[NTHockey]

Questions not asked: How did early people know what to plant? Where did they get the seeds? How many times did they fail?

[SunkenCiv]

How did they figure out that seeds are, well, seeds? They were careful observers, probably of their own latrines -- seeds are often sources of food, but sometimes the plant is just eaten whole, and the seeds would be observed to sprout. This fits with my favorite anthropological idea -- that most of our major arts and inventions came from teenaged boys foolin' with stuff, or trying to gross each other out, play pranks, or double-daring each other. And they'd be likely to carve all those naked women images as well.

[skr]

Gen. 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

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Gen. 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

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Gen. 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

[TonytheTiger7777]

some plants yield 1000 grains to 1. Not only a powerful incentive to grow(profit) but also a mystical process of growth that was recognized and incorporated into their religions. Grain was ‘the mystery of life’.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I marvel at so many ancient discoveries, non-obvious questions asked, and experiments.

Yeast and fermentation. Alcohol production.
Hulling wheat and grinding the kernel to make flour.
How heat transforms foods.
“Can I plant these seeds myself and harvest the crops?”
The growth of metallurgy to make crude but more effective farm implements (spin off from weapons)
“I wonder what this tastes like?” and the ensuing knowledge including “Nope. Don’t want to die”, it’s storage and handing down to subsequent generations. How many died as a result of “I wonder if I can eat this”experiments.
Large migrations of people to completely unknown far away places that were not hospitable to their seeds.
The explosion of discoverers taking seeds and plants with them on their voyages and bringing new discoveries home.