Disputable datings of early sorghum cultivation in the southern Old World: a case for diffusion reconstruction by archaeohistorical agrobotany

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Title:	Disputable datings of early sorghum cultivation in the southern Old World: a case for diffusion reconstruction by archaeohistorical agrobotany
Author:	Wigboldus, Jouke S.
Year:	1988
Pages:	54
Language:	English
City of publisher:	Wageningen
Publisher:	Department of Rural History, Agricultural University
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	agricultural history millet
Abstract:	This paper argues against the current opinion that eastward, southward and westward diffusion of primitive domesticated sorghum races over long distances from northeastern Africa took place more than three millennia ago, while the long-distance diffusion of the guinea and durra races, partly suggested to have started from other parts of the southern Old World, took place before and in the beginning of the Christian era respectively. Historical records suggest that primitive domesticated sorghum did not spread outside northeastern Africa before about the beginning of the Christian era, while the races guinea and durra, which had originated in that same area, did not spread before early Islamic times, reaching South Asia not before late pre-Columbian times. The author then follows the stages of sorghum diffusion from c. 0-1800 AD in order to test and develop his alternative hypothesis and to suggest factors which might explain the tentatively reconstructed diffusion routes and dates.