Meet the Ancestors (of the past, present and future)

Three handouts were available on the stand in this year,

Making crops Part I:

When humans moved from being hunter/gatherers to become predominantly farmers, about 10 -15,000 years ago, they had a dramatic impact on their environment as they cleared and ploughed large areas of forest and heath ready for the wild plants that were their primitive crops....read entire handout

Making crops Part II:

Even before humans cultivated crops they were using plants for food, fuel, construction materials and clothing. Archaeology has demonstrated that our human ancestors were very sophisticated when selecting plant materials and had a good understanding of their suitability for particular end-uses. As primitive crops were developed, selecting for the performance of the harvested product was as important as developing a crop that performed well in the field......read entire handout

Crop Origins:

The ancestors of wheat were small-grained, wild grasses of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. There is evidence that hunter-gatherers had been collecting grain from wild wheat populations for thousands of years before they were introduced into cultivation......read entire handout