Rice was domesticated in South America’s wetlands at least 4,000 years ago, according to a report in Science Magazine. Archaeobotanist José Iriarte examined a collection of rice phytoliths, or bits of silica made by plant cells, from Monte Castelo, an archaeological site in Brazil’s southwestern Amazon basin inhabited for more than 9,000 years. The study suggests that as the rice grains grown by the people living at Monte Castelo increased in size over time. Suggesting people were selectively growing larger and larger rice. Grown at lake edges and river edges, the crop would have ripened during the flooding season, when other food sources might be scarce.
If this truly was a rice domestication, that means South American joins Asia and Africa as an independent inventor of domesticated rice. Rice is thought to have been domesticated in Asia some 11,000 years ago, and in West Africa about 2,000 years ago.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário