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> The "starch heavy tubers" didn't exist in ancient times From Wikipedia: "In Central America, domesticated sweet potatoes were present at least 5,000 years a

• adrian_b 4y ago
  I assume that the poster above has meant by "ancient times" a time before Neolithic, i.e. more than 10 thousand years ago. Obviously, there are wild plants with starchy tubers or roots, so they must have existed before the Neolithic. However, like also the wild fruits, the starchy tubers or roots of wild plants are usually much smaller than those of cultivated plants like potatoes or sweet potatoes. Therefore gathering enough starchy tubers or roots to feed a human would have been hard work. Nevertheless, that is still a method that is more likely to be able to provide enough food for a human, than gathering wild fruits.