Editing Turmeric (section)

==History==
Turmeric has been used in Asia for centuries and is a major part of [[Ayurveda]], [[Siddha medicine]], [[traditional Chinese medicine]], [[Unani]],<ref name=Chattopadhyay>{{cite journal |vauthors=Chattopadhyay I, Kaushik B, Uday B, Ranajit KB |title=Turmeric and curcumin: Biological actions and medicinal applications |journal=Current Science |year=2004 |volume=87 |issue=1 |pages=44–53 |url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/5196/1/306.pdf |access-date=16 March 2013 |issn=0011-3891 }}</ref> and the animistic rituals of [[Austronesian peoples]].<ref name="KikusawaReid"/><ref name="McClatchey1993"/> It was first used as a [[dye]], and then later for its supposed properties in [[traditional medicine|folk medicine]].<ref name=nelson/><ref name=nccih/>

In India, it spread with Hinduism and Buddhism, as the yellow dye is used to color the robes of monks and priests.<ref name="pickersgill">{{cite book |editor1-last=Prance |editor1-first=Ghillean |editor2-last=Nesbitt |editor2-first=Mark |last1=Pickersgill |first1=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Pickersgill |date=2005 |title=The Cultural History of Plants |publisher=Routledge |page=170 |isbn=0415927463}}</ref>

In [[Island Southeast Asia]], there is linguistic and circumstantial evidence of the ancient use of turmeric among the [[Austronesian peoples]] soon after dispersal from [[Taiwan]] (starting {{circa|3000 BCE}}), before contact with India. In [[Indonesia]] and the [[Philippines]], turmeric was used for food, dyeing textiles, medicine, as well as body painting. It was commonly an important ingredient in various animistic rituals. Kikusawa and Reid (2007) have concluded that *kunij, the oldest reconstructed [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] form for "turmeric" in the Austronesian languages, is primarily associated with the importance of its use as a dye. Other members of the genus ''Curcuma'' native to Southeast Asia (like ''[[Curcuma zedoaria]]'') were also used for food and spice, but not as dyes.<ref name="KikusawaReid"/>

Turmeric (along with ''[[Curcuma zedoaria]]'') was also spread with the [[Lapita people]] of the [[Austronesian expansion]] into [[Oceania]]. Turmeric can only be propagated with rhizomes, thus its pre-contact distribution into the [[Pacific Islands]] can only be via human introduction. The populations in [[Micronesia]], [[Island Melanesia]], and [[Polynesia]] (including as far as [[Hawaii]] and [[Easter Island]]) use turmeric widely for both food and dye before European contact.<ref name="KikusawaReid">{{cite book|first1=Ritsuko|last1=Kikusawa|first2=Lawrence A.|last2=Reid|editor1-first=Jeff|editor1-last=Siegel|editor2-first=John|editor2-last=Lynch|editor3-first=Diana|editor3-last=Eades|title=Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley|chapter=Proto who utilized turmeric, and how?|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|year=2007|pages=339–352|isbn=9789027292940|chapter-url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/33035/A67.2007.pdf|access-date=18 January 2019|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125193557/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/33035/A67.2007.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="McClatchey1993">{{cite journal |last1=McClatchey |first1=W. |title=Traditional use of ''Curcuma longa'' (Zingiberaceae) in Rotuma |journal=Economic Botany |year=1993 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=291–296 |doi=10.1007/bf02862297|s2cid=20513984 }}</ref><ref name="pickersgill"/> In [[Micronesia]], it was an important trade item in the ''[[sawei]]'' maritime exchange between [[Yap]] and further [[atoll]]s in the [[Caroline Islands|Carolines]], where it couldn't grow. In some smaller islands, the dye was extracted from the leaves, since the rhizomes remained too small in sandy soils. It was also carried by the Austronesian migrations to [[Madagascar]].<ref name="KikusawaReid"/>

Turmeric was found in [[Farmana]], dating to between 2600 and 2200 BCE, and in a merchant's tomb in [[Megiddo, Israel]], dating from the second millennium BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=Ashley|last2=Power|first2=Robert C.|last3=Altmann-Wendling|first3=Victoria|last4=Artzy|first4=Michal|last5=Martin|first5=Mario A. S.|last6=Eisenmann|first6=Stefanie|last7=Hagan|first7=Richard|last8=Salazar-García|first8=Domingo C.|last9=Salmon|first9=Yossi|last10=Yegorov|first10=Dmitry|last11=Milevski|first11=Ianir|display-authors=3|date=2020-12-17|title=Exotic foods reveal contact between South Asia and the Near East during the second millennium BCE|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=118|issue=2|pages=e2014956117|language=en|doi=10.1073/pnas.2014956117|pmid=33419922|pmc=7812755|issn=0027-8424|hdl=10550/76877|hdl-access=free|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021PNAS..11814956S }}</ref> It was noted as a dye plant in the [[Assyria]]ns' Cuneiform medical texts from [[Ashurbanipal]]’s library at Nineveh from 7th century BCE.<ref name="pickersgill"/> In [[Medieval Europe]], turmeric was called "Indian [[saffron]]."<ref name="pickersgill"/>