New research shows a cereal familiar today AS BIRDSEED WAS CARRIED ACROSS EURASIA BY ANCIENT SHEPHERDS AND HERDERS LAYING THE FOUNDATION, IN COMBINATION WITH THE NEW CROPS THEY ENCOUNTERED, OF ‘MULTI-CROP’ AGRICULTURE AND THE RISE OF SETTLED SOCIETIES. ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY ‘FORGOTTEN’ MILLET HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN MODERN CROP DIVERSITY AND TODAY’S FOOD SECURITY DEBATE.
The domestication of the small-seeded cereal millet in North China around 10,000 years ago created the perfect crop to bridge the gap between nomadic hunter-gathering and organised agriculture in Neolithic Eurasia, and may offer solutions to modern food security, according to new research.