Hannah Moots | From Wheat to Watermelon: Clues from Ancient DNA about Food and Diet

From Wheat to Watermelon: Clues from Ancient DNA about Food and Diet in the Ancient World
OI Museum Collections Talk Series
Hannah Moots, OI postdoctoral researcher
Have you always wondered about what’s in collections storage at the OI Museum? Less than two percent of the over 350,000 ancient Middle Eastern artifacts in the OI Museum collections are on display. Join us for the March installation of our Collections Talk as Hannah Moots, OI postdoctoral researcher, takes us behind the scenes!
What can we learn about plant and animal domestication from ancient DNA? What did early watermelons look and taste like? How have scientists been able to grow a species of extinct date palm after over 1000 years? What varieties of wine were the Romans drinking? What insights into the wild progenitors of corn and wheat have been gained using this new technology? Not only will we discuss how humans changed plants and animals, we’ll also discuss how our changing relationships with other species changed us. For instance, lactase persistence, the ability to drink milk into adulthood, has long been “hailed as one of the clearest examples of gene-culture co-evolution in humans” and has been intensively studied as such for nearly 30 years, however new evidence is calling into question when and how lactase persistence emerged. New bioarchaeological approaches are rewriting and refining our understanding of the history of lactase persistence and shedding light on the evolutionary history of other food intolerances.
Originally aired lived in March 2022
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[@eo31772]

Very interesting. Thanx!

[@JonathanHenry]

Wonderful lecture! Thank you Dr. Moots for your time. It was most informative. And you have a delightful speaking cadence. Very engaging.

[@JEM871]

Very informative! Thank you for posting this.

[@billlincolnmd9159]

How about DNA of honeybees in Egypt and Mediterranean areas?

[@Catonius]

@32:00ish Bell Beaker folk were drinking milk. ..out of their eponymous beakers.

[@cavemancaveman5190]

Imagine that all plant based development was driven by the desire for fermentation maximization for preservation.

[@ronald.a9470]

We need archaeological studies from the Americas

[@scottjosen2606]

Yeah!.........yeah!

[@hingginchu]

24:10 Anyone know the region and the time period of the seal that is used to make that modern plaster impression?

[@gugapilar3135]

Continue firme com os viideos! Lhe desejo muita sorte com o teu canal! Siga firme com os viideos! lhe desejo toda sorte com o canal!

[@derrickh3223]

googled Who domesticated sheep first? googles answer is "humans" *facepalm*

[@FreddyBarbarossa]

I believe it was modern day Georgia.

[@jamesm.9285]

I'd imagine some form of Yamnaya culture.

[@philo3936]

Arabs

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

It’s the Near East, not the Middle East. Especially Egypt!

[@philo3936]

It's not the east it's the center

[@wigwam3270]

These land acknowledgements are like religious prayers. 😂

[@danielrose9964]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

A shaft of wheat? Does she mean a sheaf? I can’t see the image well enough.

[@OuterHeaven210]

A single straw it seems.

[@harwn999]

Funny…. Egypt isn’t in the Middle East smdh

[@RayBuckner]

Right! Nor is it "Near East".

[@ASMM1981EGY]

Yes North Africa

[@philo3936]

No africa is a European thing. It's not the east its the center

[@harwn999]

@@philo3936 wrong. Linguistically and historically however you want to see it, semantically it’s African rooted word no it’s not the original name for the continent but it is African word. It being used for the continent is Africa. That’s semantics bro! We’re talking about the actual continent what ever you call it

[@philo3936]

@@harwn999 wrong. Linguistically and historically.

[@stephenlight647]

Land acknowledgments. Well. Are you sincere? Then lobby the university to give the land back. And move back to your ancestral lands. What a bunch of total pablum. Words are cheap.

[@vilnaukrana3891]

Lactose intolerance in Ukraine? LOL Very funny. You call that a "science", right...