Editing Millet (section)

== Domestication and spread ==

The cultivation of common millet as the earliest dry crop in East Asia has been attributed to its resistance to drought,<ref name="Lu"/> and this has been suggested to have aided its spread.<ref name="Lawler"/> Asian varieties of millet made their way from China to the Black Sea region of [[Europe]] by 5000 BC.<ref name="Lawler">{{cite journal |last=Lawler |first=A. |year=2009 |title=Bridging East and West: Millet on the move |journal=Science |volume=325 |issue= 5943|pages=942–943 |doi=10.1126/science.325_940 |pmid=19696328 }}</ref>

Millet was growing wild in Greece as early as 3000 BC, and bulk storage containers for millet have been found from the [[Late Bronze Age]] in [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] and northern Greece.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nesbitt |first1=Mark |last2=Summers |first2=Geoffrey |date=January 1988 |title=Some Recent Discoveries of Millet (Panicum miliaceum L. and Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.) at Excavations in Turkey and Iran |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Records-of-millet-from-the-Ancient-Near-East-and-Greece_tbl1_234002850 |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=38 |issue=38 |pages=85–97 |doi=10.2307/3642844 |access-date=25 February 2019 |jstor=3642844 |s2cid=84670275 }}</ref> [[Hesiod]] states that "the beards grow round the millet, which men sow in summer."<ref name="Hesiod2013">{{cite book |author=Hesiod |title=Hesiod, the Poems and Fragments, Done Into English Prose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9uungEACAAJ |date=September 2013 |publisher=Theclassics Us |pages=fragments S396–423 |isbn=978-1-230-26344-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1091#Hesiod_0606_290 |title = The Poems and Fragments &#124; Online Library of Liberty}}</ref> Millet is listed along with wheat in the third century BC by [[Theophrastus]] in his ''[[Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)|Enquiry into Plants]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Theophrastus |author2=[[Arthur Hort]] |url=https://archive.org/details/enquiryintoplant01theouoft/page/78 |title=Enquiry into plants and minor works on odours and weather signs, with an English translation by Sir Arthur Hort, bart |year=1916}}</ref>

=== East Asia ===

Proso millet (''Panicum miliaceum'') and foxtail millet (''Setaria italica'') were important crops beginning in the [[Early Neolithic]] of China. Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found at [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] (north), where proso millet husk [[phytoliths]] and biomolecular components have been identified around 10,300–8,700 years ago in [[storage pit (archaeology)|storage pits]] along with remains of pit-houses, pottery, and stone tools related to millet cultivation.<ref name="Lu">{{cite journal |pmid=19383791 |year=2009 |last1=Lu |first1=H. |last2=Zhang |first2=J. |last3=Liu |first3=K. B. |last4=Wu |first4=N. |last5=Li |first5=Y. |last6=Zhou |first6=K. |last7=Ye |first7=M. |last8=Zhang |first8=T. |last9=Zhang |first9=H. |last10=Yang |first10=X. |last11=Shen |first11=L. |last12=Xu |first12=D. |last13=Li |first13=Q. |display-authors=5 |title=Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago |volume=106 |issue=18 |pages=7367–7372 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900158106 |pmc=2678631 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.7367L |doi-access=free }}</ref> Evidence at Cishan for foxtail millet dates back to around 8,700 years ago.<ref name="Lu"/> Noodles made from these two varieties of millet were found under a 4,000-year-old earthenware bowl containing well-preserved noodles at the [[Lajia]] archaeological site in north China; this is the oldest evidence of millet noodles in China.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4335160.stm |title=Oldest noodles unearthed in China |work=BBC News |date=12 October 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lu |first1=Houyuan |last2=Yang |first2=Xiaoyan |last3=Ye |first3=Maolin |last4=Liu |first4=Kam-Biu |last5=Xia |first5=Zhengkai |last6=Ren |first6=Xiaoyan |last7=Cai |first7=Linhai |last8=Wu |first8=Naiqin |last9=Liu |first9=Tung-Sheng |display-authors=5 |title=Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China |journal=Nature |date=12 October 2005 |volume=437 |issue=7061 |pages=967–968 |doi=10.1038/437967a |pmid=16222289 |s2cid=4385122 }}</ref>

Palaeoethnobotanists have found evidence of the cultivation of millet in the [[Korean Peninsula]] dating to the Middle [[Jeulmun pottery period]] (around 3500–2000 BC).<ref name="Crawford 1992">{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Gary W. |chapter=Prehistoric Plant Domestication in East Asia |editor1=Cowan C.W. |editor2=Watson P.J |title=The Origins of Agriculture: An International Perspective |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87474-990-8 |pages=117–132 }}</ref><ref name="Crawford Lee 2003">{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Gary W. |first2=Gyoung-Ah |last2=Lee |title=Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula |journal=Antiquity |volume=77 |issue=295 |pages=87–95 |year=2003 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00061378 |s2cid=163060564 }}</ref> Millet continued to be an important element in the intensive, multicropping agriculture of the [[Mumun pottery period]] (about 1500–300 BC) in Korea.<ref name="Crawford Lee 2003"/> Millets and their wild ancestors, such as [[barnyard grass]] and [[panic grass]], were also cultivated in Japan during the [[Jōmon period]] sometime after 4000 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Gary W. |title=Paleoethnobotany of the Kameda Peninsula |publisher=Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan |location=Ann Arbor |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-932206-95-4 }}</ref><ref name="Crawford 1992"/>

In the Zhengluo<!--acc to source--> region of China, two millet species (foxtail millet and proso millet) were grown, enabling the people to survive the [[4.2-kiloyear event|cooling of the global climate around 2200 BC]].<ref name="An Kirleis Jin 2019">{{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Jingping |last2=Kirleis |first2=Wiebke |last3=Jin |first3=Guiyun |date=2019-11-01 |title=Changing of crop species and agricultural practices from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age in the Zhengluo region, China |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-019-00915-3 |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=6273–6286 |doi=10.1007/s12520-019-00915-3|bibcode=2019ArAnS..11.6273A |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Chinese myths attribute the domestication of millet to [[Shennong]], a legendary Emperor of China, and [[Hou Ji]], whose name means Lord Millet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yang |first=Lihui |title=Handbook of Chinese Mythology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-533263-6 |pages=70, 131–135, 198 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

=== Indian subcontinent ===

Little millet (''Panicum sumatrense'') is believed to have been domesticated around 3000 BC in Indian subcontinent and Kodo millet (''Paspalum scrobiculatum'') around 3700 BC, also in Indian subcontinent.<ref name="weber">{{cite journal |last1=Weber |first1=Steven A. |title=Out of Africa: The Initial Impact of Millets in South Asia |journal=Current Anthropology |date=April 1998 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=267–274 |doi=10.1086/204725 |s2cid=143024704 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pokharia |first1=Anil K. |last2=Kharakwal |first2=Jeewan Singh |last3=Srivastava |first3=Alka |title=Archaeobotanical evidence of millets in the Indian subcontinent with some observations on their role in the Indus civilization |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=February 2014 |volume=42 |pages=442–455 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.029 |bibcode=2014JArSc..42..442P }}</ref> 
Pearl millet had arrived in the [[Indian subcontinent]] by 2000 BC to 1700 BC.<ref name="Manning Pelling Higham 2011"/>
Browntop millet (''Urochloa ramosa'') was likely domesticated in the [[Deccan]] near  the beginning of the third millennium BCE and spread throughout India though was later superseded by other millets.<ref name="GA-browntop"/> Various millets have been mentioned in some of the [[Yajurveda]] texts, identifying [[foxtail millet]] (''priyaṅgu''), [[Barnyard millet]] (''aṇu'') and black [[finger millet]] (''śyāmāka''), indicating that millet cultivation was happening around 1200 BC in India.<ref name="miraroy">{{cite journal |last1=Roy |first1=Mira |title=Agriculture in the Vedic Period |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |date=2009 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=497–520 |url=https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol44_4_2_MRoy.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol44_4_2_MRoy.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> Upon request by the [[Government of India|Indian Government]] in 2018, the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations]] declared 2023 as [[International Year of Millets]].<ref>{{cite web |title=International Year of Millets 2023 - IYM 2023 |url=https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/international-year-of-millets-unleashing-the-potential-of-millets-for-the-well-being-of-people-and-the-environment |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Food and Agriculture Organisation}}</ref> 
Cultivation of [[Finger millet]] had spread to South India by 1800 BC.<ref name="Engels Hawkes 1991"/>

=== Africa ===

Pearl millet (''Pennisetum glaucum'') was domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa from ''Pennisetum violaceum''.<ref name="D'Andrea Casey 2002"/> Early archaeological evidence in Africa  includes finds at [[Kintampo Complex|Birimi]] in northern Ghana (1740 [[Radiocarbon dating#Reporting dates|cal BC]]) and  [[Dhar Tichitt]] in [[Mauritania]] (1936–1683 cal BC) and the lower Tilemsi valley in [[Mali]] (2500 to 2000 cal BC).<ref name="D'Andrea Casey 2002"/><ref name="Manning Pelling Higham 2011"/> Studies of [[isozyme]]s suggest domestication took place north east of the [[Senegal River]] in the far west of the Sahel and tentatively around 6000 BC.<ref name="D'Andrea Casey 2002">{{Cite journal  |last1=D'Andrea |first1=A. C. |last2=Casey |first2=J. |title=Pearl Millet and Kintampo Subsistence |journal=The African Archaeological Review |date=2002 |access-date=18 May 2024 |jstor=25130746 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=147–173 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1016518919072 |doi=10.1023/A:1016518919072 |s2cid=162042735|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Manning Pelling Higham 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Katie |last2=Pelling |first2=Ruth |last3=Higham |first3=Tom |last4=Schwenniger |first4=Jean-Luc |last5=Fuller |first5=Dorian Q. |title=4500-Year old domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) from the Tilemsi Valley, Mali: new insights into an alternatives are cereal domestication pathway |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.007 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=312–322 |year=2011 |bibcode=2011JArSc..38..312M }}</ref> 

Finger millet is native to the highlands of [[East Africa]] and was domesticated before the third millennium BC.<ref name="Engels Hawkes 1991">{{cite book |title=Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKj__YqTU4AC&q=finger+millet+domesticated+ethiopia&pg=PA162 |isbn=978-0-521-38456-8 |last1=Engels |first1=J. M. M. |last2=Hawkes |first2=J. G. |last3=Hawkes |first3=John Gregory |last4=Worede |first4=M. |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

=== Europe ===

Broomcorn or [[proso millet]] (''Panicum miliaceum'') came to Europe from East Asia as early as the 17th century BC in Vinogradnyi Sad, Ukraine.<ref name="Kirleis 2022">{{cite book |editor=Wiebke Kirleis |editor2=Marta Dal Corso |editor3=Dragana Filipović |url=https://www.sidestone.com/books/millet-and-what-else |title=Millet and What Else?. The Wider Context of the Adoption of Millet Cultivation in Europe |date=2022-04-15 |isbn=978-94-6427-015-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dal Corso |first1=Marta |last2=Pashkevych |first2=Galyna |last3=Filipović |first3=Dragana |last4=Liu |first4=Xinyi |last5=Motuzaite Matuzeviciute |first5=Giedre |last6=Stobbe |first6=Astrid |last7=Shatilo |first7=Ludmila |last8=Videiko |first8=Mihail |last9=Kirleis |first9=Wiebke |date=2022-12-01 |title=Between Cereal Agriculture and Animal Husbandry: Millet in the Early Economy of the North Pontic Region |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10963-022-09171-1 |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=321–374 |doi=10.1007/s10963-022-09171-1}}</ref> At around 1500 BC it reached Italy and southeastern Europe; around 1400 BC it came to central Europe, and from 1200 BC, it arrived in northern Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-21 |title=Millet in the Bronze Age: A Superfood conquers the World |url=https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/081-hirse-superfood |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=[[Kiel University]]}}</ref><ref name="Kirleis 2022"/>