Denis J Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207145
- eISBN:
- 9780191708893
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207145.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This book provides an overview of human-plant interactions and their social consequences, from the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic Era to the 21st century molecular manipulation of crops. It ...
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This book provides an overview of human-plant interactions and their social consequences, from the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic Era to the 21st century molecular manipulation of crops. It links the latest advances in molecular genetics, climate research, and archaeology to give a new perspective on the evolution of agriculture and complex human societies across the world. Even today, our technologically advanced societies still rely on plants for basic food needs, not to mention clothing, shelter, medicines, and tools. This special relationship has tied together people and their chosen plants in mutual dependence for well over 50,000 years. Yet despite these millennia of intimate contact, people have only domesticated and cultivated a few dozen of the tens of thousands of edible plants. Crop domestication and agriculture then led directly to the evolution of the complex urban-based societies that have dominated much of human development over the past ten millennia. Thanks to the latest genomic studies, how, when, and where some of the most important crops came to be domesticated can now be explained, and the crucial roles of plant genetics, climatic change, and social organization in these processes. Indeed, it was their unique genetic organizations that ultimately determined which plants eventually became crops, rather than any conscious decisions by their human cultivators.Less
This book provides an overview of human-plant interactions and their social consequences, from the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic Era to the 21st century molecular manipulation of crops. It links the latest advances in molecular genetics, climate research, and archaeology to give a new perspective on the evolution of agriculture and complex human societies across the world. Even today, our technologically advanced societies still rely on plants for basic food needs, not to mention clothing, shelter, medicines, and tools. This special relationship has tied together people and their chosen plants in mutual dependence for well over 50,000 years. Yet despite these millennia of intimate contact, people have only domesticated and cultivated a few dozen of the tens of thousands of edible plants. Crop domestication and agriculture then led directly to the evolution of the complex urban-based societies that have dominated much of human development over the past ten millennia. Thanks to the latest genomic studies, how, when, and where some of the most important crops came to be domesticated can now be explained, and the crucial roles of plant genetics, climatic change, and social organization in these processes. Indeed, it was their unique genetic organizations that ultimately determined which plants eventually became crops, rather than any conscious decisions by their human cultivators.
C. Neal Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195157451
- eISBN:
- 9780199790388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195157451.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Biotechnology
There is a trend towards embracing nature and the acceptance of natural products, even though humans have altered virtually everything. A case in point is food and food crops. No natural human food ...
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There is a trend towards embracing nature and the acceptance of natural products, even though humans have altered virtually everything. A case in point is food and food crops. No natural human food exists except wild game and a few undomesticated plants. There has never been natural corn or wheat, and many vegetable crops such as carrots and Brussel sprouts are recent inventions of crop domestication. Transgenic crops seem transformative since they possess one or two genes from a different species. The process of gene introduction takes place in the lab using biotechnology, but traditional breeding and domestication drastically alter genomes of plants relative to biotechnology, since hundreds to thousands of genes are manipulated in hybridization. Like those of crops, genomes of weeds are also selected and adapted for growth in farmer’s fields. Human and natural selection are powerful forces.Less
There is a trend towards embracing nature and the acceptance of natural products, even though humans have altered virtually everything. A case in point is food and food crops. No natural human food exists except wild game and a few undomesticated plants. There has never been natural corn or wheat, and many vegetable crops such as carrots and Brussel sprouts are recent inventions of crop domestication. Transgenic crops seem transformative since they possess one or two genes from a different species. The process of gene introduction takes place in the lab using biotechnology, but traditional breeding and domestication drastically alter genomes of plants relative to biotechnology, since hundreds to thousands of genes are manipulated in hybridization. Like those of crops, genomes of weeds are also selected and adapted for growth in farmer’s fields. Human and natural selection are powerful forces.
David A. Cleveland
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520277410
- eISBN:
- 9780520957084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520277410.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The transition from foraging to agriculture—the Neolithic revolution—began about twelve thousand years ago. It changed three basic human relationships—with other species, the environment, and other ...
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The transition from foraging to agriculture—the Neolithic revolution—began about twelve thousand years ago. It changed three basic human relationships—with other species, the environment, and other humans. Through crop domestication, humans controlled the evolution of other species. Domestication makes plants dependent on humans, necessitating the second change—increased management of ecosystems for crop plants. The third change was in society and culture to support agriculture, leading eventually to cities, occupational specialization, and greater material wealth and social inequity. Subsequent revolutions advanced basic Neolithic changes, including the global spread of agriculture; the increase in fossil energy, manufactured fertilizers, and machinery with the industrial and scientific revolutions; the Green Revolution, which spread industrial agriculture to the Third World; and the biotechnology revolution.Less
The transition from foraging to agriculture—the Neolithic revolution—began about twelve thousand years ago. It changed three basic human relationships—with other species, the environment, and other humans. Through crop domestication, humans controlled the evolution of other species. Domestication makes plants dependent on humans, necessitating the second change—increased management of ecosystems for crop plants. The third change was in society and culture to support agriculture, leading eventually to cities, occupational specialization, and greater material wealth and social inequity. Subsequent revolutions advanced basic Neolithic changes, including the global spread of agriculture; the increase in fossil energy, manufactured fertilizers, and machinery with the industrial and scientific revolutions; the Green Revolution, which spread industrial agriculture to the Third World; and the biotechnology revolution.
Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190490263
- eISBN:
- 9780190868673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190490263.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
“Crop Domestication and Gender” traces the rise of permanent settlements and incipient agriculture from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Levant, together with the ...
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“Crop Domestication and Gender” traces the rise of permanent settlements and incipient agriculture from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Levant, together with the iconographic changes that show a shift from the predominance of zoomorphic forms to female forms concurrent with the increasing importance of agriculture. It discusses relevant geographic features, climactic periods and changes in temperature, rainfall and glaciation while exploring the important transitional cultures and the artifacts that reveal the progress of agricultural development and plant domestication. Domestication of the founder crops of the Fertile Crescent are described, together with markers in the archaeological record that distinguish wild plants from domesticated plants. The abundance of female figurines at the Neolithic village of Sha’ar Hagolan and the presence of cryptic agricultural symbols at Hacilar and Çatalhüyük, support a close association of women, cats, and agriculture, most famously exemplified by the so-called “grain bin goddess“ of Çatalhüyük.Less
“Crop Domestication and Gender” traces the rise of permanent settlements and incipient agriculture from the Pre-pottery Neolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Levant, together with the iconographic changes that show a shift from the predominance of zoomorphic forms to female forms concurrent with the increasing importance of agriculture. It discusses relevant geographic features, climactic periods and changes in temperature, rainfall and glaciation while exploring the important transitional cultures and the artifacts that reveal the progress of agricultural development and plant domestication. Domestication of the founder crops of the Fertile Crescent are described, together with markers in the archaeological record that distinguish wild plants from domesticated plants. The abundance of female figurines at the Neolithic village of Sha’ar Hagolan and the presence of cryptic agricultural symbols at Hacilar and Çatalhüyük, support a close association of women, cats, and agriculture, most famously exemplified by the so-called “grain bin goddess“ of Çatalhüyük.
