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Independent inventionism and recent genetic evidence on plant domestication

La invención independiente y evidencia reciente sobre la domesticación de plantas

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Abstract

The recent accumulation of cytogenetic evidence on the ancestry of the earliest domesticated plants provides an empirical test of the relative importance of independent invention and diffusion in the origin and spread of agriculture. The most parsimonious interpretation of the data is that plant species were domesticated no more than a few times, and perhaps only once, in the Near East and Mexico. Multiple domestications of species may have taken place in the central Andes, but it is impossible to say whether any such cases were truly independent, because of the scantiness of the archaeological as well as botanical record. Evidence from other agricultural centers is limited, and does not negate the conclusion that multiple independent domestications within regions were rare, while domestications of the same species or genus in different regions did not occur as frequently as some authorities have claimed. The prevailing tendency to interpret archaeological sequences as almost entirely the result of local in situ development is not entirely in accord with theory, nor with the genetic evidence summarized here.

Resumen

La acumulación reciente de evidencia citogenetica en la ascendencia de las primeras plantas cultivadas proporciona un análisis empírico de la importancia relativa de la invención independiente y la diffusión en los origenes y el expansión de la agricultura. La interpretación más frugal de los datos nos dice que las especies se cultivaron en muy pocas ocasiones, y puede que en una sola ocasión en el Cercano Oriente y México. La domesticación múltiple de especies puede que tuviera lugar en los Andes Centrales, pero es imposible decir si en tales casos esos cultivos eran verdaderamente independientes, debido a la escasa documentación arqueológica y botánica. La evidencia de los otros centros agrícolas es limitada y no niega la conclusión de que las domesticaciones independientes múltiples dentro de las regiones fueran poco comunes, mientras que las domesticaciones de la misma especie o género en regiones diferentes no se dieran con tanta frequencia como dicen las autoridades. La tendencia predominante que interpreta las secuencias arqueológicas como el resultado casi total del desarrollo local in situ no está totalmente de acuerdo con la teoria ni con la evidencia genetica aquí resumida.

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    Mark A. Blumler

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Blumler, M.A. Independent inventionism and recent genetic evidence on plant domestication. Econ Bot 46, 98–111 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02985258

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