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 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
CHAP TER 1
Current state of the art
The aim of this book is to review available informa-
tion on the origin and spread of domesticated plants
in south-west Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean
Basin. Two sources of evidence exist: firstly, infor-
mation obtained by the analysis of plant remains
retrieved from archaeological excavations, where
early archaeological contexts—namely Epipalaeo-
lithic/Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age cul-
tures—are the main source; and secondly, data
provided by living plants, particularly by the wild
progenitors of domesticated plants. This chapter
presents the conclusions of the book as determined
from the combined information provided by these
two sources (relevant data and references will be
presented in the following chapters).
Beginnings of domestication
The first definite signs of domesticated plants in the
Old World appear in a string of Early Pre-Pottery
Neolithic B (PPNB) farming villages that developed
in south-west Asia (Map 1) by ca. 10,500–10,100
calibrated years before present (cal BP). Spikelet
forks of emmer and einkorn wheat with telltale,
rough disarticulation scars (pp. XXX—XXX) pro-
vide the most convincing evidence that these cere-
als were already domesticated by this time, and in
this area. The contemporary appearance of rela-
tively plump kernels further supports this notion,
but cannot be regarded as a fully reliable indication
of the early stage of domestication. These remains
and further evidence of pre-domestication cultiva-
tion suggest that the actual beginning of wheat cul-
tivation in this area should have been even earlier.
No convincing pre-PPNB domesticated plants have
yet been found.
0001353724.INDD 1
There is a scholarly debate as to whether agricul-
ture originated in several places across a wide area,
including the Levant and northern Fertile Crescent
(e.g. Weiss et al. 2006; Willcox et al. 2008), or whether
it evolved in only one part of the Fertile Crescent,
such as south-east Turkey (e.g. Lev-Yadun et al.
2000). Although current archaeobotanical data sup-
port the first view, this critical question requires
more archaeobotanical and radiocarbon dating evi-
dence to support any definitive finding.
Neolithic south-west Asian crop
assemblage
The crops of early Neolithic agriculture in south-
west Asia are fairly well recognized. The most
numerous vegetable remains in early farming vil-
lages come from three cereals: emmer wheat
(Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum), einkorn wheat
(T. monococcum subsp. monococcum), and barley
(Hordeum vulgare). Diagnostic morphological traits
(non-brittle ears, broad kernels) traceable in the
archaeological finds indicate that by 10,500–10,100
cal BP, these domesticated annual grasses were
intentionally sown and harvested in a string of Pre-
Pottery Neolithic B sites in south-west Asia. Emmer
wheat and barley seem to have been the more com-
mon crops. Einkorn wheat is somewhat less
apparent.
Several grain legumes appear as constant com-
panions of the cereals (see Map 2—Plate 6). The most
frequent pulses in the early Neolithic south-west
Asian contexts are lentil (Lens culinaris) and pea
(Pisum sativum). Two more local legume crops are
bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) and chickpea (Cicer arieti-
num). In contrast to the cereals, archaeological
10/18/2011 8:23:45 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
2 DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS IN THE OLD WORLD
Asikli Höyük
10,500-10,000 BP
10,000-9,500 BP
9,500-9,000 BP
einkorn wheat Kissonerga-Mylouthkia +
Shillourokambos
emmer wheat
barley Yiftach'el
chickpea Jericho
flax
lentil
pea
bitter vetch
0 100 200 miles
0 200 400km
Map 1 Archaeological sites in which the earliest south-west Asian domesticated grain crops were reliably identified.
remains of pulses usually lack morphological fea-
tures by which initial stages of domestication can be
recognized. Clear indications of lentil domestication
appear at about 10,100–9,700 cal BP; and of pea,
chickpea, and bitter vetch, at about 9,900–9,500
cal BP. Probably all four legumes were cultivated
somewhat earlier, either together with wheats and
barley or soon after the domestication of those cere-
als. Finally, flax (Linum usitatissimum) belongs to the
south-west Asian group of founder crops. It is
impossible to decide whether the material obtained
from Early Neolithic layers represents collected wild
flax or the remains of domesticated forms. Yet, as in
the case of the legumes both direct and circumstan-
tial evidence indicates that by 9,900–9,500 cal BP,
flax was already domesticated in south-west Asia.
Evidence for early domestication of additional
plants in south-west Asia is much less convincing.
Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) might have been such a
crop, yet the bulk of its early remains comes from
0001353724.INDD 2
Çayönü
Cafer Höyük
Tel Abu Jarmo
Hureyra
Tel Aswad
‘Ain Ghazal
Ali Kosh
eighth and seventh millennia BP sites in Greece and
Bulgaria. Signs that rye (Secale cereale) was a south-
west Asian Neolithic crop are much rarer. The ori-
gin and early spread of the faba bean (Vicia faba) is
even less clear.
The plant remains from south-west Asian Pre-
Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) sites reveal another fea-
ture: as a rule, not a single crop but rather a
combination of cereals, pulses, and flax appears in
these early farming villages. Moreover, the assem-
blage seems to be similar throughout the Fertile
Crescent (see Map 2—Plate 6). In other words, a
common package of grain crops characterizes the
development of agriculture in this ‘core area’.
At almost the same time, signs of herding appear,
implying that sheep and goats had also been
brought under human control. Shortly after, cattle
and pig domestication took place (Zeder In Press
2011). Thus, an effective south-west Asian Neolithic
food-production ‘package’ was formed, comprising
10/18/2011 8:23:45 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi

CURRENT STATE OF THE ART 3

60 Legened
61
einkorn wheat
emmer wheat
58 barley
flax
71 62
lentil
pea
2,500-2,000 BP
63 3,000-2,500 BP
3,500-3,000 BP
72 59 4,000-3,500 BP
4,500-4,000 BP
5,000-4,500 BP
5,500-5,000 BP
70 66 6,000-5,500 BP
69 6,500-6,000 BP
65 40 7,000-6,500 BP
56 53
68 7,500-7,000 BP
67 57 38 8,000-7,500 BP
39 21 8,500-8,000 BP
52,55 9,000-8,500 BP
73 35 37 9,500-9,000 BP
41
54 36 10,000-9,500 BP
51 10,500-10,000 BP
48 49 47
33 22
50 34 1
44 23
81 32 4
82
64 74
75 25
78 6
31 24
77 42 29
28 5
43
27 7
79 30 26
45
76 18

80 19 8
3
46
17 9 2

20 14
10
13
11

12

16

Scale 1:16,000,000 15
0 125 250 375 500 miles

0 250 500 km
83

Map 2 The spread of the south-west Asian Neolithic crop assemblage in Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. For details on the numbered sites,
see pp. XXX–XXX. These are the earliest sites in which domesticated grain crops were found, in each country.

vegetative crops as well as domestic animals. Basin are already well identified. The distribution
Indeed, the remains uncovered in south-west Asian areas and the main ecological preferences of most of
PPNB sites indicate a major shift in food practices. them are also well known. Comparison of this evi-
While in Epi-Palaeolithic contexts, gathering and dence with the archaeological findings reveals that
hunting of a wide spectrum of wild species is appar- with practically all early crops, the first signs of
ent, the PPNB farmers already appear to focus on domestication appear in the same general areas
domesticates as their principal source of food. A where the wild ancestral stocks abound today.
large proportion of the remains retrieved from these The geographic distribution of the wild progeni-
early farming sites belong to the crops mentioned tors of Neolithic grain crops is significant. Apart
above and domestic animals. There is also a sharp from flax and barley, the wild ancestors of the
quantitative and qualitative drop in the wild-species founder crops have a rather limited distribution.
intake. An important confirmation of this ‘package’ Wild emmer wheat and wild chickpea are endemic
concept occurred recently with the discovery of just to the Fertile Crescent. Assuming that their distri-
such an ensemble of plants and animals in Early bution did not change drastically during the last ten
PPNB Cyprus, although some of them were not yet millennia, the domestication of these crops could
strictly domesticated. only have taken place in this restricted area. Because
domesticated emmer wheat appears to be the most
important Neolithic crop throughout south-west
Wild progenitors
Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin, the
The wild ancestors of most of the food plants of confinement of its wild progenitor to the Fertile
south-west Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Crescent delimits the place of origin of this

0001353724.INDD 3 10/18/2011 8:23:45 AM

 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
4 DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS IN THE OLD WORLD
domesticated cereal. It also marks the rather
restricted geographic area where Old World
Neolithic agriculture could have originated. Wild
forms of einkorn wheat, lentil, pea, and bitter vetch
have a somewhat wider distribution, but all, includ-
ing barley, are centered in the Fertile Crescent; that
is, the region in which the earliest farming villages
have been discovered.
The spread of south-west Asian crops
A most remarkable feature of south-west Asian
Neolithic agriculture is its rapid expansion soon
after establishment in the nuclear area (see Map
2—Plate 6). The quality and quantity of available
archaeobotanical evidence varies considerably from
region to region. Comprehensive information is
available for most parts of Europe, but there is much
sparser and frequently incomplete documentation
from Caucasia, Eastern Europe, and central Asia. In
Africa, critical data on plant remains are available
only for Egypt (but a few current projects might add
vital data for north Africa). In spite of the uneven
documentation, the following main features of the
diffusion of agriculture seem apparent.
The spread of agriculture from its south-west
Asian core to Europe and central Asia involves the
species contained in the Neolithic crop assemblage.
Map 2 (Plate 6) summarizes the information about
the six most important south-west Asian crops:
emmer wheat (including its free-threshing deriva-
tives), einkorn wheat, barley, lentil, pea, and flax.
From the data presented in this map and in Chapter
10, it is evident that crops domesticated in the
south-west Asian core area were the initiators of
food production in Europe, central Asia, and the
Mediterranean Basin (including the Nile Valley).
The earliest farming cultures in these vast regions
always contain wheat and barley, with one, two, or
more of the other south-west Asian founder crops
frequently present as well.
Establishment of the south-west Asian crop
assemblage in the Fertile Crescent and its spread
both west (to Europe) and east (to central Asia and
to the Indian subcontinent) was rapid (see Map
2—Plate 6). From the first farming communities in
the ‘Levantine Corridor’ at ca. 10,500–10,200 cal BP,
it was found to cover the whole Fertile Crescent by
0001353724.INDD 4
9,500–9,000 cal BP. By ca. 9,000–8,500 calBP, agricul-
ture had already appeared in Crete and Greece. By
the end of the ninth millennium BP, these crops
were grown in Obre in Bosnia-Hercegovina and in
Jeitun in Turkmenia. Soon after, agriculture appears
as far west as Balma Margineda in Andorra, Spain,
and Sacarovca in Moldavia—and as far south as
Grotta dell’Uzzo in Sicily. By the second half of the
eighth millennium BP, the Linearbandkeramik
farming culture was already firmly established in
loess soil regions throughout central Europe,
extending to Poland in the east, to northern France,
and Germany in the west. At the same time, early
Neolithic farming villages appeared in south Spain,
the Nile Valley, and in Chokh in Caucasia.
Substantial information on the age and spread of
early farming cultures is available for Europe,
where radiocarbon dating of sites exhibiting evi-
dence of early farming enabled the reconstruction
of the diffusion of agriculture. The evidence from
Caucasia, central Asia, and eastern Europe is much
more fragmentary. Yet the finds retrieved from sites
including Jeitun (p. XXX) demonstrate that the dif-
fusion of the south-west Asian crops towards cen-
tral Asia happened relatively early, although it took
longer to reach Transcaucasia and the Nile Valley.
All over these vast areas, the start of food produc-
tion involved the same south-west Asian crops.
Availability of archaeological evidence
Any attempt to reconstruct the origins and diffu-
sion of agriculture in Eurasia and Africa must
address the uneven archaeological record. As
already mentioned, plant remains of Europe, south-
west Asia, and the Mediterranean Basin provide us
with a reasonable overview of the beginnings and
development of agriculture in these major areas. In
contrast, the archaeobotanical evidence from cen-
tral and eastern parts of Asia and from eastern
Europe is much less complete. It is very poor in
Africa north of the Sahara. Consequently, while the
early stages of food production in south-west Asia
are relatively well documented, most founder crops
are adequately identified, and the expansion to
Europe and west Asia are convincingly elucidated,
there are far fewer solid facts on crop domestication
and the development of farming in east Asia (Smith
10/18/2011 8:23:46 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
1998). However in the last few years, archaeobo-
tanical findings in these agricultural domains have
improved considerably. The history of crop domes-
tication in the African Savanna belt is still largely
uncharted and we still know very little about the
evolution of the unique crop assemblage of this
region (Harlan 1992a).
The time and place of origin of the majority of the
east and south Asian crops, and of practically all the
sub-Saharan African crops, are yet not fully estab-
lished. In numerous cases, the wild progenitors
have not yet been satisfactorily identified or they
are only very superficially known. However, critical
archaeobotanical information has been assembled
on at least two principal crops; rice (Oryza sativa)
and foxtail millet (Setaria italica). Their essential role
in the independent rise of farming in China is now
well documented.
At present, our picture of crop-plant evolution in
Eurasia and Africa is unbalanced. While there is
relatively reliable information on its development
in the classical Old World, we are largely unin-
formed of events south and east of this area. We also
know relatively little about the early interactions
between west Asia and the major agricultural prov-
inces in east and south Asia, and in Africa south of
the Sahara.
Early domestication outside
the ‘core area’
Signs of additional domesticants start appearing
soon after the introduction of south-west Asia
agriculture to Europe, central Asia, and the
Mediter-ranean Basin. Addition of some of these
crops obviously took place outside south-west
Asia, but they developed within the already estab-
lished agriculture of the south-west Asian crop
assemblage. The poppy, Papaver somniferum, pro-
vides a well-documented example of such domes-
tication. Both the area of distribution of the wild
poppy and the archaeological finds (p. XXX–XXX)
indicate that P. somniferum was brought into
domestication in west Europe. It was added to the
south-west Asian grain-crop assemblage after the
latter’s establishment in western Europe. Chufa,
Cyperus esculentus, is another example of an early
local addition, this time in the Nile Valley (p. XXX).
0001353724.INDD 5
CURRENT STATE OF THE ART 5
Its dry tubers were found in large quantities in
Egypt from pre-dynastic times on. The early
appearance of broomcorn millet, Panicum mil-
iaceum, in the Caspian basin and the Czech
Republic (p. XXX) might indicate another local
addition. However, since the archaeological evi-
dence from central and east Asia is still inadequate,
it is impossible to decide whether the Caspian P.
miliaceum was added to the expanding south-west
Asian crop assemblage after it reached central
Asia, or whether this cereal represents an east
Asiatic domestication independent of the south-
west Asian diffusion.
Beginning and spread of horticulture
Olive, grape vine, fig, and date palm seem to have
been the first principal fruit crops domesticated in
the Old World. Definite signs of olive and date-palm
domestication appear in Chalcolithic Levant about
6,800–6,300 cal BP. Indications of date-palm domes-
tication are also available from contemporary lower
Mesopotamia. We still do not know the extent of
Chalcolithic horticulture. Except for the Israel-
Jordan area, the archaeobotanical information from
seventh–sixth millennia BP sites in the Levant is
still insufficient. The picture changes drastically in
the Early Bronze Age (first half of the fifth millen-
nium BP). From this time on, olives, grapes, and figs
emerge as important additions to grain agriculture,
initially in the Levant and soon after, in Greece.
These crops were subsequently planted throughout
the Mediterranean Basin. The extensive Bronze Age
cultivation of olives and grapes is indicated by the
appearance of numerous presses and remains of
storage facilities for olive oil and wine. At the same
time, dates were domesticated on the southern
fringes and the warm river basins of the south-west
Asia, and they abound in the Nile Valley during the
New Kingdom.
Apple, pear, plum, and cherry seem to have been
added much later to Old World horticulture, as
definite signs of their domestication appear only
in the first millennium BC. Their culture is almost
entirely based on grafting, so they could have been
domesticated extensively only after the introduc-
tion of this sophisticated method of vegetative
propagation.
10/18/2011 8:23:46 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
6 DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS IN THE OLD WORLD
Remains of fruit trees rarely show diagnostic ana-
tomical traits enabling archaeobotanists to distin-
guish between fruits collected from the wild or
those harvested from domesticated orchards. To a
large extent, recognizing domestication in fruit
crops is based on circumstantial evidence, such as
the finding of fruit remains in areas in which the
wild forms do not occur or on the quantitative anal-
ysis of artefacts associated with fruit products (e.g.
oil, wine). It is difficult, therefore, to determine the
initial stage of fruit crop domestication: in other
words, it might well be that olive, grape, fig, or date
cultivation did not originate in the Chalcolithic
(sixth millennium BP), but was already active in the
late Neolithic (seventh millennium BP).
Despite these uncertainties, the following have
been confirmed: (a) the earliest definite signs of fruit
tree domestication appear in the south-west Asia;
(b) horticulture developed only after the firm estab-
lishment of grain agriculture; (c) as with grain crops,
several local wild fruits were taken into domestica-
tion at about the same time; (d) domestication of
fruit crops relied heavily on the invention of vegeta-
tive propagation; (e) planting of perennial fruit trees
is a long-term investment, promoting a fully settled
way of life; (f) soon after its successful establish-
ment, horticulture spread from its original ‘core
area’ into new territories in the Mediterranean Basin
and south-west Asia; and (g) after the introduction
of grafting (pp. XXX–XXX), the domestication of a
whole group of ‘second-wave’ fruit crops became
possible.
Available archaeobotanical evidence of the
beginning of fruit-crop domestication can also be
supported by information on the wild relatives.
Wild olive, grape vine, fig, and date are widely
distributed over the Mediterranean and south-
west Asia. They have a wide geographic distribu-
tion, so this by itself does not provide critical
values for a precise delimitation of the place of
origin of these fruit crops. Yet it is reassuring to
know that forms from which domesticated clones
could have been derived thrive in wild niches in
the east Mediterranean basin. Therefore, evidence
from the living plants complements the archaeo-
logical finds. Most probably olive, grape vine,
date, fig, as well as pomegranate and almond,
were first brought into domestication in the same
0001353724.INDD 6
general area where, several millennia earlier, grain
agriculture was successfully established in the
Old World. Thus, during the sixth millennium BP,
eastern Mediterranean Basin human societies
belonging to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age cul-
tures, were introduced to the use of copper and
bronze, and they also mastered horticulture.
Vegetables
This is the least-known group of domesticated food
plants of the Old World. Vegetable material consists
almost entirely of perishable soft tissues, which
stand a meagre chance of charring and surviving as
archaeological remnants (p. XXX). Consequently,
only few vegetable remains have been detected in
excavations. The exceptions here are Egyptian and
Judean Desert caves. In Egypt, especially arid coun-
try vegetables placed in pyramids and graves com-
monly survived by desiccation, and show that
garlic, leek, onion, lettuce, melon, watermelon, and
chufa were cultivated in the Nile Valley in the sec-
ond and the first millennia BC. As amply described
by Keimer (1924, 1984), vegetable gardens consti-
tuted an important element of food production in
Egyptian dynastic times.
Beyond Egypt there are almost no early archaeo-
botanical finds of vegetable crops. However, early
literary sources show that by the start of the second
millennium BC, vegetable gardens flourished not
only in the Nile Valley but also in Mesopotamia.
Furthermore, in both areas the crops grown were
more or less the same. The only major exception
was chufa which was restricted, almost entirely, to
Egypt.
In summary, available evidence makes it clear
that by the Bronze Age vegetable crops were part of
food production both in Lower Mesopotamia and
in Egypt. It is very likely that this geographic pat-
tern is not accidental. In both regions, we are faced
with the dense human settlement of very arid envi-
ronments. Survival in these zones depends on utili-
zation of limited areas of irrigated or flooded land
which is bordered by large, barren deserts. Areas
with no vegetation have little to offer in the way of
supplementary resources of green wild plants. This
shortage invites human initiative. The early devel-
opment of vegetable gardens might have been
10/18/2011 8:23:46 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
caused by such needs. It must be taken into consid-
eration that this picture is partly skewed by the lack
of evidence in other regions.
Weeds and crops
Several Old World grain plants, oil producers, and
vegetables seem to be ‘secondary crops’; that is,
they first evolved as weeds and were only later
established as crops (p. XXX). Oat, Avena sativa, rye,
Secale cereale subsp. cereale, and gold of pleasure,
Camelina sativa, are well-documented examples of
this mode of evolution under domestication.
Turnip, lettuce, carrot, beet, leek, and several other
vegetables are also very likely to have entered
domestication through the same ‘back door’. The
incorporation of secondary crops into Old World
food production seems to have happened rather
late, since definite signs of their domestication
appear in Europe and west Asia only in the second
and first millennia BC.
Migrants from other agricultural regions
With few exceptions, the classical ‘Old World’
(south-west Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and
temperate Europe) received crops from other agri-
cultural regions rather late in its agricultural his-
tory. Foreign crops that arrived in this area (in
pre-Columbian times) fall into the following geo-
graphical groups (Zohary 1998):
(a) Temperate climate crops from central
and/or east Asia
Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and foxtail
millet (Setaria italica) seem to represent the earliest
arrivals. The origin of P. miliaceum is not fully
understood, but it was probably taken into domes-
tication in central Asia–north China (p. XXX). It
already appears in Caucasia and in central Europe
in sites around the first half of the eighth millen-
nium BP. S. italica, now recognized as a founder
crop of north China agriculture (p. XXX), appeared
in central Europe in the first half of fourth millen-
nium BP, some four thousand years later. For mil-
let, as well, the available information suggests
arrival from the east (p. XXX). However, the pos-
0001353724.INDD 7
CURRENT STATE OF THE ART 7
sibility of independent domestication of foxtail
millet in the west has not been ruled out yet. Hemp
(Cannabis sativa) reached Anatolia and Europe
much later. Its remains appear (p. XXX) from the
eighth century BC onwards. Apricot (Armeniaca
vulgaris) and peach (Persica vulgaris) could have
been taken into domestication either in central
Asia or in China (p. XXX); the domesticated pista-
chio (Pistacia vera) must have originated in central
Asia (p. XXX). The peach seems to have reached
the Mediterranean Basin by the middle of the first
millennium BC. Apricot and pistachio arrived only
in Roman times.
(b) Warm-weather crops from south and/or
east Asia
A group of more tropical crops (sensitive to freezing
temperatures) that originated in south and/or east
Asia, seem to have migrated into the south-west
Asia and the Mediterranean Basin from the Indian
subcontinent. Many of these cultigens were already
grown in India and Pakistan in the second millen-
nium BC. Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is apparently
the earliest of these migrants (p. XXX). Undisputed
remains of this Indian oil crop already appear in
south-west Asia in Iron Age (ca. 900–600 BC) con-
texts. The citron (Citrus medica) was grown in the
east Mediterranean basin (p. XXX) by the end of the
fourth century BC. Asian rice (Oryza sativa) seems to
have arrived (p. XXX) in Hellenistic or early Roman
times. The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) might also
have been introduced (p. XXX) at the same time.
Finally, Old World cottons (Gossypium arboreum
and/or G. herbaceum) could have already spread
from the Indian subcontinent into the south-west
Asia (p. XXX) during Roman rule. However, a fully
developed cotton industry appeared in this area
only in Early Islamic times.
An impressive introduction of Indian and south-
east Asian crops was undertaken by the Arabs soon
after their conquests (Watson 1983; Zohary 1998).
The Early Islamic diffusion (eightth–eleventh cen-
turies AD) includes lemon (Citrus limon), lime
(C. aurantiifolia), bitter orange (C. aurantium), pum-
melo (C. maxima), and indigo (Indigofera tinctoria)—
all of which are discussed in this book. It also
involves sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) and
10/18/2011 8:23:46 AM
 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 10/18/2011, SPi
8 DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS IN THE OLD WORLD
sugar extraction technology, banana and plantain
(Musa cultivars), aubergine (Solanum melongena),
and taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott), although
these crops are not surveyed here.
(c) Warm-weather crops from Africa south
of the Sahara
Although there are several good reasons to assume
(Harlan 1992) that indigenous agriculture was
already well developed in sub-Saharan Africa by
1,000 BC (or even earlier), surprisingly few of the
native African cultigens spread north into the
Mediterranean Basin. This is even more puzzling
since several African grain crops, namely sorghum
0001353724.INDD 8
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(Sorghum bicolor), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum),
and cow pea (Vigna unguiculata), seem to have
reached the Indian subcontinent already by the sec-
ond millennium BC (Possehl 1998; Fuller 2000;
Manning et al. 2011). In contrast, only few arrivals
are recorded north of the Sahara. Domesticated sor-
ghum, was grown in Egyptian Nubia from ca 100
AD onwards (p. XXX), yet there are no signs of its
spread further north. Advanced durra-type sor-
ghum cultivars appear in south-west Asia only in
Early Islamic times, and as Harlan and Stemler
(1978) argue, they might have arrived not from
Africa but from India. In addition, cowpea (Vigna
unguiculata) is known to have come from Egypt in
Hellenistic and Roman times (Germer 1985, p. 88).
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