Primitive people obtained their food by hunting and gathering wild fruits, berries, nuts, tubers, bulbs and other parts of ancient plants rich in starch and other nutrients.
Hunting was not always successful, and it was not possible to collect plant food at all times of the year. But, collecting the fruits and roots of wild ancient plants, people noticed that seeds, tubers or bulbs dropped on the ground germinate. Then they began to collect and sow seeds, plant tubers and bulbs of wild plants near their habitats.
To do this, they began to cultivate the ground with a sharpened stick. Later, they began to attach a stone tip to the end of the stick, which over time took the shape of a hoe.
Even now in Indo-China and on the island of Java, when sowing rice, they use a pointed stick: it is used to make holes for planting grains in the soil. When man began to domesticate wild animals, he began to use them to cultivate the land, harnessing them to a primitive plow made from a tree root. The first such plows apparently appeared about ten thousand years ago in Mesopotamia.
With the development of agriculture, when people began to receive more or less constant harvests from the fields they cultivated, the nomadic lifestyle was replaced by a sedentary one. Arose permanent places settlements.
During excavations of settlements 5-8 thousand years ago, scientists found hand mills, tools for spinning and weaving. Fabrics made from flax fibers are already found in the homes of people of that time. Walnut and chestnut fruits, apple, pear and even grape seeds were also found there.
All this speaks of a relatively high agricultural culture among the people living then.
For thousands of years, people selected the most delicious and nutritious plants from ancient plants, which gave the greatest harvest, and grew them near their homes.
He also improved the tools with which he cultivated the land. I started using fertilizers when cultivating the soil for crops. His knowledge about nature and the laws of development expanded flora. Thanks to the selection of the best specimens of certain wild ancient plants and caring for them, man created many plants that today are known to us only as cultivated: wheat, rice, corn, barley, soybeans, flax, sugar cane.
These plants gradually became different from their wild ancestors.
Let's take cereals: wheat, rice, corn. Their grains contain a supply of valuable nutrients—starch and proteins. This is how they attracted human attention in ancient times.
A grain of wheat was found in Egypt in the brick of a pyramid more than five thousand years old.
Wheat grains were also found in the remains of pile buildings; they are at least four thousand years old. These grains are much finer than current varieties.
Numerous names for wheat in ancient languages indicate the deep antiquity of this crop in the temperate climatic regions of Asia, Europe and Africa. Scientists suggest that wheat was cultivated at a time when man did not have articulate speech and people communicated with signs and individual sounds, that is, about fifty thousand years ago.
Selecting the best varieties of wheat from the wild varieties, man sowed them. In turn, from the cultivated varieties he chose those whose grains were larger and contained the greatest amount of nutrients. Thanks to this selection and the simultaneous improvement of crop care, people created new varieties of wheat. Now there are over 4 thousand varieties of wheat. All of them differ from ancient varieties in the size of the grains and the large supply of starch and proteins in them.
Rice is an ancient cultivated plant. For half of the world's population, rice is the main food product. And now there are several types of wild rice in India and Africa. African wild rice produces good grain, which is collected by the population. This plant renews itself annually by self-sowing, but its grains fall off so early that harvesting has to begin long before full ripening.
Cultivated rice was created by man in the same way as wheat, through centuries of selection and improvement of the quality of cultivation. Thanks to this, rice acquired a number of valuable properties, needed by a person and greatly distinguishes it from its wild relatives. First of all, this is the unsalability of grain.
The oldest cultivated plant, corn, penetrated into Europe, Asia and Africa after the discovery of America, its homeland. Its immediate relatives have not been found in America.
But there are two types of weeds there, the relationship of which to corn is undeniable. The following fact shows how much corn has changed under human influence: in Mexico, in caves five thousand years ago, corn cobs were found in the soil at various depths. Cobs found in lower layers soil, the size and coarseness of the grains are much smaller than the cobs found in its upper layers.
This indicates relatively rapid changes in corn under human influence.
Potatoes and tomatoes also became known in Europe only after the discovery of America. The American potatoes were very small and tasted bitter. The Indians soaked it in water, dried it, and then ate it. We have never had to eat bitter potatoes, for many years ago people developed excellent varieties of large potatoes from American game delicious potatoes and to this day they do not stop working to improve it.
Tomato - translated into Russian means “golden apple”. There was a time when tomatoes were not eaten. They were planted in flower beds as ornamental plants. But since the middle of the last century, tomatoes have come into everyday life as a food product first in Italy, and then in the rest of Europe and Asia. -
Also relatively recently, sugar beets, tea, coffee, hemp and other ancient plants began to be cultivated.
The remarkable English scientist Charles Darwin was the first to carefully collect many facts about the changes in plants and animals under the influence of humans. Based on them, he created his ingenious theory of the origin of species. He explained how prehistoric plants and animals change in the course of historical development, and proved that these laws underlie the transformation and creation by man of new forms of plants and new breeds of animals. The basis of this transformation is the ability of animals and plants not only to change under the influence of the conditions that humans create for them, but also to transmit these changes to their offspring. But if Charles Darwin explained how changes in plants and animals occurred, then the great Russian scientist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, relying on his teaching, developed the theory and methods of creating new plants. Here are the most important of these methods: crossing plants that are distant from each other in their habitat and relationship, grafting, that is, the fusion of plant tissues different breeds, and, finally, targeted education of plants by changing environmental conditions.
Thus, having learned the patterns of development of ancient plants, man became a transformer of nature, a conscious creator of new plants. He creates more and more new varieties of cultivated plants, continuously increasing their productivity, yield, as well as the quality of the products obtained from them.
| KeywordsAt the dawn of humanity, people had to be content only with what was given surrounding nature. Our ancestors collected fruits of various trees, berries, grains of wild cereals and seeds leguminous plants, dug up tubers and bulbs. The transition from gathering to plant cultivation was a long one. Archaeologists believe that agriculture has existed for at least 10 thousand years, and attempts to domesticate plants began at least 40-50 thousand years ago. Even then, protecting wild useful plants, women weeded out the grass around them and loosened the soil.
Plants were introduced into culture in different ways. Wild seeds fruit trees And berry bushes fell into the soil near a person’s home and germinate here. Grains bread plants people often woke up near their homes on the ground containing a lot of decomposed waste. Plants from such seeds developed much better than in the steppe or forest. This could have given our ancestors the idea of growing them near their homes, instead of looking for them in forests and steppes.
Primitive man collected the plants that surrounded him: on the mainland of Eurasia - some species, in Africa - others, in America - others. Therefore, many different species were domesticated on different continents. Most crops come from Europe, Asia and Africa. Of the 640 most important cultivated plants in the world, more than 530 come from these parts of the world, with about 400 originating from South Asia. About 50 cultivated species have appeared in Africa, and North and South America are the birthplace of more than 100 of them. There were no cultivated plants in Australia before the arrival of Europeans.
The doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants was created by the outstanding Soviet scientist N. I. Vavilov. He established 7 main centers of their origin: 5 in the Old World and 2 in the New.
The most ancient of modern cereal grains are wheat, barley, millet, rice and corn. Cultivated wheat species are descended from at least three wild cereals growing in Asia Minor, southern Europe and northern Africa. Wheat culture already existed in the Neolithic era. During excavations of Neolithic settlements in Europe, grains of wheat, seeds of peas, lentils and beans were found. The homeland of rice is India and Indochina. Many wild forms of this plant have been found there. Relatively late, around the beginning of our era, rye appeared in Transcaucasia or Asia Minor, and a little earlier - oats. The homeland of corn and potatoes is South and Central America. We owe the appearance of Peru and Mexico cultural species tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins, beans. Central America produced tobacco, and North America produced sunflower. Vegetable crops - cabbage, turnips, radishes, beets, carrots, onions - were known in ancient times and originate from the Mediterranean.
In the tropical countries of South America, sweet potatoes, pineapples and peanuts were cultivated. Indochina produced oranges, lemons and other citrus plants. Coffee comes from Ethiopia, where its wild ancestor still grows. Tea was introduced into culture in the mountainous regions of Burma. Cocoa was known in Mexico even before Europeans arrived there. Cocoa beans even played the role of money there.
In very distant times, man began to cultivate spinning plants. In Europe, flax was introduced into the culture, in China - hemp, in America and Asia - cotton.
Later, with the development of navigation, especially during the era of the Great geographical discoveries, the migration of cultivated plants from one continent to another began. Thus, corn, pumpkin, beans, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers and tobacco migrated to Europe from America.
From year to year, from century to century, farmers, improving the methods of cultivating crops, simultaneously improved the plants themselves, selecting for sowing the seeds of the most productive of them or those with some particularly valuable property.
The gradual improvement of cultivated plants was not the work of one generation - it lasted for millennia. Agricultural tribes gradually settled across the Earth, and cultivated plants spread along with them. With the appearance and spread of cultivated plants on Earth, the living conditions of people changed. The emergence and development of agriculture led to a huge shift in the history of human society.
Wild plants became cultivated in a variety of ways. The wind carried the seeds of fruit trees and berry bushes to human dwellings, and they grew nearby. People often spilled cereal grains themselves, and they also began to grow. All this led to the idea that, rather than looking for plants with edible fruits far in the forest, it is better to grow them near the house.Primitive people collected the plants that surrounded them. Of course, they were different on different continents, which is why many were cultivated different types. Most cultivated plants appeared in Europe, Asia and Africa. South Asia gave the world 400 species, approximately 50 appeared in Africa, more than 100 in North and South America. But in Australia, before the arrival of Europeans, there were no cultivated plants at all.
Countries and continents that became the birthplace of modern cultivated plants
The oldest modern grain cereals are barley, wheat, millet, rice and corn. Wheat was grown already in the Neolithic era (New Stone Age). During excavations of settlements of this period on European territory, wheat grains, as well as seeds of peas, beans and lentils, were discovered. Rice is native to India and Indochina. Its wild species still grow there.Rye appeared quite late, approximately in the first century AD, and a little earlier people began to grow oats. Potatoes and corn are native to South and Central America. Tomatoes, pumpkins, beans and capsicums appeared in Peru and Mexico. Central America gave the world the culture of tobacco, and North America gave the world sunflower. So common vegetable crops, like turnips, radishes, beets, cabbage, onions and carrots, originate from the Mediterranean.
Pineapple and peanuts were cultivated in the South American tropics, and various citrus plants. Coffee is native to Ethiopia, where you can still find its wild ancestor. Tea evolved into Burma, cocoa into Mexico. It is curious that cocoa beans acted there as a monetary equivalent. In ancient times, people began to grow spinning plants. Thus, flax was cultivated in Europe, hemp in China, and cotton in Asia and America.
During the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, cultivated plants began to spread across different countries and continents. Gradually, farmers improved plants, selecting for sowing the seeds of the most productive species or those with other advantages. Thanks to the emergence and further spread of cultivated plants, people's living conditions have significantly improved.
Plant domestication means turning wild plants into cultivated crops. Already during gathering, a change began wild plants during pruning, irrigation, fertilization, etc., and also their protection from other tribes and their consolidation as property arose. Ancient man I have long noticed that, unlike others, they are edible plants. It turns out that wild wheat can be eaten just like that.
Soviet scientist N.I. Vavilov at one time developed and substantiated a method by which it turned out to be possible to determine the centers of origin of plant crops. According to his research, it turned out that the vast majority of known cultivated plants originate from just eight foci. All of them are concentrated mainly in mountainous tropical and subtropical regions - the Andes, the Himalayas, mountainous regions of Africa and Mediterranean countries, mountain China. In essence, only a narrow strip of land on the globe played a major role in the history of world agriculture, the scientist concludes6.
In the area of the “fertile crescent” (Fig. 26) a cereal with large grains grew. It was wild wheat. It reproduces when mature ears open and grains fall out. The long and stiff awn helps them fly far from the mother plant with the help of the wind and, after falling to the ground, become firmly established in the soil. This method of reproduction, natural in nature, created inconvenience for the ancient gatherer. He either had to collect unripe ears or lost a lot of grains
when harvesting. It is likely that these shortcomings were the reason for the domestication of wheat.
The first plants that people began to sow were wheat and barley. Cultivated plants have changed so much compared to wild ones that the bred varieties could no longer grow without human intervention. Experiences of researcher in the field of agriculture D.R. Harlan showed that wild wheat was so dense that the family of an ancient gatherer could collect more grain in three weeks of work than it needed for a whole year.
Even today, wild wheat grows in abundance on the hilly slopes of the Middle East. Man working using Neolithic technology, without special effort can pick up a kilogram of wheat. Wild wheat ripens quickly and can be harvested at intervals of three weeks. A family of experienced foragers could collect enough wheat (about 1 ton) in these three weeks to feed themselves for a whole year. However, once the wheat was harvested, it had to be stored somewhere. They built barns. They had to be protected and for a long time stay close to this food source. Thus, another incentive to a sedentary lifestyle appeared.
When the harvest was harvested in a dwelling, some of the grains were probably lost, and some of them fell into the fertile soil, since the settlements were usually located near bodies of water and away from the mountainous terrain where wild wheat mainly grew. The plants that sprouted the following year were, as a rule, of a species that could not scatter grains. In addition, they grew closer to the village, so they were collected first. The constant repetition of this spontaneous selection led to the fact that in the end the largest and most productive wheat fields were located near settlements. Thus the decisive step towards cultivating the land was taken.
Sometimes hunters and gatherers tended useful plants- weeded, pruned, protected young shoots. Digging up edible tubers and roots, they thinned out dense thickets and dug up the ground. Hunters and gatherers of the South East Asia They even knew how to replant wild tubers; the Australian aborigines sometimes planted seeds of tree and shrub fruits and cereal grains. This applied not only to edible plants, but also to those that provided shade or marked the boundaries of communal areas.
The first plants to be domesticated approximately 8.8 thousand years ago in China were rice and millet. Millet - tall coarse herbaceous plant, which is still growing in Northern China. The homeland of its wild ancestor was treeless areas in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, where loess soils are common. Already at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. In the villages of Northern China, millet was grown everywhere. These settlements were quite large (up to 600 people sometimes lived in them). Many grain storage facilities discovered during excavations indicate high level agriculture. Millet, which feeds a third of the world's population, is used as bird feed in the United States.
Rice, the most important agricultural crop in China, has been grown since the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Its wild variety grew in the subtropical regions of southern China. Domestication of rice probably occurred in South India or Southeast Asia. Even more evidence has been found early processing soils in Southeast Asia. Seeds of cultivated varieties of beans and peas grown in the 8th millennium BC were discovered in Thailand. Rice was cultivated here probably several thousand years earlier than in China.
In America - Mexico and Peru - among the first plants, man cultivated corn and potatoes. Mexico, with its varied climatic conditions and soil types, had particularly good conditions for this. As a result, several species of edible wild plants appeared. However, in Mexico they grew over vast areas, so, unlike the Middle East, the transition to a sedentary lifestyle here occurred somewhat later. The first developed civilizations in this region developed almost 2 thousand years later than in Mesopotamia (by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC). In Central America essential component food was corn. The first finds associated with this plant date back to the period 5.2-3.4 thousand years BC. Even earlier, pumpkins and beans were grown. Evidence of Neolithic agriculture in America has been found in caves near the Gulf of Mexico south of the Rio Grande (circa 7th millennium BC).
The highlands of Peru, rich in water and animals, were probably inhabited by the 15th millennium BC. The most ancient finds indicating the cultivation of plants date back to earlier than 5600 BC. Special climatic conditions coastal areas of the Pacific Ocean did not create favorable conditions for development agriculture. Only pumpkin grew well here. In this area, plants were systematically grown only from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, when crop cultivation technology penetrated to the Pacific coast from the interior of the continent.
Thus, in almost all parts of the Old World, wheat, barley, oats, lentils and peas began to be cultivated; in America they cultivated pumpkin, avocados, beans (beans) and corn; in East Asia - almonds, beans, cucumbers, peas, wheat and millet, which until the 2nd millennium BC. was more important than rice in China. Due to the fact that there was enough food, hunters took fewer risks and died, they no longer killed their newborns (which is inevitable for the survival of nomadic hunters). As a result, the population increased significantly. Often there were so many people in a certain area that they could not feed themselves, so separate groups went in search of new places.
Today necessary for people Cereals provide protein and calories. In the world diet, their percentage contribution now looks like this: wheat - 28%, corn and maize - 27, rice - 25, barley - 10, other cereals - 10%1.
A huge variety of cultivated plants, thanks to which we today have a variety of tasty and healthy products nutrition, modern people taken for granted. Meanwhile, if we were in the Stone Age, we would not have found there large and juicy apples, sweet yellow bananas, or huge ears of corn. And we probably wouldn’t even recognize many wild plants that are the ancestors of modern cultivated plants. This post is about how cultivated plants have changed over the past hundreds and thousands of years thanks to selection methods and our ancestors.
1) Apple tree
This plant has been known to people since ancient times. There are several types of wild apple trees, common in Europe and Asia. Moreover, according to genetic studies, the ancestors of modern cultivated varieties are two species: the Sievers apple tree and the wild forest apple tree.
Sievers apple tree
Wild forest apple tree
Both of these species have small fruits (2 to 5 cm in size) and not the most pleasant taste. Sievers apples have a bitter taste, and the fruits of the wild forest apple tree are very sour. However, crossing and selection of these species led to the emergence of modern cultivars.
It is believed that the first to begin purposefully growing apple trees were the residents of Central Asia, who lived west of the Tien Shan Mountains, and this happened more than 2000 years ago. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, apple trees came to Greece, and from there they spread throughout Europe. The Greeks and Romans worked hard to develop new juicy and sweet varieties of apples.
For a long time, apples were almost the only fruit in Russia. Apple trees appeared in monastery gardens back in the 11th century, and in the 18th century, the Russian breeder Bolotov described about 600 varieties of apples.
2) Wheat, corn and other grains
Cereals have been known to people for a very long time, and it was with the cultivation of wheat, barley and other cereals that the Neolithic revolution began more than 10 thousand years ago. Wheat and barley are native to the Middle East; their cultivation probably began in the territory of modern Iraq and Turkey.
Wild barley
Wild species were noticeably different from modern cultivated ones. They had smaller grains and fewer of them per ear. But the main drawback was that the ripened grains immediately fell to the ground, so it was very difficult to collect them. Only over time were varieties developed that were convenient to harvest - reaping whole ears of corn along with grains, and then threshing them.
American Indians began growing corn more than 5,000 years ago. The exact ancestor of modern corn has not been established, but the closest wild plant to it, teosinte, looks like this:
Not only does it have few grains and they are small, but these grains also have a rather hard shell.
3) Bananas
We know banana as a soft and sweet fruit. yellow. But the wild ancestors of bananas were very different. These were small, green and hard fruits, in addition filled with seeds.
Wild bananas
However, people have found something useful in this fruit. Several thousand years ago, people began growing bananas in Southeast Asia, and then they gradually spread throughout the world.
Banana selection took quite a long time long time. Even the Spanish conquerors, who brought bananas to America 500 years ago, considered them food for slaves and animals. At this time, bananas were still inedible raw and had to be boiled or fried. Only towards the end of the 19th century were modern varieties of bananas developed, which quickly became one of the favorite foods among residents of the United States and Europe.
4) Carrots
Wild carrots have long grown in vast areas of Eurasia. People ate the roots of this plant as food, but wild carrots are bitter and hard, so this vegetable was not popular. Carrots were known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but were forgotten during the Middle Ages.
Wild carrots
Carrots returned to Europe from the East. It is believed that the place where modern varieties of carrots originate is the territory of modern Afghanistan; it was here that carrots began to be specially grown around the 10th century. In the 12th and 13th centuries, carrots again came to Europe. At this time the carrots were different colors- from white to purple. It was only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the familiar orange varieties of carrots with thick, sweet roots were developed in Holland.
5) Watermelons
Watermelons are native to South-West Africa. The wild ancestors of modern watermelons still grow in the Kalahari Desert.
Wild watermelons in the desert
The fruits of wild watermelons are small - no more than 10 cm in size and taste bitter. Even 4000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians discovered them and began to grow them, although not for consumption, but to obtain oil from the seeds. The ancient Romans began to pickle watermelons and make jam from it.
Gradually, watermelons began to be grown in different countries. They became larger and sweeter, but back in the 17th century. watermelons were quite different from modern ones:
Watermelons in a painting by an Italian artist of the 17th century.
Russia made a significant contribution to the selection of watermelons, where the watermelon arrived back in the 13th century. After the fall of Astrakhan, the Caspian steppes became one of the main centers of watermelon breeding, where large, sweet and drought-resistant varieties were bred.
6) Peaches
As the name implies, peaches came to Russia and Europe from Persia. However, the birthplace of peaches is China, and these fruits began to be grown here 4,000 years ago.
This is what the wild ancestors of the peach looked like
Scientists are inclined to believe that modern peaches are the result of hybridization of several species, but the wild ancestors of the peach were very small with a large pit and a salty taste, and their size was only 2-3 cm. The modern peach is about 60 times larger (by weight) than its own wild predecessors.
7) Cucumbers
Cucumbers began to be grown in India a very long time ago, about 4-6 thousand years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans grew cucumbers in large quantities and considered them a very healthy product. The details of cucumber breeding are unknown, but wild cucumbers still grow in large quantities in India.
Wild cucumbers
Wild cucumbers are small, bitter and very prickly. Local residents use their thickets to decorate fences and walls.
8) Cabbage
Cabbage is one of the few cultivated plants that originates not from some distant places, but from the territory of Europe.
Wild cabbage
Also, wild cabbage is quite edible and has a taste reminiscent of ordinary cultivated varieties. white cabbage. True, the leaves of this cabbage are tougher and, of course, do not form heads.
Cabbage began to be grown in Southern Europe more than 4 thousand years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans were very fond of cabbage and believed that it could cure many diseases. Since ancient times, cabbage was also grown by the Slavs, for whom it was one of the main vegetable crops.
What's the end result? Sometimes there is an opinion that selection and artificial selection are something reminiscent of the methods of modern genetic engineering. Not really. Our ancestors, while breeding cultivated varieties, did not interfere with the genotype and crossed only closely related species with each other. So it’s more likely the other way around - the above examples are examples of success traditional methods selections showing what can be achieved without the use of GMOs.
