Why archaeologists are arguing about sweet potatoes

www.popsci.com ^ | 04/13/2018 | Staff

[Red Badger]

PinGGG?........................

[Jim W N]

Didn’t sweet potatoes evolve from monkeys?

[DonkeyBonker]

Didn’t sweet potatoes evolve from monkeys?

Or vice versa

[Snickering Hound]

And pre-Columbian chickens in South America for that matter.

[Magnum44]

Didn’t sweet potatoes evolve from monkeys?

No, but 'flinging poo' did...

[MrEdd]

Are you suggesting Sweet Potatoes migrate?

[robroys woman]

Or, to be more clear, some people are sure they’re sure, and others disagree.

---

I’ve found that in such discussions, the latter may not be right, but the former virtually NEVER is. I’ve noticed with stuff like this, where nobody was actually there to record what happened, the more you know of the facts, the less sure you are regarding any one explanation. The ones that are “sure” are the ignorant dogmatists.

[Cold Heart]

Soak a sweet potato seed in sea water for a couple weeks and see if you can get it to sprout. On an ocean beach

[V K Lee]

Sweet potatoes/yams = good eatin’

In the south, we fry ‘em, bake ‘em, souffle them with praline topping (umm good!; however, the marshmallow topped dish is a poor facsimile.) There are times we peel them and eat them raw.

These are a popular dish in our Thanksgiving meal.

They are hard and hearty. Try peeling one without proper preparation.

[tet68]

Chloroplasts aren’t necessarily an accurate way to estimate phylogeny.

Actually, I think that would make a good bumper sticker.

Say WHAT???

[SpinnerWebb]

Birds eat seeds.

Birds migrate thousands of miles.

Birds poop.

Bird poop is good fertilizer.

[D Rider]

Thus, the seeds or the veggies themselves must have floated their way across the ocean.

If seed, why not fly? there are a number of birds that cross all over the Pacific.

[Red Badger]

“ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”...................

[RegulatorCountry]

If names are nearly identical in widely divergent locations then humans did it, seems pretty simple to me. Not at all likely that the same tuber would be called the same thing by different people speaking different languages a thousand miles apart unless they were told what they were called, and called them that.

There’s a surprising variety in sweet potatoes too, the local farmers discovered purple sweet potatoes about two decades ago, the local “terroir” or climate and soil type are well suited for them, very colorful, maintain their vibrancy even when cooked. Bright purple sweet potato butter to put on toast or biscuits for breakfast is a big hit with the kids. A little more flavorful than the usual orangey sweet potato, too.

[Red Badger]

I’m sure....................

[Alas Babylon!]

...you might name a delicious new treat after something pretty similar you’re more familiar with...

Sure! A great many of our European and English names for foods got their names from such associations.

Corn meant grain from wheat, barley, etc. Maize, a French word for cob corn is still used in most of Europe, but not here--was Indian corn at the time of settlement of the first English, and just corn over the centuries to us.

Sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes, a totally different species, are named from potatoes.

Here in the South, because Sweet potatoes are grown quite a bit, to distinguish the two folks call regular potatoes "Irish" potatoes. Also, we distinguish between peas and Southern peas, and call green peas "English peas" and all other peas such as black eye, purple hull, Crowder, etc., are just "peas".

Think about cow - beef, pig/hog - pork/ham, sheep - mutton. All culturally induced from another language.

Latkes or potato pancakes?

Yams or sweet taters?

Sheriff or constable or marshal?

[Red Badger]

purple sweet potatoes ? I’ve never seen one.......................

[rlmorel]

Good question, but I winder if, being a tuber changes things...

[JohnnyP]

I saw phylogeny and tried to remember the rest of it. :)

Thanks.