It took thousands of years for people in what is now China to go from eating wild plants to growing them, suggesting farming was slow to emerge, scientists say. The findings show agriculture took almost 12,000 years to emerge from ancient traditions of plant use, Li Liu of Stanford University and colleagues said. They studied three grinding stones from China's Yellow River region displaying residues showing they were used to process millet and other grains, but the stones date from 23,000 to 19,500 years ago, late in the last ice age, while the earliest archaeological evidence for crop cultivation in China is 11,000 years old, NewScientist.com reported. Other researchers say the findings support studies that seems to indicate a worldwide pattern of a delay between human consumption of grains and efforts to domesticate and farm them. In the Middle East there is also "evidence of cereals at that 23,000-year point," Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick in Britain said -- long before people were farming them. "Although this period is around the late glacial maximum, there is a blip at 23,000 years during which time it was milder." Millet and the other food plants could have flourished in the warmth, tempting people to start exploiting them as a food source, Allaby said.
GMT 13:29 2018 Monday ,01 January
Serbia launches probe after toxic waste dumped near BelgradeGMT 19:03 2017 Thursday ,28 December
Pregnant elephant 'poisoned' in Indonesian palm plantationGMT 16:26 2017 Sunday ,24 December
Nepal's two last known dancing bears rescued: officialsGMT 10:51 2017 Sunday ,24 December
Florida orange industry hit by hurricane, diseaseGMT 09:09 2017 Sunday ,24 December
Modern-day amber 'Klondikes' thrive in troubled UkraineGMT 19:23 2017 Saturday ,23 December
Indonesian pangolin faces extinction due to traffickingGMT 11:37 2017 Friday ,22 December
Global warming may boost asylum-seekers in Europe: studyGMT 07:32 2017 Friday ,22 December
Modern-day Mowgli: Indian toddler forges bond with monkeys
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor