Early Humans
Jan. 25th, 2026 01:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithAncient people carried a wild potato across the American Southwest
Ancient travelers carried a wild potato across the Southwest, shaping its future for thousands of years.
Long before farming took hold, ancient Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest were already shaping the future of a wild potato. New evidence shows that this small, hardy plant was deliberately carried across the Four Corners region more than 10,000 years ago, helping it spread far beyond its natural range.
Modern people, especially white people, are stupid about agriculture. They only use the word to mean monocrop fields, or occasionally, animals in fenced pastures and barns. That leaves out 99% of agriculture.
Transporting plants because you want them is agriculture, and by the time you're taking them with you traveling, they probably have a lot of history already. Propagating plants you like, and pulling up ones of the same kind that you like less, is a selection process. Putting plants where they are convenient is also agriculture -- from the edibles along trails to the smooth trees beside thorny trees with good food at the top. So is weeding out other competitors. "When you harvest wild rice, don't pull the whole head over the canoe, let some fall in the water to regrow" is agriculture. Three sisters farming is agriculture, and white people went out of their way to hide that for years so they could pretend that indigenous nations were "savages" instead of civilizations. Clam gardens are agriculture, specifically a type of aquaculture. And so on.
People focus on one method that is, actually, a piss-poor way to produce food that consistently destroys the land it's on unless you take extremely thorough precautions to replenish nutrients. Some Asian countries have successfully managed the same monocrop farmland for thousands of years, but few others have done it. Frustrating.
Ancient travelers carried a wild potato across the Southwest, shaping its future for thousands of years.
Long before farming took hold, ancient Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest were already shaping the future of a wild potato. New evidence shows that this small, hardy plant was deliberately carried across the Four Corners region more than 10,000 years ago, helping it spread far beyond its natural range.
Modern people, especially white people, are stupid about agriculture. They only use the word to mean monocrop fields, or occasionally, animals in fenced pastures and barns. That leaves out 99% of agriculture.
Transporting plants because you want them is agriculture, and by the time you're taking them with you traveling, they probably have a lot of history already. Propagating plants you like, and pulling up ones of the same kind that you like less, is a selection process. Putting plants where they are convenient is also agriculture -- from the edibles along trails to the smooth trees beside thorny trees with good food at the top. So is weeding out other competitors. "When you harvest wild rice, don't pull the whole head over the canoe, let some fall in the water to regrow" is agriculture. Three sisters farming is agriculture, and white people went out of their way to hide that for years so they could pretend that indigenous nations were "savages" instead of civilizations. Clam gardens are agriculture, specifically a type of aquaculture. And so on.
People focus on one method that is, actually, a piss-poor way to produce food that consistently destroys the land it's on unless you take extremely thorough precautions to replenish nutrients. Some Asian countries have successfully managed the same monocrop farmland for thousands of years, but few others have done it. Frustrating.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-25 08:09 pm (UTC)It makes me wonder what alien agriculture looks like, especially in cases of them not being omnivirous yet space-faring. Also brings into question what a GMO relying humanity would do, though I have, mixed faith on that topic.
Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-25 09:03 pm (UTC)I'm impressed that early people figured out quite complex things like the Three Sisters and the clam gardens.
>> It makes me wonder what alien agriculture looks like, especially in cases of them not being omnivirous yet space-faring.<<
You will far more often see things like permaculture and biomimicry than monocrops, because they work better. Modern folks can walk right past, or even through, a food forest and not recognize it -- which is how some tribes hide their food sovereignty. White people won't try to steal something they don't realize is valuable. Here are some ways to watch for alien agriculture:
* First identify what they eat. If there is agriculture, it will involve at least some of those things.
* Also look at any other items of high cultural importance such as building materials or dyes. These are often farmed also.
* Look at the settlements, areas near settlements, and areas far from settlements. Compare them. People usually choose to settle in places that are pleasing and convenient over those that are worse, but they will also manipulate things in their favor.
* Look near areas of travel, such as trails in a forest, near water in drier areas, along navigable riverbanks, around campsites, etc. These are places people tend to put useful things. To this day, some of Earth's older campsites still have soapworts and bullrushes growing around them because people planted not food but cleaning supplies!
* Search for patterns. Most humans like straight lines; nature doesn't. But a different species might prefer circles, triangles, hexagons, etc. You're not looking for a specific thing, but rather a patterned deviation from local nature. Check their clothes, jewelry, architecture, tools, etc. Whatever their preferred geometry is, it's usually all over everything they touch. Identify it and look for that, but don't limit yourself to it.
* Animals living near or in settlements (including portable camps) are usually domestic or commensal species. That's a spectrum so if people aren't using them for draft or other obvious tasks, it's not always clear quickly where they are on that path.
But there is one interesting clue: a domestication complex. Most ecosystems have or can develop one. On Earth, it manifests with things like white spotting, floppy ears, and some amount of neoteny. White spotting is surprisingly common across the universes; other features vary. Neoteny is almost always available, so check nearby species against distant wild species to see if the nearby ones resemble in any way the young of the alien sophonts. Don't just use visual analysis; check all senses including those that aliens have but humans don't. Note that one way cats domesticated humans is that a cat's voice sounds very similar to a crying human infant, a sound that humans are hardwired to respond to with aid.
* It is also helpful to study the types of agriculture practiced by nonhumans on Earth. Ants are probably the widest known. Several of them farm fungi, and some herd various plant insects for honeydew.
>> Also brings into question what a GMO relying humanity would do, though I have, mixed faith on that topic.<<
Usually bad things. People are making lots of mistakes already.
Never gengineer things in a way that can get loose and contaminate the wider gene pool. So for instance, don't gengineer things like wind-pollinated crops or mobile animals, except in areas that make escape impossible. Frex, gengineered salmon are okay to raise in terrestrial ponds inland, but not in the ocean or anywhere that a flood might introduce to the rivers or ocean.
You must carefully test everything before releasing it to the public, because some changes that seem small turn out to be harmful. The most common problem is triggering allergies, but worse things can happen.
Full disclosure is required along with free, informed, and prior consent so that people who wish to explore GMOs can do so safely while those who do not are free to abstain with no consequences.
Even with diseases, you must take care in eradicating them, because some have hidden benefits you may not realize. Frex, the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia also conveys malaria resistance. One copy grants resistance; two copies will kill you. African genetics mesh precisely with malaria prevalence, such that the gene is more common in areas with higher infestation rates. The resistance is so valuable that it outweighs the lethal risk.
In horses, the appaloosa complex comes with a fairly high risk of vision issues, which you'd think would be fatal in wild animals; but the silhouette-breaking effect of the spots strongly outweighs it. We know the complex has been around for at least 50,000 years or so because we have cave art of spotted horses that far back.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-25 10:12 pm (UTC)>>* First identify what they eat. If there is agriculture, it will involve at least some of those things.<<
Trolls (yes homestuck) in my AU are omnivirous but in a mesocarnivirous sense aka they need more meat in their diet then the average human. In their pre-history trolls (especially adolescents that hadn't gone throw final pupation) would usually hunt game via traps & hiding in trees till they could savely strike (in this au trolls also have a bodyplan closer to facultative bipeds like lemurs or bears).
I still need to develp a food-chain for Beforus (mother planet of the trolls in AU, though Alternia & other colonies or former colonies also have that ecosystem to some degree do to terraforming). But I think trolls would've first develped in or near thickly forested areas with very large trees (possibly rain-forrest adjacent? unclear).
>>* Also look at any other items of high cultural importance such as building materials or dyes. These are often farmed also.<<
IDK if the trolls of Beforus build things diffrently from Alternian trolls (the 2 major factions). But they would need a very breathable fabric for their clothes since I moved their breathing opening to their upper torso (repurposing grubscars into semi or straight up gills). Also kinda into GMO territory, but it's clear they use insect grubs & bee?hives to some extend as tech storage, so they'd be farmed too.
>>* Look at the settlements, areas near settlements, and areas far from settlements. Compare them. People usually choose to settle in places that are pleasing and convenient over those that are worse, but they will also manipulate things in their favor.<<
That also depends tho on there being good settlement planners, since we have a lot of car-centric street-planning into our cities & it usually sucks ass. Though for the acidic(?) rain, I assume their buildings & roads are made to withstand periods of acids.
>>* Look near areas of travel, such as trails in a forest, near water in drier areas, along navigable riverbanks, around campsites, etc. These are places people tend to put useful things. To this day, some of Earth's older campsites still have soapworts and bullrushes growing around them because people planted not food but cleaning supplies!<<
More specific to my AU, but the former Beforan & Alternian colonies on Mars were originally made with cold-to-warm warin mind. So I imagine the cities are mostly build cheaply at the start. Though after the Mars rebellion I imagine that trolls of both cultural groups would build with more comfort in mind. Which would likely lead to them incorperating more camp-esc features. Though large bodies of water are likely bought first by seadwellers, so those below them would possible argue over who owns what rivers.
>>* Search for patterns. Most humans like straight lines; nature doesn't. But a different species might prefer circles, triangles, hexagons, etc. You're not looking for a specific thing, but rather a patterned deviation from local nature. Check their clothes, jewelry, architecture, tools, etc. Whatever their preferred geometry is, it's usually all over everything they touch. Identify it and look for that, but don't limit yourself to it.<<
I think trolls would favor hexagons & grubs-shapes. Though their buildings for various reasons are more like bismuth is weirdly chaotic square fashion.
>>* Animals living near or in settlements (including portable camps) are usually domestic or commensal species. That's a spectrum so if people aren't using them for draft or other obvious tasks, it's not always clear quickly where they are on that path.
But there is one interesting clue: a domestication complex. Most ecosystems have or can develop one. On Earth, it manifests with things like white spotting, floppy ears, and some amount of neoteny. White spotting is surprisingly common across the universes; other features vary. Neoteny is almost always available, so check nearby species against distant wild species to see if the nearby ones resemble in any way the young of the alien sophonts. Don't just use visual analysis; check all senses including those that aliens have but humans don't. Note that one way cats domesticated humans is that a cat's voice sounds very similar to a crying human infant, a sound that humans are hardwired to respond to with aid.<<
Oh this is for sure the lussi (animal-custodians of non-adult trolls, whom they have a symboitic relationship with). I got the idea from this xeno hs zine that lussi actually are tapeworms which transform non-troll lifeforms into lussi, which could explain why they're so varied. Though there is evidance for other creatures on the trolls homeplanet, though I'd have to expand on that.
I think trolls might have a word for domesiticated. But a more common word might be for creatures which have undergown lussification, since that's more important to their life-cycle.
>>* It is also helpful to study the types of agriculture practiced by nonhumans on Earth. Ants are probably the widest known. Several of them farm fungi, and some herd various plant insects for honeydew.<<
That's honestly a very good idea! I think trolls would favor types of fungi for non-meat consumption cause they would be able to recycle waste products into food that way.
>>Never gengineer things in a way that can get loose and contaminate the wider gene pool. So for instance, don't gengineer things like wind-pollinated crops or mobile animals, except in areas that make escape impossible. Frex, gengineered salmon are okay to raise in terrestrial ponds inland, but not in the ocean or anywhere that a flood might introduce to the rivers or ocean.
You must carefully test everything before releasing it to the public, because some changes that seem small turn out to be harmful. The most common problem is triggering allergies, but worse things can happen.<<
Yeah, people don't always realize what specific genes are gonna do or not to the larger ecosystem, which is why we should be more careful about it.
>>Even with diseases, you must take care in eradicating them, because some have hidden benefits you may not realize. Frex, the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia also conveys malaria resistance. One copy grants resistance; two copies will kill you. African genetics mesh precisely with malaria prevalence, such that the gene is more common in areas with higher infestation rates. The resistance is so valuable that it outweighs the lethal risk.
In horses, the appaloosa complex comes with a fairly high risk of vision issues, which you'd think would be fatal in wild animals; but the silhouette-breaking effect of the spots strongly outweighs it. We know the complex has been around for at least 50,000 years or so because we have cave art of spotted horses that far back.<<
I didn't know those! Intressting things to look into :3
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-25 10:58 pm (UTC)Sickle cell anemia
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1203&context=bio_chem_fac_pubs
https://travelthruhistory.com/from-ancient-spotted-horses-to-the-american-appaloosa/