New Guinea ‘was agricultural pioneer’

By: Katie Mantell

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<h1>New Guinea ‘was agricultural pioneer’</h1>
<h4>By: Katie Mantell</h4>
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<p><P>Communities in Papua New Guinea developed agriculture independently of other cultures about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, according to new research. </P><br />
<P>Data from the Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea presented in this week’s journal <em>Science</em> suggests that people there were farming banana and taro (a tuberous root with edible leaves) before outsiders reached New Guinea.</P><br />
<P>These findings may end a long-standing debate on the origins of New Guinea agriculture. They also suggest that New Guinea — along with Mesopotamia and up to three spots in the New World — may be one of the few places in the world where people clearly developed agriculture.</P><br />
<P>In a related article, Katharina Neumann of J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany,<B> </B>writes, “Only a few regions were geographically suited to become the homelands of full agricultural systems. New Guinea seems to have been one of them.”</P><br />
<P><a href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/301/5630/189?ijkey=nHZJd64SsfchA&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to research article in <em>Science</em> by Tim Denham <EM>et al</EM></A></P><br />
<P><a href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/301/5630/180?ijkey=f9eAW8xiu2.Kg&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to article in <em>Science</em> by Katharina Neumann</A></P>© SciDev.Net 2003</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/new-guinea-was-agricultural-pioneer/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Communities in Papua New Guinea developed agriculture independently of other cultures about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, according to new research.

Data from the Kuk Swamp in the highlands of Papua New Guinea presented in this week’s journal Science suggests that people there were farming banana and taro (a tuberous root with edible leaves) before outsiders reached New Guinea.

These findings may end a long-standing debate on the origins of New Guinea agriculture. They also suggest that New Guinea — along with Mesopotamia and up to three spots in the New World — may be one of the few places in the world where people clearly developed agriculture.

In a related article, Katharina Neumann of J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, writes, “Only a few regions were geographically suited to become the homelands of full agricultural systems. New Guinea seems to have been one of them.”

Link to research article in Science by Tim Denham et al

Link to article in Science by Katharina Neumann