Greater New World redux

On falconry and ferreting, I've come up with some ideas.
Falconry=prairie falcon,orange-breasted falcon,bat falcon,red tailed hawk,rough legged buzzard,ferruginous hawk,red shouldered hawk,broad winged hawk, swainson's hawk,ridgwais hawk, cinerous harrier,short-tailed hawk,white throated hawk,galapagos hawk, gray lined hawk, gray hawk,zone tailed hawk, rufous tailed hawk,harris hawk(peuco), white rumped hawk,great horned owl,golden eagle and white tailed kite, all of whom are indigenous to the Americas.

Ferreting=patagonian weasel,american mink,black footed ferret, stoat,lesser grison,columbian weasel,amazon weasel and long tailed weasel again all indigenous to the Americas
 
I've thought about falconry in Australia,but the closest people to practice falconry are the Japanese. The Central Asians are too far off and while I can see contact with the Malagasy,I don't know if they practiced falconry.
 
OK,for starters,North Australia is going to be more dynamic than South Australia for one reason;New Guinea. As part of Australasia,New Guinea shares much of the same indigenous Flora&Fauna with Australia,but climate wise...................................
they lucked out. Smaller,volcanoes,mountainous,rainier,plus being next door to Indonesia has really helped them out. They have pigs,deer and even cats introduced and agriculture was well known in New Guinea for thousands of years. I figure what might help out Australia is having pigs introduced via New Guinea. Both babirusa and warty pigs are indigenous to islands very close to New Guinea. Pigs mature fast,breed quickly and have a good carcass weight. Unsure on which pig to introduce yet or both,but one will be introduced early on and they will be domesticated. Also thought of camels,since they would be helpful in the Outback,but the New Guineans don't have them.
 
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Quick teaser for Vinland. They will have sheep,goats,horses and eventually pigs and cattle. I'm leaning towards long haired pigs. The Mangalitza Pig is probably developed too late for Vinland,but it seems the Lincolnshire Curly Coat Pig from England that might work. And for cattle,the Highlander cattle seems ideal. Hardy,well-suited for rugged terrain,disease resistant and easy calving. If anyone has info on hardy medieval livestock from the Norse regions(Scandinavia,Russia,Baltics,Ireland,Scotland,Isle of Man) let me know.
 
There's already Icelandic Cattle, which are plenty common in Iceland, and even more so in the time period. Icelandic Sheep and Chickens are also extant at the time. Most of what you're going to be looking for are landraces, you're really not going to find much on established breeds before the advent of modern husbandry. Sheep and goats are very common in Iceland from the Settlement onward, Cattle a bit less so, but not by too much. The caprid-bovid ratio tended to hover around 4:1. Pigs have never been particularly present in Iceland, they aren't nonexistent, but they aren't common either. From what I can find, Icelandic Ponies aren't super prevalent either, but I haven't found many articles on them, so take that one with a grain of salt.
 
Swift and Kit foxes are in. There's some controversy as to if Swift and Kit foxes are two species or one actually given how readily they hybridize with fertile young. There's some cottontail rabbits that are in as well. Oh, and wild rice,both Great Lakes and Texas version will be a domesticate. Both Mound Builders and Cliff Dwellers get huge boosts and there might be more interaction with Siberia in the Arctic.
 
And a key reason,why Vinland might get more immigration is partially due to Genghis Khan. Or rather his descendants and the Mongol Horde.
 
Australia 5
In this timeline a few things occur to help North Australia. Pigs raft over from New Guinea. Primarily the warty pig (roughly 9 sows and 3 boars) with some babirusa (6 sows,2 boars) and the rusa deer again a very small herd of only a few does with lesser bucks. This takes place maybe 5,000 years ago. And there is earlier contact with Indonesians and trepanging. North Australia also has some tubers that can be used.
 
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Alright,two teasers for the Americas. The Aztecs and Incas get nerfed big time. There were plenty of civilizations both in the Andes and Mesoamerica before these two empires,the vast majority far more likable as well.
 
Also, for the Americas and this regarding the Pacific Northwest. They already have a maritime tradition with large dugout canoes,a complex society and are fairly aggressive/militant with an eager willingness to innovate and adopt new tech. They get new boosts and alliance/rivalry with RapaNui,plus trade with Siberia.
 
OK,here's the deal on the Americas. I'm willing to allow for animals who've only been extinct for a few centuries because it's obvious that their extinction was due to human activity. Hence why the moa,elephant bird,dodo and passenger pigeon get spared. I know that there were mammoths in North America complete with a camel of some sorts and N.A versions of the cheetah,lion and red panda. Cheetah and lion are probably not going to happen due to their size. Granted,the ancient Egyptians tamed the cheetah,but breeding them was nigh impossible due to the large amount of space needed for breeding. North American lion is huge and would be too dangerous. The mammoth is very closely related to modern elephants and thus probably could not be domesticated but rather tamed. If anyone has any thoughts on extinct North/South American animals,from about Ice Age on,let me know.
 
Australia 6
Now we know that before European colonization IRL, that the Macassaresse had contact with North Australian aborigines,mainly the Yolngu. There is speculation however that there was contact before them called the Baijini. So,I'm going with the belief that the Baijini existed and set up trading post with North Australians. This takes place oh about 2'000 years ago. So,the Yolngu develop knowledge of trepang earlier plus making sea-worthy dugouts and set up trade with Torres Strait Islanders. They also learn metalworking from the Baijini and grow throughout intermarriage with them. They are the ones who eventually set up trade with Polynesia later on.
 
Australia 7
Remember that I said certain pigs and deer got introduced in North Australia? Well,they multiplied and became prey for dingoes and crocodiles. And the locals developed a taste for them as well. Now both babirusa and warty pigs are herd animals with babirusa boars being solitary.But,they and the rusa deer proved vital in the development of a culture I'll call the Mungo People.
Now,the Mungo People practiced fire-stick farming like most Australian Aborigines. And they did it to promote growth of certain plants that they found desirable.These included the Peanut Tree(Kuman),Aniseed Myrtle,Bunya Nut,Bush Nut,Lemon Myrtle,Olive Tea Tree,Johnson's River Satinash,Weeping Paperbark,Desert Fig,Desert Lime and Finger Lime. Basically,silviculture. This attracted certain birds like the orange footed scrubfowl,Cape Barren Goose,King Quail and Buttonquail that were encouraged to stay and provide meat and feathers. In time,the Mungo People learned that cuttings of certain root vegetables would grow when transplanted. These included the Chocolate Lily,Vanilla Lily,Wild Violet,Lotus,Water Lily,Purple Yam,Air Potato,Pencil Yam,Bush and Bush Potato. All good forms of starch that helped to promote stability. If they could keep babirusa,rusa deer and warty pigs out that was! Managing these pests included weeding out the more aggressive which led to domestication. For numerous reasons: one was a reliable source of protein,prestige was another for the pigs were large and a third was due to religious. Babirusa boars fight and the young people,primarily men,but sometimes women sought to emulate them. Other domesticates included the mangrove monitor, spinytailed monitor and emerald tree monitor both for getting rid of bugs and for eating. Emus soon were domesticated as well. There was also a rodent,the Greater Stick Nested Rat which grew to the size of rabbits and were fairly tame, Now large rodents being domesticated wasn't unique. Outside of the Andeans domesticating the guinea pig,Romans domesticated the Edible Dormouse,West Africans farm cane rats and bamboo rats are being farmed in China. So,the idea is common. Other crops were Warrigal Greens,Sea Almonds and Water Spinach. Anyway, with agriculture under full swing the Mungo People sought out with the Baijini.
Arts= The Mungo People were famous for their bark paintings. To keep up with their herd,they began to mark them on unpainted bark,the symbols and pictures eventually forming a scrypt of sorts.
Architecture= They began to build a thatched roof,open air version of the longhouse common to that region. Stockades built initially to keep out babirusa,warty pigs and rusa deer were now used to keep them in and provide defense. For the Mungo People were defensive and sometimes paranoid.
Weaponry= Trade with Baijini gave them metal which they readily adopted. Bronze tipped darts gave their woomeras extra power and they adapted it to their clubs and boomerangs as well. Which did not bode well for the Outback.
 
Australia 8
Parts of the Outback and interior of Australia is harsh and inhospitable. One of the harshest climates on the planet. Yet even here,there are domesticates. Outside of the typical wattles,there was also grass. Native Millet or papa grass for another term. Prized by the Aborigines as a food source yet in our timeline would not be domesticated. But with fire-stick farming and the burgeoning civilizations of the Budj Bim People to the south and the Mungo people to the north things changed.
The locals here were collectively known as the Anangu. Their fire-stick farming ensured that there was a plentiful source of witchetty bush,golden wattle and mulga. They also collected native millet. Over time the women noticed that spilled seeds would grow in that area. Which was encouraged. Another one was not a grain,tree nor bush,but a vine. The bush banana which would entwine around certain trees. That too was encouraged.
As for native livestock,that would be the bearded dragon and the greater stick nested rat.Both sources of protein and both tame enough to raise. And in the case of the bearded dragon,a good way to keep bugs down. Now,there were also the babirusa,warty pig and rusa deer which made their way into the Outback. They became adapted to the different climes and became a food source for local predators. The Anangu took to domesticating them,probably by observing the Mungo People.
The Mungo People had begun to invade the interior parts,looking to expand and to find minerals. This would lead to brutal,bloody conflicts in which the Anangu would become highly skilled in guerilla warfare. There was also conflict with the Budj Bim People to the south as escaped slaves took refuge with the Anangu. The Anangu in term became fierce warriors noted for torture and gruesome practices. It was said by both Mungo and Budj Bim Peoples that you did not want to be taken by the Anangu.
 
Australia part 9
For the Yolngu ,while they continued to trepang,they did wind up with one domesticate. The sugar glider,more a pet than a livestock and which spread thru trade throughout Australia. Trade with New Guinea brought the Singing Dog to Australia which rapidly interbred with the Dingo producing a primitive breed of pariah dog that rarely barked and was invaluable in hunting and farming.
That's it for Australia for now. Next is the Americas,South America first.
 
For the Neoarctic,the Thule will be making small migrations. Not just to Greenland,but Iceland and Ireland gets visited as well.
 
I think I'll let mammoths and the high arctic camel survive. The high arctic camel can serve a purpose in the Neoarctic as a mount,source of meat and milk,while the mammoth can be tamed and put to use in the same manner that all tamed elephants have been................war and at times beasts of burden. There were mammoths extant as far back as the 1600's,so it's not that far off. As for the high arctic camel,camelids as a whole take to domestication readily.
 
South America 1
Prelude
The Cradle of Civilization is still the Andes. They still domesticate the llama,alpaca and guinea pig plus have a huge diversity in crops. Not much changes there initially. However things change in the Amazon and Patagonia,giving the Andean civilizations a slight run for their money.
 
South America 2
Now we all know that one of the crops the Andeans domesticated was the potato. But,they had much more than that. Root crops like oca,yacon,ulluco,arracacha, grains like the quinoa and purple corn,coca,yerba mate and a variety of fruits. However there are other South American crops not indigenous to the Andes.
There was leren related to the arrowroot,maranta or arrowroot proper,bottle gourds,jabuticaba or Brazilian grape-tree,cashew tree,passion fruit,acai palm,pitanga,pineapple,queen palm,jurubeba a nightshade,macauba or macaw palm,feijoa or guavasteen,basically the only other continent with more variety in tropical fruit was Asia, predominately South/Southeast Asia. And naturally Andean crops eventually would make their way to the Amazon and Patagonia via trade. But these regions had native crops of their own,crops that would attract animals.
Animals such as the giant peccary and pudu. Along with various species of caviemorphs native to both regions.
Next post will be about Patagonia.
 
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