Scienceenvironment
Ancient Crop Domestication Relied on Existing Wild Genetic Variation
Recent archaeological and genetic insights reveal that ancient humans did not artificially create new mutations when domesticating crops. Instead, they relied on genetic variation already present in wild plants, such as the wild grass Oryza rufipogon. Over 8,000 years ago, communities in regions like the Lower Yangtze Valley began cultivating these wild plants. By selecting desirable traits already existing within natural populations, early farmers successfully transformed ordinary wild grasses into foundational agricultural crops like rice and corn.