@misc{10481/96452,
year = {2024},
month = {10},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/96452},
abstract = {Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is the most widely cultivated millet in Africa and India
but has not yet been identified in Europe, while the earliest remains of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
are attested in Italy in the fifth century AD. This paper presents evidence that pearl millet was
introduced to Iberia during the 11th–12th centuries AD. This is the first documented evidence for
this African crop in Europe. Sorghum, on the other hand, appears as a later introduction (14th
century AD) in Iberia. We present archaeobotanical data from eight Andalusi sites in Valencia and
Andalucía (southern Iberia) where both crops have been found. We have also examined medieval
textual data where references to pearl millet appeared to be absent, and we conclude that the word
“dacsa”, currently used to refer to sorghum, should be understood as a reference to pearl millet. From
the 16th century onwards, this term was given to maize, when the American cereal replaced the
African millets.},
organization = {Medieval Appetites: plant
foods in multicultural Iberia (500-1100 AD)—MEDAPP, funded by the European Research Council
(grant no. ERC-AdG2021, 101054883)},
organization = {Uso y función de las cuevas-granero peninsulares: una
aproximación a partir de la arqueobotánica—CUGRABOT (grant no. PID2021-127936NB-I00)},
organization = {Pre-doctoral scholarship from the MEDAPP project
(ERC-AdG2021, 101054883)},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {Medieval},
keywords = {Archaeobotany},
keywords = {Pearl millet},
title = {The Path of African Millets (Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor) to Iberia},
doi = {10.3390/agronomy14102375},
author = {Pérez Jordà, Guillem and Peña Chocarro, Leonor and Sabato, Diego and Peralta Gómez, Antonio and Ribera, Agustí and García Borja, Pablo and Negre, Joan and Martín Civantos, José María},
}