Jena, May 22, 2026. A current scientific study from Jena shows that people in tropical rainforests were already intensively cultivating and processing useful plants thousands of years before the emergence of classical agriculture. This challenges the previous theory about the transition to farming.
- Research topic: Plant-based nutrition in the Pleistocene
- Participating institutions: Scientists from Jena
- Key finding: Intensive plant use in the rainforest existed long before the emergence of fields and sedentary agriculture
- Publication date: May 22, 2026
Rethinking the origins of agriculture
Until now, the Neolithic Revolution – the transition of humans to a sedentary lifestyle and the beginning of large-scale farming – was considered the decisive turning point in the history of human nutrition. However, the research conducted in Jena shows a more nuanced picture: already in the Pleistocene, long before the emergence of structured fields, people in the tropical rainforest specifically intervened in their environment to make plant food sources usable.
The researchers were able to prove that the communities living in the tropical rainforest possessed highly developed knowledge of the cultivation and preparation of plants. This form of early resource management took place without the need to completely clear dense forests or create classical agricultural land.
Background: Jena as a center for evolutionary research
Jena is internationally established as an important research location for human history and archaeogenetics. Institutions such as the Max-Planck-Institut für Geoanthropologie (formerly for the Science of Human History) as well as the institutes of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena use state-of-the-art scientific methods to reconstruct historical migration movements, diets, and ecological adaptation processes. This interdisciplinary collaboration makes it possible to link archaeological finds with the latest biomolecular analytics and thus rewrite fundamental chapters of human history.
Rainforests as an early cradle of cultivation
The study refutes the classic image of the rainforest as a pure hunting and gathering ground where food was only passively extracted. Instead, these were actively shaped cultural landscapes. The targeted promotion of specific useful plants ensured the survival of communities over generations and laid the evolutionary foundation for later, more complex agricultural systems.
Source:
Plants as food: Agriculture existed long before fields
Transparency note: This article was automatically created, editorially reviewed, and expanded with AI support.