Yams and megapode mounds in the lowland rain forest of Papua New Guinea

Reference Type Journal Article
Year of Publication
1990
Author
Journal
Human Ecology
Volume
18
Issue
2
Pagination
177-185
Date Published
06/1990
Language
English
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Abstract
Kubo people of Papua New Guinea sometimes grew Dioscorea yams in mounds of forest litter that were made as egg-incubation sites by birds (Megapodiidae). The small yam plots were included within larger banana gardens and, in the latter, it was yams, not bananas, that took precedence in the gardening decisions of people. The technique would be viable in the absence of a larger garden. It is interpreted as an expression of an ancient pattern of small-scale plant domestication.
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DOI
ISSN
1530-7069; 1572-9915