The ancient history of 'forgotten crops' | Hacker News Reader

The ancient history of 'forgotten crops'

arch.cam.ac.uk

51 pointsclockworksoul14 comments

In North America, about four to five thousand years ago, people seem to have had squash. Squash probably originates down south, somewhere between Mexico and the Andes. They had an ancestor to sunflower, too, originating from North America. Those, or species and cultivars rather similar to those, have survived to the present.

The rest of what they grew back then, has not survived. There was something related to sumpweed, which is like ragweed but with a high-protein seed, similar to a grain. And there was goosefoot, which is rather closely related to quinoa, and the huanzotle of the article from Mexico, which also produces a high-protein seed. And they grew something related to little barley (not that closely related to actual barley) which grows almost everywhere in North America. (If you live in North America you have probably seen it before [1].)

Their wild ancestors/relatives are often considered weeds today. These were not minor crops. Central North America had fields of them, supporting populations in the millions of settled farmers in small villages, for several thousand years. All gone now. The domesticated forms were probably a fair bit different from the wild forms. They may have not made the best crops for various reasons -- given that corn seems to have displaced them all a couple thousand years ago. (The corn monoculture really goes back quite a ways, it seems.)

Something akin to this story likely occurred everywhere agriculture was invented. Probably, the large majority of crops and cultivars that have existed at some time, now do not.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Hordeum_...

Your little barley plant, hordeum pussilum, reminds me of a grassy plant that grew all over Central Texas when I was a kid. We like to play with the seed heads. You can make them walk up your arms if you press your forearms together, lay the seed head in the center and then move your arms back and forth (towards and away from) your body. The spikes on the seed heads cause it to walk along your arms. It's a fun thing to show little kids. I have a similar plant growing on my place here in N Texas now and I demonstrated this to my kids when they were young and more impressionable.

'Eastern Agricultural Complex' is a good search term for those interested.

Also a nice band name.

Linked paper:

2024. Orphan crops of archaeology-based crop history research. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10468

I hadn't ever really considered how hard a problem historical food identification would be. E.g. historical literature says "grain" in local language and dialect, but what specifically does that mean?

Also, related (if more modern) for the US, the search for heritage apples (living trees of many of which still exist throughout Appalachia): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34476820

It's open access (i.e., free). Perhaps it would be a better OP than an article about the paper.

When I lived in a city I helped manage our neighborhood's community garden. I was able to get rare and endangered seeds from the USDA for free and we grew them in our community garden to experience ancient foods. Pretty cool program, I believe all we had to do was agree to not use them for profit and make an effort to return some seeds at the end of the season.

The Iranian sorghum was the most memorable plant. I had never seen sorghum before then and it is such an interesting plant. I have since developed a love for sorghum and sorghum molasses makes up almost all of my sugar intake these days.

If you have never seen sorghum, imagine 10+ foot tall corn stalks with amaranth heads.

Broom corn is a type of sorghum that is used to make brooms. It's eally fun to watch videos of the process. I've been planning on growing some this summer.

why do you think sorghum is an interesting plant?

also I didn't know you could make molasses from sorghum. must check that out.

I find it so interesting how it puts down stabilizing roots. Corn does it, but not to the extent of this sorghum we grew. It'd drop roots from a foot or two up the stalk. And it grows so fast and so tall you can pretty easily "watch" it grow just by looking at it every day.

I wasn't aware of sorghum molasses either, but apparently it was the primary source of sugar for much of the southern US for a long time. It's not like cane molasses, it has a much richer taste and is apparently good for you in moderation. Has some minerals and compounds that are hard to find in other foods.

thanks.

I've had jowar bhakris, which are like rotis made of sorghum flour. they taste okay, not great (imo of course).

I've had bajra bhakris too. bajra is more heating and harder to digest, so better for winter food, but has a more pronounced taste than jowar. it is more dense, so you get full sooner.

Aha, I was about to chew the article out for not mentioning rye, but the linked paper has it :) Rye briefly shows up in the Fertile Crescent at the start of the Neolithic, and then vanishes for several centuries before reappearing in Bronze Age Central Europe. The theory AIUI - Neolithic people tried domesticating it for a few decades and decided it sucked, and it only survived as a "volunteer" (a weed!) until Europeans rediscovered it some centuries later and gave rye growing a second chance.

2023 was the International Year of Millets. The more you know…

Just seems like something pushed by the Eastern Agricultural Complex

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