Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 BC. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 BC, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium BC, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century BC, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries BC. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium BC Europe.

• MeSH
• archeologie MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• domestikace MeSH
• proso růst a vývoj   MeSH
• radioaktivní datování MeSH
• zemědělské plodiny růst a vývoj   dějiny   MeSH
• zemědělství dějiny   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• historické články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

Legumes have played an important part in cropping systems since the dawn of agriculture, both as human food and as animal feed. The legume family is arguably one of the most abundantly domesticated crop plant families. Their ability to symbiotically fix nitrogen and improve soil fertility has been rewarded since antiquity and makes them a key protein source. The pea was the original model organism used in Mendel's discovery of the laws of inheritance, making it the foundation of modern plant genetics. This Special Issue provides up-to-date information on legume biology, genetic advances, and the legacy of Mendel.

• MeSH
• dědičnost MeSH
• dějiny 19. století MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• dějiny středověku MeSH
• Fabaceae genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• fenotyp MeSH
• fixace dusíku genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• genetická variace MeSH
• genomika * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• modely genetické MeSH
• zemědělské plodiny genetika   dějiny   metabolismus   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dějiny 19. století MeSH
• dějiny starověku MeSH
• dějiny středověku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• historické články MeSH
• úvodní články MeSH
• úvodníky MeSH