Posted on 08/07/2006 5:59:36 PM PDT by blam
Start of banana farming in Africa pushed back 2000 years
According to recent evidence from Uganda, the banana may have arrived on the African continent more than 4000 years ago, some 2000 years before the accepted introduction of the fruit on the continent. The finding was published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science (Vol. 33(1):102-113). The authors base their claim on banana phytoliths - distinctive microscopic silica bodies that accumulate in plant cells - which they found in sedimentary layers estimated to be 4000-4500 years old.
Earlier findings in Cameroon of 2500 year-old banana phytoliths (Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2001, 10:1-6) had been disputed on the basis that bananas had been brought by traders to eastern Africa about 2000 years ago. The evidence from Uganda brings support to those defending an early start of banana farming on the African continent.
Africa's earliest bananas? (Journal of Archaeological Science. Volume 33, Issue 1 , January 2006, Pages 102-113).
Phytoliths: an opportunity to rewrite history (Related INIBAP article).
La banane et l’Afrique: une vieille histoire (Related link).
I'll put the very small, red ones from Mexico's Sierra Madre up against any.
Have you ever, like, really contemplated the banana? I mean, like, they're yellow, and stuff. Horses like 'em, but ya gotta peel 'em first. Otherwise, they, like, bury them like they do a zucchini, and then they give ya dirty looks afterwords. Like you fed them a zucchini or something. Zucchinis are green and everything. But bananas, they're yellow, and stuff. Like, Wow.
(had to say it, whatever "it" is, and you were up.)
By painting zucchini yellow and holding their noses.
And they had to wait 4 millenia for the ice cream.
"...I'll put the very small, red ones from Mexico's Sierra Madre up against any..."
The Shoppers Food Warehouse chain here in Maryland carries those. They are indeed tasty.
LOL!
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