New Scientist

Image: KuniakiIGARASHI

Could raking over the ashes of past civilisations help tackle the current food crisis? David Lentz at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, thinks so.

Genetic information from wild strains of domestic crops could help to improve crop yield, he says, making it important to identify the point of domestication.

That makes his controversial theory that the sunflower was domesticated in Mexico at least 4000 years ago more than just a matter of ancient history.

“If we are to improve the sunflower crop, we need to look at its full genetic base,” Lentz says. “But conventional wisdom is that sunflowers were cultivated in eastern North America, and so Mexico has been ignored.”

Although the crop is now present in Mexico, the traditional view is that the Spanish Conquistadors introduced it to the area from the north in the 16th century. Read more on newscientist.com…