Millet and What Else?: The Wider Context of the Adoption of Millet Cultivation in Europe

Broomcorn/common/proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is a cereal crop that originated in East Asia and was transferred westward to Europe, where it was introduced in the mid-2nd millennium BCE, at the height of the Bronze Age. Archaeobotanists from the Collaborative Research Centre 1266, supported by many colleagues, conducted a large-scale program of radiocarbon dating of millet grains from prehistoric Europe. They discovered that the spread of this crop on the continent happened quickly, extending far and wide.

What do we know about the (pre)history of this crop in Europe? The workshop organized by the CRC 1266 at Kiel University in 2019 encouraged the discussion on the circumstances and consequences of early broomcorn millet cultivation in Europe. This book brings together many of the workshop papers and reflects the diverse topics and research areas covered. The contributions inform us on the range of cultivated and collected plants from the time before and after the start of millet cultivation in Europe; present the cultural setting in which millet arrived; discuss possible reasons driving the acceptance of this innovation; and reconstruct possible uses of millet and the methods of its cultivation, processing and storage. Not just the plant economy, but also the animal economy is represented, since millet was and is grown for both humans and animals. Techniques used to trace millet archaeologically are continually being developed or improved, and this book describes the application of a few of them.

This broad-based compilation of papers adds another layer to the dynamic picture of the Bronze Age and the interconnected continent. It also illustrates the complexity of the research on the diffusion of agricultural innovations.

Table of Contents

Millet and what else? The wider context of the adoption of millet cultivation in Europe
Wiebke Kirleis, Dragana Filipović, Marta Dal Corso

PART 1: Innovations in the Bronze Age Subsistence Economy: Regional Perspectives from Ukraine to France

The (pre)history of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Ukraine and its place in the traditional cuisine
Galyna Pashkevych

Bronze Age plant spectra in Hungary before and after the introduction of millet cultivation
Sofia Filatova

Bronze Age novelties in animal exploitation in the Carpathian Basin in a European context
Lásló Bartosiewicz

Unearthing millet in Bronze and Iron Age Croatia
Kelly Reed, Jacqueline Balen, Ivan Drnić, Sara Essert, Hrvoje Kalafatić, Marija Mihaljević, Emily Zavodny

The earliest finds of millet and possible associated changes in material culture in Slovenia
Tjaša Tolar and Primož Pavlin

On the ‘ancient’ evidence for Panicum miliaceum and Vicia faba in central Germany (primarily Saxony-Anhalt)
Monika Hellmund

Millets in Bronze Age agriculture and food consumption in northeastern France
Françoise Toulemonde, Julian Wiethold, Emmanuelle Bonnaire, Geneviève Daoulas, Marie Derreumaux, Frédérique Durand, Bénédicte Pradat, Oriane Rousselet, Caroline Schaal, Véronique Zech-Matterne

Onsite to offsite: A multidisciplinary and multiscale consideration of the 13th to 11th century BCE transformation in northern Germany
Ingo Feeser, Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida, Stefan Dreibrodt, Jutta Kneisel, Dragana Filipović

PART 2: Approaching Millet Cultivation and Consumption through High-end Microscopy, Chemistry and Ethnography

Putting millet into a culinary context: Organic residue analysis and the identification of Panicum miliaceum in pottery vessels
Edward A. Standall, Oliver E. Craig, Carl Heron

Exploiting the feasibility of biomarker analysis in alluvial contexts: The first miliacin evidence from the northern Italian Bronze Age
Marta Dal Corso, Marco Zanon, Carl Heron, Mauro Rottoli, Michele Cupitò, Elisa Dalla Longa, Wiebke Kirleis

Exploring seed impressions within the fabric of pottery: Using a silicone cast method for reliable identification
Eiko Endo

Traditional millet cultivation in the Iberian Peninsula: Ethnoarchaeolo