What came first, mass-scale agriculture or plant breeding?
Interestingly, the answer seems to be “plant breeding”. Evidence of selective breeding of bottle gourd plants predates the Neolithic Revolution, for example.
In the New World, too, it wasn’t uncommon for people to selectively propagate plants without cultivating them; but it’s hard to say whether that predates agriculture on this side of the Atlantic.
Interestingly, the answer seems to be “plant breeding”. Evidence of selective breeding of bottle gourd plants predates the Neolithic Revolution, for example.
In the New World, too, it wasn’t uncommon for people to selectively propagate plants without cultivating them; but it’s hard to say whether that predates agriculture on this side of the Atlantic.