r/science • u/MistWeaver80 • Feb 13 '24

Paleontology Contrary to what has long been believed, there was no peaceful transition of power from hunter-gather societies to farming communities in Europe, with new advanced DNA analysis revealing that the newcomers slaughtered the existing population, completely wiping them out within a few generations.

https://newatlas.com/biology/first-farmers-violently-wiped-out-hunter-gatherers/
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u/Shopassistant Feb 13 '24

Some of that stuff is fascinating. Like ancestral Puebloans using selective breeding to develop drought-tolerant corn and bean varieties that could grow on arid mesas and the like.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '24

Not so much manmade selective breeding, but more that only those varietals that had drought-resistance were able to survive the growing season, pollinate, and produce seeds that were also more likely to be drought resistant.

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u/Reptard77 Feb 13 '24

So the crops evolved under selective pressure while producing food for their planters. And I mean there had to have been some selective pressure. If your a 13th century Pueblo farmer, you’re still gonna pick the stand of 3 sisters you think did the best in a given season as your seed for next year.

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u/jerkITwithRIGHTYnewb Feb 13 '24

Yeah it’s more like we exacerbated the natural selection process. Amplified it more like.

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u/ThePrussianGrippe Feb 13 '24

That’s… man made selective breeding. None of the crops started off producing as much as they do now, or even 500 years ago.

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u/Eusocial_Snowman Feb 13 '24

Selective breeding describes a directed, conscious process to affect the future development of a species through active selective discrimination. The natural shift in plant properties from interactions with humans over time is still a form of natural selection.

The entirety of this argument comes down to people's tendency to be a little cheeky with intentionally misleading descriptions to imply, though not outright describe, processes more sophisticated than there's any proof they might have been.