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64-548: The Mabaan people speak Mabaan, and are mostly farmers and shepherds. Men and women work together to cultivate crops such as millet , sesame , and beans . The men also engage in hunting and fishing, while women collect fruits and grain. The women wear and make lingans (beads in the Mabaan language), for kids when the graduate or weddings. They can also be made for holidays. The Mabaan now reside in North Sudan/South Sudan near

128-544: A frozen state or as impressions . The former occurs quite rarely, but a famous example comes from Ötzi , the 5,500 year old mummy found frozen in the French Alps, whose stomach contents revealed the plant and meat components of his last meal. The latter occurs more regularly, though plant impressions do not actually preserve the macrobotanical remains themselves, but rather their negative imprints in pliable materials like clay, mudbrick or plaster. Impressions often result from

192-645: A 4,000-year-old earthenware bowl containing well-preserved noodles at the Lajia archaeological site in north China; this is the oldest evidence of millet noodles in China. Palaeoethnobotanists have found evidence of the cultivation of millet in the Korean Peninsula dating to the Middle Jeulmun pottery period (around 3500–2000 BC). Millet continued to be an important element in the intensive, multicropping agriculture of

256-447: A different enzyme in photosynthesis from C3 plants, and this is why it improves water efficiency. In southern Australia millet is used as a summer quality pasture, utilizing warm temperatures and summer storms. Millet is frost-sensitive and is sown after the frost period, once soil temperature has stabilised at 14 °C or higher. It is sown at a shallow depth. Millet grows rapidly and can be grazed 5–7 weeks after sowing, when it

320-489: A food in parts of some countries, such as China , India , Burma and North Korea . People affected by gluten-related disorders , such as coeliac disease , non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy sufferers, who need a gluten-free diet , can replace gluten -containing cereals in their diets with millet. Nevertheless, while millet does not contain gluten , its grains and flour may be contaminated with gluten -containing cereals. The following table shows

384-732: A low-powered stereomicroscope. The morphological features of different specimens, such as size, shape and surface decoration, are compared with images of modern plant material in identification literature, such as seed atlases, as well as real examples of modern plant material from reference collections, in order to make identifications. Based on the type of macrofossils and their level of preservation, identifications are made to various taxonomic levels , mostly family, genus and species. These taxonomic levels reflect varying degrees of identification specificity: families comprise big groups of similar type plants; genera make up smaller groups of more closely related plants within each family, and species consist of

448-436: A qualitative assessment of the plant remains at an archaeological site (presence and absence), but the application of simple statistical methods (non-multivariate) followed shortly thereafter. The use of more complex statistics (multivariate), however, is a more recent development. In general, simple statistics allow for observations concerning specimen values across space and over time, while more complex statistics facilitate

512-662: A similar nutrient content to other major cereals . The millets are closely related to sorghum and maize within the PACMAD clade of grasses, and more distantly to the cereals of the BOP clade such as wheat and barley . Bambusoideae (bamboos)  ( fescue , ryegrass ) Hordeum (barley) Triticum (wheat) Secale (rye) Oryza (rice) Pennisetum (fountaingrasses, pearl millet ) Millets Sorghum (sorghum) Zea (maize) The different species of millets are not all closely related. All are members of

576-404: A single site. In general, Systematic or Full Coverage sampling is always recommended whenever possible. The practicalities of excavation, however, and/or the type of archaeological site under investigation sometimes limit their use and Judgment sampling tends to occur more often than not. Aside from sampling methods, there are also different types of samples that can be collected, for which

640-653: A variety developed in India from a natural-growing millet variety in Burkina Faso , doubled yields. This breed was selected for trials in Zimbabwe . From there it was taken to Namibia , where it was released in 1990 and enthusiastically adopted by farmers. 'Okashana 1' became the most popular variety in Namibia, the only non- Sahelian country where pearl millet—locally known as mahangu —is the dominant food staple for consumers. 'Okashana 1'

704-567: A variety of recovery strategies that involve different sampling and processing techniques depending on the kind of research questions they are addressing, the type of plant macrofossils they are expecting to recover and the location from which they are taking samples. In general, there are four different types of sampling methods that can be used for the recovery of plant macrofossils from an archaeological site : Each sampling method has its own pros and cons and for this reason, paleoethnobotanists sometimes implement more than one sampling method at

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768-731: A very similar appearance with modern plant material, since their modes of preservation do not directly affect the remains. As a result, fragile seed features, such as anthers or wings, and occasionally even color, can be preserved, allowing for very precise identifications of this material. The high temperatures involved in the carbonization of plant remains, however, can sometimes cause the damage to or loss of plant macrofossil features. The analysis of charred plant material, therefore, often includes several family- or genus-level identifications, as well as some specimen categories. Mineralized plant macrofossils can range in preservation from detailed copies to rough casts depending on depositional conditions and

832-426: Is 20–30 cm high. The highest feed value is from the young green leaf and shoots. The plant can quickly come to head, so it must be managed accordingly because as the plant matures, the value and palatability of feed reduces. The Japanese millets ( Echinochloa esculenta ) are considered the best for grazing and in particular Shirohie, a new variety of Japanese millet, is the best suited variety for grazing. This

896-402: Is a subfield of environmental archaeology . It involves the investigation of both ancient environments and human activities related to those environments, as well as an understanding of how the two co-evolved. Plant remains recovered from ancient sediments within the landscape or at archaeological sites serve as the primary evidence for various research avenues within paleoethnobotany, such as

960-470: Is also eaten sweet, boiled in water with apples added during the boiling process and honey added during the cooling process. Millet is the main ingredient in bánh đa kê, a Vietnamese sweet snack. It contains a layer of smashed millet and mungbean topped with sliced dried coconut meat wrapped in a crunchy rice cake. In parts of Africa it is mixed with milk and consumed as Brukina . In India, various alcoholic beverages are produced from millets. Millet

1024-422: Is also the base ingredient for the distilled liquor rakshi . In addition to being used for seed, millet is also used as a grazing forage crop. Instead of letting the plant reach maturity, it can be grazed by stock and is commonly used for sheep and cattle. Millet is a C4 plant, which means that it has good water-use efficiency and utilizes high temperature and is therefore a summer crop. A C4 plant uses

1088-534: Is believed to have been domesticated around 5000 BC in Indian subcontinent and Kodo millet ( Paspalum scrobiculatum ) around 3700 BC, also in Indian subcontinent. Various millets have been mentioned in some of the Yajurveda texts, identifying foxtail millet ( priyaṅgu ), Barnyard millet ( aṇu ) and black finger millet ( śyāmāka ), indicating that millet cultivation was happening around 1200 BC in India. Upon request by

1152-925: Is carried out by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research in Telangana , India, and by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service at Tifton , Georgia, United States. Pearl millet is one of the two major crops in the semiarid, impoverished, less fertile agriculture regions of Africa and southeast Asia. Millets are not only adapted to poor, dry infertile soils, but they are also more reliable under these conditions than most other grain crops. This has, in part, made millet production popular, particularly in countries surrounding

1216-630: Is due to a number of factors: it gives better regrowth and is later to mature compared to other Japanese millets; it is cheap – cost of seed is $ 2–$ 3 per kg; it is quick to establish, can be grazed early, and is suitable for both sheep and cattle. Compared to forage sorghum, which is grown as an alternative grazing forage, animals gain weight faster on millet, and it has better hay or silage potential, although it produces less dry matter. Lambs do better on millet compared to sorghum . Millet does not contain prussic acid , which can be in sorghum. Prussic acid poisons animals by inhibiting oxygen utilisation by

1280-560: Is generally used in North America and acknowledges the contribution that ethnographic studies have made towards our current understanding of ancient plant exploitation practices, while the term archaeobotany (from the Greek words archaios [αρχαίος] meaning ancient and votano ) is preferred in Europe and emphasizes the discipline's role within archaeology . As a field of study, paleoethnobotany

1344-480: Is over 65 percent (see mahangu ). Other countries in Africa where millets are a significant food source include Ethiopia , Nigeria and Uganda . Millet is also an important food item for the population living in the drier parts of many other countries, especially in eastern and central Africa, and in the northern coastal countries of western Africa. In developing countries outside Africa, millet has local significance as

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1408-651: Is required. Per capita consumption of millets as food varies in different parts of the world, with consumption being the highest in Western Africa. In the Sahel region, millet is estimated to account for about 35 percent of total cereal food consumption in Burkina Faso , Chad and the Gambia . In Mali and Senegal , millets constitute roughly 40 percent of total cereal food consumption per capita, while in Niger and arid Namibia it

1472-502: The Burun and the Mabaan people. The jumjum people believe in non-human spirits, they worship Dyong as their god. Millet Millets ( / ˈ m ɪ l ɪ t s / ) are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses , widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae . Millets are important crops in

1536-549: The Early Neolithic of China. Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found at Cishan (north), where proso millet husk phytoliths and biomolecular components have been identified around 10,300–8,700 years ago in storage pits along with remains of pit-houses, pottery, and stone tools related to millet cultivation. Evidence at Cishan for foxtail millet dates back to around 8,700 years ago. Noodles made from these two varieties of millet were found under

1600-647: The Indian Government in 2018, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations(FAO) declared 2023 as International Year of Millets. Pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ) was domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa from Pennisetum violaceum . Early archaeological evidence in Africa includes finds at Birimi in northern Ghana (1740 cal BC ) and Dhar Tichitt in Mauritania (1936–1683 cal BC) and

1664-689: The International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP) was founded. With the rise of Processual archaeology , the field of Paleoethnobotany began to grow significantly. The implementation in the 1970s of a new recovery method, called flotation, allowed archaeologists to begin systematically searching for plant macrofossils at every type of archaeological site. As a result, there was a sudden influx of material for archaeobotanical study, as carbonized and mineralized plant remains were becoming readily recovered from archaeological contexts. Increased emphasis on scientific analyses also renewed interest in

1728-589: The Mumun pottery period (about 1500–300 BC) in Korea. Millets and their wild ancestors, such as barnyard grass and panic grass , were also cultivated in Japan during the Jōmon period sometime after 4000 BC. Chinese myths attribute the domestication of millet to Shennong , a legendary Emperor of China, and Hou Ji , whose name means Lord Millet. Little millet ( Panicum sumatrense )

1792-464: The Sahara in western Africa. Millets, however, do respond to high fertility and moisture. On a per-hectare basis, millet grain production can be 2 to 4 times higher with use of irrigation and soil supplements. Improved breeds of millet with enhanced disease resistance can significantly increase farm yield. There has been cooperation between poor countries to improve millet yields. For example, 'Okashana 1',

1856-642: The semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa, especially in India , Mali , Nigeria , and Niger , with 97% of production in developing countries . The crop is favoured for its productivity and short growing season under hot dry conditions. The millets are sometimes understood to include the widely cultivated sorghum ; apart from that, pearl millet is the most commonly cultivated of the millets. Finger millet , proso millet , and foxtail millet are other important crop species. Millets may have been consumed by humans for about 7,000 years and potentially had "a pivotal role in

1920-544: The 19th century as a result of chance encounters with desiccated and waterlogged material at archaeological sites. In Europe, the first analyses of plant macrofossils were conducted by the botanist C. Kunth (1826) on desiccated remains from Egyptian tombs and O. Heer (1866) on waterlogged specimens from lakeside villages in Switzerland, after which point archaeological plant remains became of interest and continued to be periodically studied from different European countries until

1984-803: The 2000s alongside the improvement of stable isotope analysis and its application to archaeology, including the potential to illuminate the intensity of agricultural labor, resilience , and long-term social and economic changes. Archaeobotany had not been used extensively in Australia until recently. In 2018 a study of the Karnatukul site in the Little Sandy Desert of Western Australia showed evidence of continuous human habitation for around 50,000 years, by analysing wattle and other plant items. As organic matter, plant remains generally decay over time due to microbial activity. In order to be recovered in

Jumjum people - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-595: The Nile and migrated. They also live in various states in The United States of America, European countries like Norway, and Australia after the Civil War. A 'rain chief' acts as the headman of each village. He possesses both political and religious power. His dwelling is characterized by village drums (Nuba's), heirloom weapons, and other symbolic insignia related to old Mabaan culture. The Jumjum people are closely related to

2112-550: The amount of recovered specimens – though obviously, the more specimens, the more effective the results. The quantification of microbotanical remains differs slightly from that of macrobotanical remains, mostly due to the high numbers of microbotanical specimens that are usually present in samples. As a result, relative/percentage occurrence sums are usually employed in the quantification of microbotanical remains instead of absolute taxa counts. The work done in Paleoethnobotany

2176-506: The archaeological record and to refine its analytical and methodological approaches accordingly. For example, current studies have become much more interdisciplinary, utilizing various lines of investigation in order to gain a fuller picture of the past plant economies. Research avenues also continue to explore new topics pertaining to ancient human-plant interactions, such as the potential use of plant remains in relation to their mnemonic or sensory properties. Interest in plant remains surged in

2240-407: The archaeological record, therefore, plant material must be subject to specific environmental conditions or cultural contexts that prevent their natural degradation. Plant macrofossils recovered as paleoenvironmental, or archaeological specimens result from four main modes of preservation: In addition to the above-mentioned modes of preservation, plant remains can also be occasionally preserved in

2304-445: The cells and is transported in the blood around the body — ultimately the animal will die from asphyxia . There is no need for additional feed supplements such as sulfur or salt blocks with millet. The rapid growth of millet as a grazing crop allows flexibility in its use. Farmers can wait until sufficient late spring / summer moisture is present and then make use of it. It is ideally suited to irrigation where livestock finishing

2368-515: The cultivation of millets was of greater prevalence in prehistory than rice , especially in northern China and Korea. The cultivation of common millet as the earliest dry crop in East Asia has been attributed to its resistance to drought, and this has been suggested to have aided its spread. Asian varieties of millet made their way from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 5000 BC. Millet

2432-489: The deliberate employment of plant material for decorative or technological purposes (such as the use of leaves to create patterning on ceramics or the use of chaff as temper in the construction of mudbricks ), however, they can also derive from accidental inclusions. Identification of plant impressions is achieved by creating a silicone cast of the imprints and studying them under the microscope. In order to study ancient plant macrobotanical material, Paleoethnobotanists employ

2496-904: The differences in the flora of the two separate areas. For example, maize only occurs in the New World, while olives only occur in the Old World. Within this broad division, paleoethnobotanists tend to further focus their studies on specific regions, such as the Near East or the Mediterranean, since regional differences in the types of recovered plant remains also exist. Plant remains recovered from ancient sediments or archaeological sites are generally referred to as either ‘macrobotanicals’ or ‘microbotanicals.’ Macrobotanical remains are vegetative parts of plants, such as seeds, leaves, stems and chaff , as well as wood and charcoal that can either be observed with

2560-470: The different individual plants within each genus. Poor preservation, however, may require the creation of broader identification categories, such as ‘nutshell’ or ‘cereal grain’, while extremely good preservation and/or the application of analytical technology, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) or Morphometric Analysis , may allow even more precise identification down to subspecies or variety level Desiccated and waterlogged macrofossils often have

2624-421: The discipline; the former produced a detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction that was integral to the archaeological interpretation of the site and the latter yielded the first evidence for plant domestication, which allowed for a fuller understanding of the archaeological record. Thereafter, the recovery and analysis of plant remains received greater attention as a part of archaeological investigations. In 1968,

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2688-468: The family Poaceae (the grasses), but they belong to different tribes and subfamilies. Commonly cultivated millets are: Eragrostideae tribe in the subfamily Chloridoideae : Paniceae tribe in the subfamily Panicoideae : Andropogoneae tribe, also in the subfamily Panicoideae : Specialized archaeologists called palaeoethnobotanists , relying on data such as the relative abundance of charred grains found in archaeological sites, hypothesize that

2752-405: The kind of replacing mineral. This type of macrofossil can easily be mistaken for stones by the untrained eye. Microbotanical remains follow the same identification principles, but require a high-powered (greater magnification) microscope with transmitted or polarized lighting. Starch and phytolith identifications are also subject to limitations, in terms of taxonomical specificity, based on

2816-716: The local staple, hand-rolled (that is, made without a rolling pin) flat bread ( rotla in Gujarati, bhakri in Marathi, or roti in other languages). Another cereal grain popularly used in rural areas and by poor people to consume as a staple in the form of roti . Other millets such as ragi (finger millet) in Karnataka , naachanie in Maharashtra , or kezhvaragu in Tamil, "ragulu" in Telugu, with

2880-641: The lower Tilemsi valley in Mali (2500 to 2000 cal BC). Studies of isozymes suggest domestication took place north east of the Senegal River in the far west of the Sahel and tentatively around 6000 BC. Pearl millet had arrived in the Indian subcontinent by 2000 BC to 1700 BC. Finger millet is originally native to the highlands of East Africa and was domesticated before the third millennium BC. Its cultivation had spread to South India by 1800 BC. Research on millets

2944-476: The mid-20th century. In North America, the first analysis of plant remains occurred slightly later and did not generate the same interest in this type of archaeological evidence until the 1930s when Gilmore (1931) and Jones (1936) analysed desiccated material from rock shelters in the American Southwest. All these early studies, in both Europe and North America, largely focused on the simple identification of

3008-502: The naked eye or the with the use of a low-powered microscope. Microbotanical remains consist of microscopic parts or components of plants, such as pollen grains , phytoliths and starch granules , that require the use of a high-powered microscope in order to see them. The study of seeds, wood/charcoal, pollen, phytoliths and starches all require separate training, as slightly different techniques are employed for their processing and analysis. Paleoethnobotanists generally specialize in

3072-480: The nutrient content of millet compared to major staple foods in a raw form. Palaeoethnobotanists Paleoethnobotany (also spelled palaeoethnobotany), or archaeobotany , is the study of past human-plant interactions through the recovery and analysis of ancient plant remains. Both terms are synonymous, though paleoethnobotany (from the Greek words palaios [παλαιός] meaning ancient, ethnos [έθνος] meaning race or ethnicity, and votano [βότανο] meaning plants)

3136-588: The origins of plant domestication , the development of agriculture , paleoenvironmental reconstructions, subsistence strategies, paleodiets, economic structures, and more. Paleoethnobotanical studies are divided into two categories: those concerning the Old World (Eurasia and Africa) and those that pertain to the New World (the Americas). While this division has an inherent geographical distinction to it, it also reflects

3200-583: The plant remains in order to produce a list of the recovered taxa. During the 1950s and 1960s, Paleoethnobotany gained significant recognition as a field of archaeological research with two significant events: the publication of the Star Carr excavations in the UK and the recovery of plant material from archaeological sites in the Near East. Both convinced the archaeological community of the importance of studying plant remains by demonstrating their potential contribution to

3264-618: The popular ragi rotti and Ragi mudde is a popular meal in Karnataka. Ragi, as it is popularly known, is dark in color like rye, but rougher in texture. Millet porridge is a traditional food in Russian , German , and Chinese cuisines. In Russia, it is eaten sweet (with milk and sugar added at the end of the cooking process) or savoury with meat or vegetable stews. In China, it is eaten without milk or sugar, frequently with beans, sweet potato , and/or various types of squash . In Germany, it

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3328-407: The popularization of Post-Processual archaeology in the 1990s, helped broaden the range of research topics addressed by paleoethnobotanists, for example 'food-related gender roles'. Paleoethnobotany is a discipline that is ever evolving, even up to the present day. Since the 1990s, the field has continued to gain a better understanding of the processes responsible for creating plant assemblages in

3392-411: The recognition of patterning within an assemblage, as well as the presentation of large datasets. The application of different statistical techniques depends on the quantity of material available. Complex statistics require the recovery of a large number of specimens (usually around 150 from each sample involved in this type of quantitative analysis), whereas simple statistics can be applied regardless of

3456-467: The recovery of microbotanical remains (namely, pollen , phytoliths , and starches ) follows virtually the same practices as outline above, with only some minor differences. First, the required sample size is much smaller: ~50g (a couple of tablespoons) of sediment for each type of microfossil analysis. Secondly, artefacts, such as stone tools and ceramics, can also be sampled for microbotanicals. And third, control samples from unexcavated areas in and around

3520-526: The rise of multi-crop agriculture and settled farming societies". Etymologically, millet is a term derived from Latin millium , the Latin name for these plants. In ancient Egyptian millet was called besha or beṭ-t , in Coptic ⲃϣⲧⲉ (bēshte). Millets are small-grained, annual, warm-weather cereals belonging to the grass family. They are highly tolerant of drought and other extreme weather conditions and have

3584-480: The sediment matrix. These procedures can be quite expensive, as they involve various chemical solutions, and are always carried out in the laboratory. Analysis is the key step in paleoethnobotanical studies that makes the interpretation of ancient plant remains possible. The quality of identifications and the use of different quantification methods are essential factors that influence the depth and breadth of interpretative results. Plant macrofossils are analyzed under

3648-432: The site should always be collected for analytical purposes. There are several different techniques for the processing of sediment samples. The technique a paleoethnobotanist chooses depends entirely upon the type of plant macrobotanical remains they expect to recover. Microbotanical remains (namely, pollen , phytoliths and starches ) require completely different processing procedures in order to extract specimens from

3712-726: The sole exception is China , number three in global production, at 2.7 million tonnes. Millets are major food sources in arid and semiarid regions of the world, and feature in the traditional cuisine of many others. In western India, sorghum (called jowar , jola , dzonnalu , jwaarie , or jondhahlaa in Gujarati , Kannada , Telugu , Hindi and Marathi languages, respectively; mutthaari , kora , or panjappullu in Malayalam ; or cholam in Tamil ) has been commonly used with millet flour (called jowari in western India) for hundreds of years to make

3776-469: The standard, recommended sample size is ~20L for dry sites and 1-5L for waterlogged sites. These different types of samples again serve different research aims. For example, Point/Spot samples can reveal the spatial differentiation of food-related activities, Pinch samples are representative of all activities associated with a specific context, and Column samples can show change or variation or time. The sampling methods and types of samples used for

3840-425: The state of current reference material for comparison and considerable overlap in specimen morphologies. After identification, paleoethnobotanists provide absolute counts for all plant macrofossils recovered in each individual sample. These counts constitute the raw analytical data and serve as the basis for any further quantitative methods that may be applied. Initially, paleoethnobotanical studies mostly involved

3904-488: The study of a single type of macrobotanical or microbotanical remain, though they are familiar with the study of other types and can sometimes even specialize in more than one. The state of Paleoethnobotany as a discipline today stems from a long history of development that spans more than two hundred years . Its current form is the product of steady progression by all aspects of the field, including methodology, analysis and research. The study of ancient plant remains began in

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3968-432: The study of plant microbotanicals, such as phytoliths (1970s) and starches (1980s), while later advances in computational technology during the 1990s facilitated the application of software programs as tools for quantitative analysis. The 1980s and 1990s also saw the publication of several seminal volumes about Paleoethnobotany that demonstrated the sound theoretical framework in which the discipline operates. And finally,

4032-631: Was growing wild in Greece as early as 3000 BC, and bulk storage containers for millet have been found from the Late Bronze Age in Macedonia and northern Greece. Hesiod describes that "the beards grow round the millet, which men sow in summer." And millet is listed along with wheat in the third century BC by Theophrastus in his "Enquiry into Plants". Proso millet ( Panicum miliaceum ) and foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ) were important crops beginning in

4096-483: Was then introduced to Chad . The breed has significantly enhanced yields in Mauritania and Benin . In 2022, global production of millet was 30.9 million tonnes . India is the top millet producer worldwide, with 11.8 million tonnes grown annually – some 38% of the world total and nearly triple its nearest rival. Eight of the remaining nine nations in the top 10 producers are in Africa, ranging from Niger (at 3.7 million tonnes) to Chad (0.7 million tonnes);

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