The Path of African Millets (Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor) to Iberia Pérez Jordà, Guillem Peña Chocarro, Leonor Sabato, Diego Peralta Gómez, Antonio Ribera, Agustí García Borja, Pablo Negre, Joan Martín Civantos, José María Medieval Archaeobotany Pearl millet 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. 2024-10-29T11:44:09Z 2024-10-29T11:44:09Z 2024-10-14 journal article Pérez-Jordà, G.; Peña-Chocarro, L.; Sabato, D.; Peralta Gómez, A.; Ribera, A.; García Borja, P.; Negre, J.; Martín Civantos, J.M. The Path of African Millets (Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor) to Iberia. Agronomy 2024, 14, 2375. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14102375 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/96452 10.3390/agronomy14102375 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ERC/HE/101054883 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI