THE RECORD
What changed
Production systems emerged around different plants and techniques in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins, Mesoamerica and the New Guinea highlands.
EVIDENCE
What remains
Phytoliths, starch, charred seeds, field systems, drainage and crop genomes reveal long regional histories.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
Agriculture appears as interacting regional inventions and exchanges rather than one package diffusing from a single centre.
OPEN QUESTION
Where interpretation begins
Initial cultivation, morphological domestication and dietary dependence occurred at different times and cannot be reduced to one date.