the snowshoe must have been invented in the Altai mountain region of the Soviet Union by 7000 B.C. or earlier, after which it slowly spread east and west. The peoples indigenous to the circumpolar area have always been conservative culturally; innovations were very slow to be adopted.5 Snowshoes were so useful, though, that all northern Eurasian inland hunters came to possess them and they were carried on to the New World across the Bering Strait. Early primitive snowshoes took many forms. One type was of solid wood, with occasionally an animal skin stretched over the bottom, its hairs pointing to the rear to prevent sliding backward. Some time later the gliding 340 SONDRE NORHEIM motion was added to this solid wooden snowshoe, thereby creating the first ski. Curiously, the gliding motion was never added to the snowshoes of the New World, which proceeded to evolve along different lines. So it was Norwegians who first brought the knowledge of how to make skis to America. In northern Eurasia, however, skis and snowshoes have coexisted for centuries, each with different functions.6 It is possible that the ancestors of the Lapps are to be credited with the invention of the ski, though transitional forms can be found even today among other circumpolar peoples such as the Samoyeds; and the Hoting ski mentioned above is of a type not found among Finno-Ugric peoples but rather among the forerunners of Scandinavians farther south. Though these early details are conjectural, it...

Skeletal and Dental Adaptations to the Shift to Agriculture on the Georgia Coast

Skeletal and Dental Adaptations to the Shift to Agriculture on the Georgia Coast

Decreasing variety of plant foods used in developing countries

During this century the science of nutrition has rapidly expanded and knowledge of nutrients in food and human requirements has greatly increased. This research has tended to concentrate on isolated nutrients and foods and has given the erroneous impression that the provision of a nutritious diet is a simple matter of adjusting intake of known nutrients to meet needs. Mankind does not eat foods in isolation but in mixtures which have evolved in each region over centuries—blended for desirable tastes, textures and colours. They contain hundreds of nutrients and other compounds which interact and cause changes in absorption and action. Furthermore, requirements vary for each individual and for many nutrients, particularly the trace elements, they are unknown. The maxim, ‘Safety in Numbers’, therefore also applies in the field of nutrition. Choice is limited by factors such as climate, eating patterns and shortage of food or purchasing power and the greater the variety of food that can be eaten within these constrictions—the greater the chance of a well-balanced diet. This great variety of foods ensured the survival of our huntergatherer ancestors but the number of foods has steadily declined with each stage of man's subsequent development. The advent of agriculture brought concentration on a few ‘staple’ crops providing most of the energy and protein requirements but deficient in some of the known essential vitamins and minerals. However, these foods alone were monotonous and unpalatable and so they were eaten with sauces and relishes containing a variety of food, mostly gathered wild, rich in the nutrients deficient in the staple. Mankind, therefore, in satisfying, his appetite, ensured his nutritional needs and the consequent expansion of population brought problems of deprivation. Conditions of proverty restrict both quantity and variety of food. Hunter gatherers used several thousands of different foods and the decline began with shifting cultivation. Settled agriculture increased pressure on the land with receding areas for the collection of wild plants and animals and wood for fuel. Urban development and market economies further concentrated production on a few high yielding marketable varieties. Some species and varieties are being lost completely—depleting the genetic stock and our knowledge of the use of these plants. There is urgent need for research and conservation.

PEST CONTROL

Since the advent of agriculture, man has suffered losses of his crops to various pests. In 1859, in the introduction to his book Farm Insects, John Curtis wrote ‘… little attention has, comparatively, been paid to those animals which annually consume an amount of produce that sets calculation at defiance, and indeed if an approximation could be made to the quantity thus destroyed, the world would remain sceptical of the result obtained, considering it too marvellous to be received as truth’.

Laboratory and field studies on the relation of arabis mosaic virus to its nematode vector Xiphinema diversicaudatum (Micoletzky)

SUMMARY Xiphinema diversicaudatum is widely distributed in southern Britain, mainly in heavy soils, but also in the peat soil of the Fens and in medium textured soils in the south‐west. Patches of plants infected with arabis mosaic virus (AMV) in a range of crops including some, like celery and marrow, not before known to be hosts, coincide with patches of soil infested with X. diversicaudatum. Roots of some plants infested with the nematode carried small galls; not all such plants were infected with, or even susceptible to, AMV. Adult X. diversicaudatum transmitted AMV more readily than larvae, but none of 103 nematodes, transferred when moulting, infected healthy plants. X. diversicaudatum were still infective after 24 days in moist peat, free from plants. X. diversicaudatum is common in several districts in soil from old hedgerows but not in the adjacent fields. Hedgerow trees seem to be hosts of the nematode and at least one, elder, is also a host of AMV. In other districts, plants with AMV occur in crops near to infested hedges or isolated trees, and on land taken into cultivation after being derelict. In the Tamar Valley, Devon, X. diversicaudatum is common in pastures; white clover in these often contains AMV. Planting such fields with strawberry leads to disease outbreaks.A few X. diversicaudatum occur down to 3 ft. in soil, but most are at 3–9 in. At a site where arable land has reverted to woodland, the nematodes apparently have spread from a hedge into the woodland at an average rate of 1 ft. per year over a period of 75 years. It is suggested that both X. diversicaudatum and AMV are common constituents of natural woodland in Britain and that their incidence has decreased since the advent of agriculture.

History and Distribution of the Cultivated Cucurbits in the Americas

AbstractAll species of Cucurbita (which includes squashes, pumpkins, and the common, small, yellow-flowered gourds) are native to the Americas. Their center of origin lies in Mexico where most of the 26 wild and cultivated species still grow. Chilicayote (C. ficifolia), a perennial and probably the oldest cultivated species, is grown from Mexico to Bolivia and known archaeologically only from coastal Peru (3000 B.C.). Oldest archaeological cucurbits are C. pepo and Lagenaria siceraria, the bottle gourd. Specimens of these species were recovered from Tamaulipas in cave material dated 7000-5500 B.C. Pepo and Lagenaria spread over most of the United States probably with the advent of agriculture. Cucurbita moschata appeared in coastal Peru at the same time as C. ficifolia (3000 B.C.), but it does not occur in the Ocampo Cave cultures until 1400-400 B.C. when pottery and village life entered, and corn, cotton, pepo, and beans (common, lima and jack) were being grown. While the earliest dates for moschata in southwestern United States are about A.D. 1100, it probably entered the same time as cotton, perhaps as early as A.D. 700. Cucurbita mixta, the cushaw, is the most recent of the cultivated species. It is found mainly in Mexico and in post-A.D. 1000 sites in the southwestern U.S. Prehistoric C. maxima is known only from Peru and to the south and east in Chile and Bolivia. Its ancestors probably were carried there by man from the Mexican center, and the weedy C. andreana may have been taken along at the same time.The bottle gourd is most variable in the Old World. It probably originated there, and was carried to the New World in pre-agricultural times by ocean currents. A number of other cucurbits and the tree gourd, Crescentia cujete, not a true gourd but a member of the family Big-noniaceae, are briefly mentioned. Parts useful in identifying the cultivated cucurbits are the fruit stem or peduncle, seeds, rind, and leaves. A list of the collections of Cucurbita and Lagenaria which have been studied is given, with estimates for the date of each site.