On the verge of domestication: Early use of C₄ plants in the Horn of Africa.

ABSTRACT: The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Horn of Africa dates to the Pre-Aksumite period (ca. 1600 BCE). Domesticated C₃ cereals are considered to have been introduced from the Near East, whereas the origin (local or not) and time of domestication of various African C₄ species such as sorghum, finger millet, or t'ef remain unknown. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of microbotanical residues (starch and phytoliths) from grinding stones recovered from two archaeological sites in northeastern Tigrai (Ethiopia), namely Mezber and Ona Adi. Together, both sites cover a time period that encompasses the earliest evidence of agriculture in the region (ca. 1600 BCE) to the fall of the Kingdom of Aksum (ca. 700 CE). Our data indicate that these communitie

SUBMITTER: Ruiz-Giralt A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10319037 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature