Abstract
Recent excavations at Aksum, Ethiopia, have produced a substantial assemblage of charred plant macrofossils and charcoal. While the analysis is still at a preliminary stage, it has been possible to establish that both Near Eastern and African crops were grown in the Aksum area from at least 500 BC. The range of crops in the pre-Aksumite period is limited to wheat, barley, flax and tef; by the mid to late Aksumite period a further 12 species are evident, again of both Near Eastern and African origin. The new cultigens are potential cash crops (oil and fiber plants, fruits and vegetables), which often typify the move towards a market economy. The results imply that the traditional system of dryland plow agriculture (based on the ox and mixed annual crops) was in existence by at least the mid 1st millennium BC.
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Boardman, S. (1999). The Agricultural Foundation of the Aksumite Empire, Ethiopia. In: van der Veen, M. (eds) The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6730-8_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6730-8_12
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