It’s really easy, as historians and archaeologists and regular folks who are generally interested in past societies, to get caught up in discussions of origins: a pristine invention of agriculture, the earliest evidence of a new metallurgical technology, the first people to enter a continent.
1) In the episode and in the interview with Peter Bellwood you mention a theory about higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere causing teosinte to look more like modern maize. Do you have a source you can point out for that? It sounds really intriguing.
2) In the overview, you didn't mention the people of Llanos de Moxos. Archaeological evidence points to them cultivating crops like cassava as early as 10,000 BP. I don't know if you have plans to talk about them, but I'd be happy to point you towards some resources on the topic.
Hi Patrick, a couple of questions:
1) In the episode and in the interview with Peter Bellwood you mention a theory about higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere causing teosinte to look more like modern maize. Do you have a source you can point out for that? It sounds really intriguing.
2) In the overview, you didn't mention the people of Llanos de Moxos. Archaeological evidence points to them cultivating crops like cassava as early as 10,000 BP. I don't know if you have plans to talk about them, but I'd be happy to point you towards some resources on the topic.
Fascinating article! 👍👍👍