Modern agriculture is bringing about the dramatic narrowing of food species throughout the world. Crops that were domesticated and developed by farmers over thousands of years into tens of thousands of varieties are now in rapid decline. In this volume, nine of the nation’s leading ethnobotanists examine the development of nine plant species over time as reflected in the archaeological record. Each scholar illustrates how the ancient record can inform the present as to the value of primordial plants.
They examine the dynamic history of farming tracing the development of specialized varieties of foods over thousands of years. These specialized plants, many found only in archaeological sites today, played an important role in human development, and they may play that role again as diversity diminishes. By looking closely at nine species, we get a preview of what may be available. Those species—maygrass, chenopod, marshelder, agave, little barley, chia, arrowroot, little millet, and bitter vetch—were important parts of human diets and had medicinal uses as well. The authors indicate that extinct crops might even be re-domesticated from their wild progenitors using information gleaned from archaeological research.
