Agriculture’s roots go tropical

As early as 7,000 years ago, prehistoric societies in the tropical forests of Central and South America changed over from foraging to food production by cultivating manioc and other plants with edible, starchy roots, a new study finds.

Although cultivation appeared later there than in the Middle East, the data support a controversial theory that tropical-forest dwellers cultivated roots and tubers long before such practices emerged elsewhere among Native Americans, says a team led by archaeologist Dolores R.