Guns Germs and Steel Chapter 7

Guns Germs and Steel
Chapter 7: How to Make an Almond

Fleshy Fruits

In nature, fruits are often fleshy to attract animals
the seeds of fruit are often bitter and are dispersed (and fertilized) by passing through the animal.
Domestication of plants by humans also may have started in such latrines.

Selection of Desired Qualities
Eventually humans selected desired qualities:

Size
lack of bitterness
fleshiness
Oiliness
fiber length in plants.

Traits Selected Unknowingly

Dispersal mutations (peas that stayed in the pods, wheat that did not shatter)
Early germination of planted seeds -- those that did not readily germinate were not selected for replanting (examples wheat, barley, peas)
Reproductive biology to be selfing (plums, peaches apricots, cherries, grapes)
Seed size: competition among planted seeds selects for qualities like seed size differently than in nature.

Difficulty of Domestication

Wheat and peas easy to domesticate in Fertile Crescent (8,500 B.C.)

grew wild
annual
easily stored

Fruit and nut trees harder to domesticate(4,000 B.C.) due to long growing season.

Fruit trees that needed grafting took even longer

Pulses

Cereals are low in protein, but the deficit is made up by pulses (beans, peas, lentils) in most food systems.

Sowing by Broadcast

Grains in Eurasia were sown by broadcast, later in animal plowed fields to give monoculture.

Digging Sticks

In new world, planting done by digging stick, (no plow animals domesticated), leading to mixed gardens.

Almonds and Oaks
Almonds more easily domesticated:

faster growing
Only one gene for bitterness of seed.

Oaks never domesticated:

slow growth
fast squirrels replant acorns
multiple genes controlling bitterness.

Chapter 8: Apples or Indians

Domesticated Plants

There are 200,000 species of plants
Only a dozen account for 80% of worlds production:
Wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, soybean, potato, cassava, sweet potato, sugar cane, sugar beet, banana.
All of these domesticated thousands of years ago.
No new plants domesticated in modern times

Domestication Requirements
Several domesticable plants had large ranges, but domesticated only in one place.
Why not in others?
Domestication required settling down, and had to be worth it with several plants domesticated, not just one.

Fertile Crescent Attributes
Mediterranean climate.
Abundant wild stands of wheat that needed little change to be domesticated.
Hunter/gatherers settled down here before agriculture, living off grain
High percentage of self pollinating plants -- easiest to domesticate.

Fertile Crescent

Fertile Crescent Advantages

Largest Mediterranean climate with highest diversity of species.
High percentage of annual plants. Annuals produce seeds that dry down until rainy season. Of large seeded grass species of the world, 32 of 56 grow here.
Diversity of terrain and habitats: diversity of species to be domesticated.
Big animals for domestication: goat, sheep, pig, cow.

Fertile Crescent Domestication

Agriculture launched by domestication of 8 crops (founder crops): emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch, flax.
Wheat and pulses gave balanced carbohydrate and protein.
Hunter gathering eventually not too productive, easily giving way to agriculture.
Domestication occurred from 9,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C.

Meso America

In Meso America, the only animals domesticated were turkey and dog
Maize was slow to domesticate.
Domestication occurred from 3,500 B.C. to 1,500 B.C.

Independent Domestication

In New Guinea or USA, food also independently domesticated, but limited crops.
Indigenous peoples usually walking encyclopedias about wild foods.
Was it culture that rejected domesticated crops?
Unlikely since imported crops readily adapted and then populations took off.
Problem was in the plants available for domestication.
Poor candidates for grain domestication
No large animal domestication,
Crops domesticated had limited calories and protein.

New Guinea

New Guinea crop was Taro:
Low in protein, leading to eating of

Spiders
Frogs
Mice
Cannibalism

USA
USA crops were squash, sunflower, sumpweed and goosefoot.
Not enough of a crop package to sustain large populations without hunting and gathering, until Maize imported 2000 years later.
Therefore it was the lack of an entire suite of animal and plants available for domestication that was responsible for the late start of food production in N. America.

Chapter 9: Zebras, etc

Domesticated Animals

Of the 14 large (over 100 lb) successful domesticated animal species in the world

13 are from Eurasia,
one from South America.
Why the huge disparity?
Why did Africa have none?

Large Animals

Of 148 large herbivorous or omnivorous species in the world

Eurasia had 72
Africa 51
Americas 24
Australia 1

Not a Cultural Issue

When the big 5 Eurasian domesticates (Cow, sheep goat, pig, horse) were introduced into Africa and the Americas they were readily adopted.
All peoples have experience taming wild animals, keeping pets. But not all tamed animals can become domesticated.
All major animal domestication occurred between 8,500-2,500 B.C. with almost none since then.
Those of the 148 possible species capable of being domesticated were domesticated.
Some species like cows, dogs, pigs independently domesticated in different parts of the world. These animals were well suited for domestication.
Modern attempts to domesticate eland, elk, moose, musk ox, zebra, American Bison are only marginally successful.

Why have 134 out of 148 big species not been domesticated?
1) Diet too finicky (ex: koala)
2) Growth rate too slow (ex: elephants, gorillas)
3) Captive Breeding. Some animals have elaborate mating rituals that they won't do in captivity (ex: cheetah, vicuna)
4) Nasty Disposition. (ex: grizzly bear, African buffalo, onager, zebra, hippo, elk)
5) Tendency to panic. (ex: deer, antelope, gazelles).
6) Social structure.

Need animals that live in herds with hierarchy and have overlapping ranges
Humans can then take over dominance position.
Solitary animals hard to domesticate (only cats and ferrets have been).
Territorial animals hard to pen up with others (ex: Africa antelope, rhino).
Animals without dominance structure are hard to herd (ex: deer, antelope.

Chapter 10: Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes

Easier to spread East-West

It was easier for domestic plants and animals (later, technology like wheels, writing) to spread East-West in Eurasia than North- South in Americas.

Evidence

Some crops (lima beans, common beans, chili peppers) domesticated independently in both S. America and Meso America due to slow spread
Most crops in Eurasia domesticated only once.
Rapid spread preempted same or similar domestication. Fertile Crescent crops spread to Egypt, N. Africa, Europe, India and eventually to China.
East-West spread of plants, animals easier due to same day-length, similar seasonal variations.

Africa

By contrast, spread of these crops stopped past Sahara due to tropical climate, and thus didn't reach temperate S. Africa until colonists came.
Tropical crops spread West to East in Africa with Bantu culture, but did not cross to S. Africa due to climate.

Americas

Distance between cool highlands of Mexico and Andes was only 1,200 miles but separated by low hot tropical region.
Thus, no exchange of crops, animals, writing, wheel.
Only maize spread.
It took 2,000 years for maize to cross 700 miles of desert to reach U.S.A.
It took another 1000 years for maize to adapt to U.S.A. climate to be productive.

Amber Waves of Grain

Geographic barriers like mountains and deserts can also slow spread of crops East-West
agriculture spread from U.S.A. southeast to southwest slowed by dry Texas and southern great plains
Amber waves of grain did not stretch from sea to sea in N. America, but did in Eurasia.
Not a Cultural Issue

Return to World Food Issues Webpage