Posted on 06/28/2007 6:39:04 PM PDT by Fred Nerks
Squash grown 10,000 years ago in Peru By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu Jun 28, 6:09 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Agriculture was taking root in South America almost as early as the first farmers were breaking ground in the Middle East, new research indicates. Evidence that squash was being grown nearly 10,000 years ago, in what is now Peru, is reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
A team led by anthropologist Tom D. Dillehay of Vanderbilt University also uncovered remains of peanuts from 7,600 years ago and cotton dated to 5,500 years ago in the floors and hearths of sites in the Nanchoc Valley of northern Peru.
"We believe the development of agriculture by the Nanchoc people served as a catalyst for cultural and social changes that eventually led to intensified agriculture, institutionalized political power and new towns in the Andean highlands and along the coast 4,000 to 5,500 years ago," Dillehay said.
Dolores Piperno, curator for archaeobotany and South American archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said the report "adds to the accumulating data for agriculture in the Americas as old or nearly as old as that in the Old World, provides evidence for the domestication of a major species of squash native to South America, and documents ancient peanuts and quinoa."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
10,000 year old squash served in school cafeteria.
“I didn’t realize it was missing.” said the schools dietician, “ Squash is really nutritious and helps build healthy bones, blah, blah.”
Lies!
The earth is only as old as the day these people graduate from college.
/Salute
It also looks something like a Surinam cherry, and probably could be said to look like a variety of other plant fruits and pods. Now if only they had carved grinning teeth and some triangle eyes in it...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Surinam Cherry, Brazilian Cherry, or Cayenne Cherry (Eugenia uniflora) is a plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to tropical America. Known as Pitanga throughout Brazil, it is a large shrub or small tree with a conical form, growing slowly to 8 meters in height. The leaves are glossy green, up to 4 cm long, and new leaves are copper-colored. Fragrant white flowers mature into reddish fruits up to 2 cm in diameter.
If, as most encyclopedias will tell you, pumpkins originated in the Americas, how did this sculpture come to be part of this fascinating collection?
Don't know but Koreans eat a lot of pumpkin. Would be interesting to know just when pumpkin was incorporated into the Korean diet.
Aren't there gourds or squashes that LOOK like differently-colored pumpkins? I see them in markets as decoration during the autumn. Maybe it isn't a pumpkin...
HORT410 - Vegetable Crops
Squash, Pumpkins & Gourds - Notes
Common names: squashes, pumpkins and gourds.
Latin names: predominantly of the genus Cucurbita; including Cucurbita pepo L., Cucurbita maxima Duch. ex Lam, and Cucurbita moschata Duch. ex Lam.
Family name: Cucurbitaceae [Cucurbitaceae Images].
Closely related to cucumber, muskmelon and watermelon.
Dicotyledons.
All are annuals.
Warm season species, frost-susceptible; all have a growing temperature optimum of between 18 and 24 C.
Pollinated by bees.
Origin: South America; cultivation had spread throughout the Americas by the time the first Europeans arrived.
Trying To Fathom Farming’s Origins
The Columbus Dispatch | 8-14-2007 | Bradley T Lepper
Posted on 08/15/2007 1:42:04 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881608/posts
Andean Crops Cultivated Almost 10,000 Years Ago
Discover Magazine | 1-15-2008 | Michael Abrams
Posted on 01/17/2008 6:55:35 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955416/posts
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Gods |
Blast from the Past. Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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Pumpkins were spread by the French to their colonial areas in Asia.
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