Domestication of Plants

Paleo-ethno-botany 'ancient' - 'people' - 'plants'

Paleoethnobotany is a branch of archaeology which studies how people in the past used plants. Plant remains found in archaeological sites can tell us a great deal about the people who once lived there. Paleoethnobotanists study the remains of ancient plants (mainly seeds) preserved in archaeological contexts which can be retrieved by flotation.

Harvesting Wheat using a hand sickle near El Tod, eastern Nile Delta, Egypt, June 1988, photo credit, Dr. A.C. D'Andrea.

Ploughing near Aksum, Ethiopia, 1997, photo credit, Dr. A.C. D'Andrea..

Pounding Grain at Adi Ainawalid, Tigrai, Ethiopia. Photo taken in November 1997. Photo credit: Dr. A. C. D’Andrea.
Studying traditional harvesting and threshing procedures gives ethnoarchaeologists insight into the methods that may have been used in the past. By products of threshing, winnowing and other activities can be found in archaeological sites. These give archaeologists clues to ancient processing techniques and the foods people ate in the past.

Plant remains may also reveal how plants were domesticated.


Wild Einkorn The ear is fragile, easily breaking and dispersing the seeds.	Domesticated Einkorn The ear does not shatter easily. The seeds are scattered only when the ear is threshed.

Domestication was a process that changed wild einkorn dramatically. The wild einkorn seed head, like other wild forms of domesticated grains, is fragile. This is an advantage to the wild plant, helping the seeds to spread easily. However, it is more difficult to harvest fragile seed heads for human use, as the seeds scatter too readily. The domestication process gradually selected for plants that would retain seeds until they were transported to a threshing floor.

Plants have been used in many ways. Ceremonial

For thousands of years, certain plants have been esteemed for their ceremonial value. These plants are often used in ritual practices and festivities. For example, gourds filled with seeds are used to create rattles and musical instruments. These gourd rattles are from Mali and Ghana in West Africa.
Subsistence

In many parts of the world, plants have made up the greatest part of the diet. Desired plants were collected, stored and processed and cooked in a wide variety of methods. This is an oven in a traditional household in Adi Ainawalid, Tigrai, Ethiopia.
Trade

Where were plants domesticated?

Africa	Near East	East Asia	Europe	North America	Pacific Islands	South America
sorghum tef pearl millet finger millet cow pea African rice yams oil palm watermelon okra	wheat barley peas chickpeas fava beans lentils carrots beets safflower olive fig dates fenugreek	rice millets buckwheat soybean adzuki beans turnips Chinese radish canola seed apricot peach water chestnut cucumber sesame tea	oats rye beets hazelnut plum apple cabbage almond pear lettuce carob onions grape	corn (maize) common bean lima bean chili pepper sweet potato tobacco sunflower papaya pumpkin tomato bottle gourd squash	breadfruit sweet potato taro arrowroot coconut yams lemon grapefruit orange mangos bananas cloves black pepper eggplant sugar cane	quinoa common bean manioc squash tobacco cacao sweet potato potato cotton avocado cashews pineapple papaya peanut

Domesticated plants unavailable in certain regions were obtained through trade with other groups of people. Some New World plant strains are now indispensable in Old World cuisine. Imagine Italian cooking without tomatoes or Irish stew without potatoes. Yet, both tomatoes and potatoes were domesticated in the New World and were brought to Europe only since 1492 A.D.

This page is based on an exhibit at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Canada. The Museum of Archaeology and Etrhnology exhibit was originally created by Ms. K. Spicer and Ms. D. Davidson. Information and photos supplied by Dr. A.C. D'Andrea and Dr. D.E. Lyons. Web page by Dr. B. J. Winter.

For more information on ethnoarchaeological research in Ethiopia, click here.