The First Aroiders

From: Al Wootten awootten at nrao.edu> on 2003.07.24 at 20:02:23(10434) Fellow modern aroiders, Last night I was reading the 2003 Jul 11 issue of Science, wherein I found an interesting article (pp. 189-193). In it, the Australian researchers cite evidence that Colocasia esculenta was cultivated in New Guinea about 7000 years ago. Clearly, these folks must have been among the first, if not the first, aroiders. The article is: "Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea" T. P. Denham, S. G. Haberle, C. Lentfer, R. Fullagar, J. Field, M. Therin, N. Porch, and B. Winsborough " Clearance of lower montane rainforests began in the early Holocene, with modification to grassland at 6950 to 6440 cal yr Before Present. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) +More was utilized in the early Holocene, and bananas (Musa spp.) were intensively cultivated by at least 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P." Clear skies, Al +---------------------------------------------------------+ |Al Wootten, Slacktide, Sturgeon Creek at the Rappahannock| |Astronomer (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/) | |genealogy homepage http://members.tripod.com/~astral | |Deltaville, Virginia (804)776-6369 | +---------------------------------------------------------+

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.