Explore the vast range of titles available.

Global agro-biodiversity has resulted from processes of plant migration and agricultural adoption. Although critically affecting current diversity, crop diffusion from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages is poorly researched, overshadowed by studies on that of prehistoric periods. A new archaeobotanical dataset from three Negev Highland desert sites demonstrates the first millennium CE’s significance for long-term agricultural change in Southwest Asia. This enables evaluation of the ‘Islamic Green Revolution (IGR)’ thesis compared to ‘Roman Agricultural Diffusion (RAD)’, and both versus crop diffusion during and since the Neolithic. Among the findings, some of the earliest aubergine ( Solanum melongena ) seeds in the Levant represent the proposed IGR. Several other identified economic plants, including two unprecedented in Levantine archaeobotany—jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba/mauritiana ) and white lupine ( Lupinus albus )—implicate RAD as the greater force for crop migrations. Altogether the evidence supports a gradualist model for Holocene-wide crop diffusion, within which the first millennium CE contributed more to global agricultural diversity than any earlier period.

Rice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. However, the timing and routes of its dispersal into West Asia and Europe, through which rice eventually became an important ingredient in global cuisines, has remained less clear. In this article, we discuss the piecemeal, but growing, archaeobotanical data for rice in West Asia. We also integrate written sources, linguistic data, and ethnohistoric analogies, in order to better understand the adoption of rice outside its regions of origin. The human-mediated westward spread of rice proceeded gradually, while its social standing and culinary uses repeatedly changing over time and place. Rice was present in West Asia and Europe by the tail end of the first millennium BC, but did not become a significant crop in West Asia until the past few centuries. Complementary historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data illustrate two separate and roughly contemporaneous routes of westward dispersal, one along the South Asian coast and the other through Silk Road trade. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.

Societal Impact Statement Agrobiodiversity is central to sustainable farming worldwide. Cultivation, conservation and reintroduction of diverse plant species, including ‘forgotten’ and ‘underutilized’ crops, contribute to global agrobiodiversity, living ecosystems and sustainable food production. Such efforts benefit from traditional and historical knowledge of crop plants' evolutionary and cultural trajectories. This review is a first attempt at systematically gauging species representativeness in studies of archaeological plant remains. Results indicate that, in addition to discipline‐specific methodological sources of bias, modern agricultural biases may replicate themselves in crop history research and influence understandings of ‘forgotten crops’. Recognizing these biases is an initial stride towards rectifying them and promoting agrobiodiversity in both research and practical applications. Summary So‐called ‘forgotten’ or ‘orphan’ crops are an important component of strategies aimed at preserving and promoting biodiversity. Knowledge of historical cultivation, usage, and geographic and evolutionary trajectories of plants, that is, crop history research, is important for the long‐term success of such efforts. However, research biases in the crops chosen for study may present hurdles. This review attempts to systematically identify patterns in crop species representativeness within archaeology‐based crop history research. A meta‐analysis and synthesis of archaeobotanical evidence (and lack thereof) is presented for 268 species known to have been cultivated for food prior to 1492 CE from the Mediterranean region to South Asia. We identified 39 genera with known crop plants in this geographical and historical context that are currently absent from its archaeobotanical record, constituting ‘orphan’ crops of archaeobotany. In addition, a worldwide synthesis of crop species studied using geometric morphometric, archaeogenetic and stable isotope analyses of archaeological plant remains is presented, and biases in the species represented in these disciplines are discussed. Both disciplinary methodological biases and economic agenda‐based biases affecting species representativeness in crop history research are apparent. This study also highlights the limited geographic diffusion of most crops and the potential for deeper historical perspectives on how crops become marginalized and ‘forgotten’. L'agrobiodiversité est un puissant levier d'action de l'agriculture durable à l'échelle mondiale. La culture, la conservation et la réintroduction de diverses espèces végétales, y compris les cultures ‘oubliées’ et ‘sous‐utilisées’, contribuent à l'agrobiodiversité mondiale, aux écosystèmes vivants et à la production alimentaire durable. Ces actions bénéficient des connaissances traditionnelles et historiques des trajectoires évolutives et culturelles des plantes cultivées. Cette étude représente une première tentative de mesure systématique de la représentativité des espèces dans les études des restes archéologiques de plantes. Les résultats indiquent que, en plus des sources de biais méthodologiques spécifiques à la discipline, les biais agricoles modernes peuvent se répliquer dans la recherche sur l'histoire des cultures et influencer la compréhension des ‘cultures oubliées’. Reconnaître ces biais est un premier pas vers leur rectification et la promotion de l'agrobiodiversité dans la recherche et les applications pratiques. La agrobiodiversidad es esencial para la agricultura sostenible en todo el mundo. El cultivo, la conservación y la reintroducción de especies vegetales diversas, incluyendo cultivos ‘olvidados’ o ‘infrautilizados’, contribuye a la agrobiodiversidad global, a los ecosistemas vivos y a la producción sostenible de alimentos. Estos esfuerzos se benefician del conocimiento tradicional e histórico sobre la trayectoria evolutiva y cultural de las plantas cultivadas. Este estudio supone un primer esfuerzo de evaluación sistemática de la representatividad de los restos vegetales de origen arqueológico. Los resultados indican que, además de los sesgos específicos de cada metodología, los sesgos propios de la agricultura moderna pueden estar replicándose en la investigación sobre la historia de los cultivos e influencian el conocimiento sobre los ‘cultivos olvidados’. Reconocer estos sesgos es un primer paso para rectificarlos y promover la agrobiodiversidad tanto en la investigación como en sus aplicaciones prácticas. Nekazaritza‐biodibertsitatea ezinbestekoa da mundu osoan nekazaritza jasangarrirako. Landare‐espezie anitzen laborantza, kontserbazioa eta birsartzeak, ‘ahaztutako’ edo ‘gutxiegi erabilitako’ laboreak barne, mundu mailako nekazaritza‐biodibertsitateari, ekosistema biziei eta elikagaien ekoizpen iraunkorrari laguntzen die. Ahalegin horiek laborantza landareen bilakaera eta kultura‐ibilbideari buruzko ezagutza tradizional eta historikoei etekina ateratzen diete. Ikerkuntza honek jatorri arkeologikoko landare‐aztarnen adierazgarritasuna sistematikoki ebaluatzeko lehen ahalegina da. Emaitzek adierazten dute, metodologia bakoitzaren zeihartasun espezifikoez gain, nekazaritza modernoaren ohiko zeihartasunak laboreen historiari buruzko ikerketetan errepikatu daitezkeela eta ‘ahaztutako laboreei’ buruzko ezagutzan eragina izan dezaketela. Zeihartasun horiek aintzat hartzea da lehen urratsa horiek zuzentzeko eta nekazaritza‐biodibertsitatea sustatzeko bai ikerketan, bai bere aplikazio praktikoetan. La biodiversità in campo agronomico sta alla base di una agricoltura sostenibile a livello mondiale. La coltivazione, la conservazione e, nel caso, la reintroduzione di diversificate specie vegetali, comprese le colture “dimenticate” o “sottoutilizzate”, sono azioni che contribuiscono all'agrobiodiversità globale, al benessere degli ecosistemi e a una produzione alimentare sostenibile. Queste pratiche traggono beneficio dalla conoscenza delle fonti etnobotaniche e storiche nei percorsi evolutivi e culturali delle piante utilizzate e coltivate dall'uomo. La presente sintesi è un primo tentativo di misurare in maniera sistematica la rappresentatività delle diverse specie alimentari nei lavori di carattere archeobotanico. I risultati indicano che oltre alle problematiche metodologiche tipiche della disciplina, i pregiudizi dell'agricoltura moderna possono influenzare la ricerca sulla storia delle piante alimentari, quindi anche quella delle “colture dimenticate”. Riconoscere che questi pregiudizi esistono è un primo passo verso la loro correzione e sarà utile per promuovere sia la ricerca che azioni concrete sul tema dell'agrobiodiversità. Ագրոկենսաբազմազանությունն ամբողջ աշխարհում առանցքային նշանակություն ունի կայուն գյուղատնտեսության համար: Բույսերի բազմազան տեսակների, ներառյալ «մոռացված» և «թերօգտագործված» մշակաբույսերի մշակությունը, պահպանությունը և վերաներառումը նպաստում են գլոբալ ագրոկենսաբազմազանությանը, կենդանի էկոհամակարգերին և սննդի կայուն արտադրությանը: Այդ ուղղությամբ աշխատանքների համար կարևոր են մշակաբույսերի էվոլյուցիոն և մշակութային ոլորտներին առնչվող ավանդական և պատմական գիտելիքները: Այս ամփոփիչ աշխատությունը հնագիտական բույսերի մնացորդների ուսումնասիրություններում տեսակների ներկայացուցչականությունը համակարգված չափելու առաջին փորձն է: Արդյունքները ցույց են տալիս, որ, ի լրումն շեղումների այս գիտաճյուղին հատուկ մեթոդաբանական աղբյուրների, ժամանակակից գյուղատնտեսական շեղումները կարող են ընդօրինակվել մշակաբույսերի պատմության հետազոտություններում և ազդել «մոռացված մշակաբույսերը» հասկանալու վրա: Այս շեղումների ճանաչումը սկզբնական քայլ է դրանք շտկելու և ագրոկենսաբազմազանությունը խթանելու ուղղությամբ՝ թե՛ հետազոտական, թե՛ գործնական կիրառություններում: உலகளவில் நிலையான வேளாண்மைக்கு பயிர் பல்வகைமை மையமானது. 'மறந்துபோன' மற்றும் 'பயன்படுத்தப்படாத' பயிர்கள் உட்பட பல்வேறு தாவர இனங்களைப் பயிரிடுதல், பாதுகாத்தல் மற்றும் மறு அறிமுகம் செய்தல், உலகளாவிய வேளாண் பல்லுயிர், வாழ்க்கை சூழல் அமைப்புகள் மற்றும் நிலையான உணவு உற்பத்திக்கு பங்களிக்கிறது. பாரம்பரிய மற்றும் வரலாற்று அறிவால் வழங்கப்படும் பரிணாம மற்றும் கலாச்சாரத் தகவல்கள் இத்தகைய முயற்சிகளுக்கு பயனாக உள்ளன. இந்த மதிப்பாய்வு, தொல்பொருள் தாவர எச்சங்கள் பற்றிய ஆய்வுகளில் உயிரினங்களின் பிரதிநிதித்துவத்தை முறையாக அளவிடுவதற்கான முதல் முயற்சியாகும். ஒழுக்கம் சார்ந்த வழிமுறைப் பாரபட்சங்கள் உட்பட, நவீன விவசாய சார்புகள் 'மறக்கப்பட்ட பயிர்கள்' பற்றிய புரிதலில் தாக்கத்தை ஏற்படுத்தக்கூடும் என்று இவ்வாய்வின் முடிவுகள் குறிப்பிடுகின்றன. இந்தச் சார்புகளை அடையாளம் காண்பது, அவற்றைச் சரிசெய்வதற்கும், ஆராய்ச்சி மற்றும் நடைமுறைப் பயன்பாடுகள் இரண்டிலும் வேளாண் பல்லுயிர்ப் பெருக்கத்தை மேம்படுத்துவதற்குமான ஆரம்பப் படியாகும். Tarımsal biyoçeşitlilik dünya çapında sürdürülebilir tarımın merkezinde yer almaktadır. 'Unutulmuş' ve 'yeterince kullanılmayan' ürünler de dahil olmak üzere çeşitli bitki türlerinin yetiştirilmesi, korunması ve yeniden üretilmesi küresel agrobiyolojik çeşitliliğe, canlı ekosistemlere ve sürdürülebilir gıda üretimine katkıda bulunur. Bu tür çabalar, mahsul bitkilerinin evrimsel ve kültürel yörüngelerine ilişkin geleneksel ve tarihsel bilgilerden faydalanmaktadır. Bu derleme, arkeolojik bitki kalıntıları üzerine yapılan çalışmalarda tür temsiliyetinin sistematik olarak ölçülmesine yönelik ilk girişimdir. Sonuçlar, disipline özgü metodolojik önyargı kaynaklarına ek olarak, modern tarımsal önyargıların kendilerini bitki tarihi araştırmalarında tekrarlayabileceğini ve 'unutulmuş mahsullerin' anlaşılmasını etkileyebileceğini göstermektedir. Bu önyargıları tanımak, bunları düzeltmeye ve hem araştırma hem de pratik uygulamalarda tarımsal biyoçeşitliliği teşvik etmeye yönelik bir ilk adımdır. המגוון הביולוגי בחקלאות (המגוון האגרוביולוגי) הוא בעל חשיבות מרכזית עבור קיומה של חקלאות ברת‐קיימא ברחבי העולם. טיפוח, שימור והשבה של מיני צמחים תורם לשיפור המגוון האגרוביולוגי העולמי, התפקוד של מערכות אקולוגיות והייצור של מזון בר‐קיימא. מינים אלו כוללים גידולים \"נשכחים\" ו\"לא מנוצלים\" – כאלו שהיו בשימוש בעבר אולם גידולם החקלאי נזנח או הצטמצם באופן משמעותי במהלך ההיסטוריה. מאמצים לטיפוח,

This paper reviews changes to lifecycle temporality in Southwest Asian plant and animal domestication, exploring their relationship to long-term processes associated with ancient and contemporary globalization. We survey changes under domestication to the timing of seed dispersal, germination, vegetative growth, flowering and maturation in wheat and barley and to birth, reproduction, lactation, wool production and death in sheep, goats and cattle. Changes in biological temporality among domesticates are ultimately related to globally increasing production intensity, geographic diffusion, and agricultural diversity associated with cultivar/breed evolution. Recently, however, increasing crop production intensity and geographic diffusion are accompanied by declining agricultural diversity worldwide. Similar processes are apparent in contemporary economic and cultural globalization, suggesting that long-term agricultural developments might be viewed as a subset of globalization. Moreover, the origin of certain features of contemporary globalization may be traced back to the beginnings of plant and animal domestication. Thus, while biologists since Darwin considered domestication as a model for the study of evolution, we suggest that domestication may also offer a model for the study of globalization.

The international scope of the Mediterranean wine trade in Late Antiquity raises important questions concerning sustainability in an ancient international economy and offers a valuable historical precedent to modern globalization. Such questions involve the role of intercontinental commerce in maintaining sustainable production within important supply regions and the vulnerability of peripheral regions believed to have been especially sensitive to environmental and political disturbances. We provide archaeobotanical evidence from trash mounds at three sites in the central Negev Desert, Israel, unraveling the rise and fall of viticulture over the second to eighth centuries of the common era (CE). Using quantitative ceramic data obtained in the same archaeological contexts, we further investigate connections between Negev viticulture and circum-Mediterranean trade. Our findings demonstrate interrelated growth in viticulture and involvement in Mediterranean trade reaching what appears to be a commercial scale in the fourth to mid-sixth centuries. Following a mid-sixth century peak, decline of this system is evident in the mid- to late sixth century, nearly a century before the Islamic conquest. These findings closely correspond with other archaeological evidence for social, economic, and urban growth in the fourth century and decline centered on the mid-sixth century. Contracting markets were a likely proximate cause for the decline; possible triggers include climate change, plague, and wider sociopolitical developments. In long-term historical perspective, the unprecedented commercial florescence of the Late Antique Negev appears to have been unsustainable, reverting to an age-old pattern of smaller-scale settlement and survival–subsistence strategies within a time frame of about two centuries.

A key question in archaeobotany concerns the role of herbivore dung in contributing plant remains to archaeobotanical assemblages. This issue has been discussed for at least 40 years and has motivated several archaeobotanical studies on identifying dung-derived deposition of plant remains. Meanwhile, microarchaeological methods have developed and continue to be developed for detecting dung in archaeological sediments, and multi-proxy methodologies are being used to study the botanical components of dung-associated sediments. Combining these approaches, the authors recently led a study incorporating different botanical proxies (seeds, pollen, phytoliths) with geoarchaeological sedimentary analysis to compare dung pellets and associated sediments. This approach presents a new way to gauge the contribution of dung-derived plant remains in archaeobotanical assemblages, which is further explored in this follow-up paper. The present paper further highlights how multi-proxy archaeobotanical investigation of individual dung pellets can provide information on seasonality, grazing range and herding practices. Their short production and deposition time make herbivore dung pellets time capsules of agropastoral activity, a useful spatio-temporal unit of analysis, and even a type of archaeological context in their own right. Adding different biomolecular and chemical methods to future multi-proxy archaeobotanical investigation of herbivore dung will produce invaluable high-resolution reconstructions of dung microbiomes. Ultimately, unpacking the contents of ancient dung pellets will inform on the species, physical characteristics, diet, niche, and disease agents of the ancient pellets’ producers. Expanded datasets of such dung-derived information will contribute significantly to the study of ecosystem transformation as well as the long-term development of agriculture and pastoralism.

The topic of agricultural innovation in the Early Islamic empires has become increasingly relevant for archeology, history, and even agricultural science. The validity of Andrew Watson’s original “Islamic Green Revolution” thesis will ultimately be verified or vindicated through archaeobotanical research, as Watson himself has suggested. However, rigorous criteria for exploiting the available archaeobotanical data and testing the basis of this thesis are needed. A simple theoretical framework relating archaeobotanical data to agricultural revolution is advanced below, and methodological criteria are presented for interpreting plant species introductions from the archeological record. These are applied to archaeobotanical “first finds” from an unprecedented assemblage of mineralized plant remains from an Abbasid Jerusalem bazaar, which included the earliest evidence for eggplant ( Solanum melongena ) in the Levant. Finally, we advocate a regional, crop-by-crop strategy for further interdisciplinary research on the Islamic Green Revolution.

Long-distance trade routes criss-crossed ancient Africa and Eurasia. Archaeological research has focused on the commodities in transit and the excavation of major centres located along these routes, with less attention paid to smaller caravanserai and evidence such as rubbish middens. The ‘Incense Route’ linked the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, with activity peaking during the Nabataean and Roman periods. The authors present the results of test-pit excavations of middens at three small Nabataean–Roman desert caravanserai along the ‘Incense Route’. The assemblages recovered include material culture attesting to wide, inter-regional connections, combined with archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data illuminating the subsistence basis of the caravan trade.

The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens of natural and geological climate proxies of the northern hemisphere. Although this climatic downturn was proposed as a major cause for pandemic and extensive societal upheavals in the sixth–seventh centuries CE, archaeological evidence for the magnitude of societal response to this event is sparse. This study uses ancient trash mounds as a type of proxy for identifying societal crisis in the urban domain, and employs multidisciplinary investigations to establish the terminal date of organized trash collection and high-level municipal functioning on a city-wide scale. Survey, excavation, sediment analysis, and geographic information system assessment of mound volume were conducted on a series of mounds surrounding the Byzantine urban settlement of Elusa in the Negev Desert. These reveal the massive collection and dumping of domestic and construction waste over time on the city edges. Carbon dating of charred seeds and charcoal fragments combined with ceramic analysis establish the end date of orchestrated trash removal near the mid-sixth century, coinciding closely with the beginning of the LALIA event and outbreak of the Justinian Plague in the year 541. This evidence for societal decline during the sixth century ties with other arguments for urban dysfunction across the Byzantine Levant at this time. We demonstrate the utility of trash mounds as sensitive proxies of social response and unravel the time–space dynamics of urban collapse, suggesting diminished resilience to rapid climate change in the frontier Negev region of the empire.

Lessons from history on sustainability, collapse and resilience are the ultimate goal of the Byzantine Bio-Archaeology Research Program of the Negev (BYBAN) (Tepper et al. 2015). Addressing the unprecedented flourishing and collapse of the Byzantine Negev agricultural settlements (fourth–seventh centuries AD), the BYBAN project offers a unique and original approach. It focuses on ancient middens and domestic contexts, which provide an exceptional focus on the materiality of daily life. Archaeobotanical research is central to this project because the copious plant remains retrieved are a reflection of the region's agricultural economy and its environmental sustainability. This approach will enable us to answer important research questions about the Byzantine–Islamic transition in the Negev: what were the major cash and subsistence crops? Which were grown locally, and which, if any, were imported? How, if at all, did the agricultural economy change during the Byzantine–Islamic transition? Were there any major changes in climatic conditions, and, if so, can they be implicated as a cause for agricultural collapse?