Wheat's Domestication of Homo Sapiens

Key Insight

The Agricultural Revolution can be viewed from the perspective of plants, particularly wheat, which effectively 'domesticated' Homo sapiens. Ten thousand years ago, wheat was a wild grass confined to a small Middle Eastern range, but within a few millennia, it spread worldwide. By basic evolutionary criteria of survival and reproduction, wheat has become one of the most successful plants on Earth, covering approximately 2.25 million square kilometers globally, nearly ten times the size of Britain.

Wheat achieved this success by manipulating humans to its advantage. Humans began investing increasing effort into cultivating wheat, leading to a life largely dedicated to its care. This included arduous tasks like clearing fields of rocks and pebbles, weeding under the scorching sun, guarding against pests and blight, and lugging water from springs. Humans even collected animal faeces to nourish the soil for wheat.

These new agricultural tasks were ill-suited for the human body, which had evolved for climbing and running. The physical toll included slipped discs, arthritis, and hernias, as evidenced in ancient skeletons. Furthermore, wheat cultivation demanded permanent settlement near fields, drastically altering human lifestyle. The word 'domesticate' from Latin 'domus' (house) aptly describes this, as humans, not wheat, became confined to houses, living under the plant's demands.