Presence of vetches (Vicia spp.) in agricultural and wild floras of ancient Europe

Abstract

Vetches (Vicia spp.) were part of the everyday diet of the modern human Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age. Among the major criteria to determine the domestication in vetches and other ancient grain legumes are nondehiscent pods, larger seed size and smooth seed coat. The seeds of bitter vetch [V. ervilia (L.) Willd.] were found among both the earliest findings of wild collected plants from Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic, from 12th millennium BC cal and the storages of domesticated crops of the Near East Neolithic. Vetches entered Europe in its south-east regions and progressed into its interior via Danube. Archaeological findings offer nice examples that confirm the importance vetches had in the primeval agriculture in Europe and its adjacent regions. Apart from the samples of cultivated vetches used either for food or feed or both, there is rich archaobotanical evidence on the wild and weedy vetch species in diverse European ecosystems. Recently the first known success has been obtained in the extraction of ancient DNA from charred bitter vetch seeds. The future research on this subject certainly must make a more detailed map of the paths of the vetch distribution over Europe and, especially, its long-term and essentially important ties with their domestication and distribution in Asia Minor, Near East and North Africa. The initiated research on the vetch ancient DNA should bring more light onto the individual steps of the earliest days of vetch crops. The preliminary historical linguistic analysis assessed two Proto-Indo-European roots associated with vetches, *erEg w (h)-denoting pea, and *weik-meaning to avoid, initially gave the Latin vincīre, meaning to bind, and then vicia, denoting vetches in general. This multidisciplinary approach will hopefully be a useful reminder how widespread and important vetches used to be, as well as a tool for their re-introduction as presently neglected crops into the contemporary European agriculture.

Common Vetch: A Drought Tolerant, High Protein Neglected Leguminous Crop With Potential as a Sustainable Food Source

“…Common vetch seed appeared in the diets of hunter-gatherers as early as 12,000-9,000 BP as evident in archaeobotanical analysis of samples from the Santa Maira cave in Alicante, Spain (Aura et al, 2005;Mikić, 2016). Today, common vetch is globally distributed and its spread is thought to have occurred through the inadvertent selection and trading of vetch seeds as a weedy contaminant with other legume seeds (Erskine et al, 1994).…”

Nutritional Characteristics of Black Lentil from Soleto: A Single-Flower Vetch Landrace of Apulia Region (Southern Italy)

“…Archaeological findings proved that, in addition to cereals, peas, lentils, Lathyrus spp. and vetches were among the Near Eastern founder crops [5]. In Europe, they were part of the daily diet of hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age [6].…”

“…In Europe, they were part of the daily diet of hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age [6]. The cultivation began during the 10th and 9th millennia BC in the Near East Mediterranean regions, as testified by the vetch presence in the remains of seed mixtures [3,5]. The legume's importance as major crops declined with animal domestication and pastoralist diffusion.…”

Multidisciplinary Contributions to Legume Crop History: Proceed with Caution

“…Presence of pulse crops is not yet conclusively documented, and they may have been absent, although they are present in the archeobotanical record for regions bordering the Steppes (Dugan, 2015). Archeobotanical evidence for pulses appears lacking in the Steppes when archeobotanical sites with recovery of pulses are mapped (Mikić, 2012, 2015a, 2016; Mikić et al, 2014). One possible explanation for archeological recovery of remains of cereals in the Steppes, but not of pulses, is that Bronze Age Steppes were semiarid, as indicated by paleoclimatic studies (Alekseeva et al, 2007; Khomutova et al, 2007; Mitusov et al, 2009).…”

“…Initial inspection of agronomic literature gives reason to believe so. Mikić (2016), indicates a putatively PIE root * er ə g w [ h ] – (“a kernel of a leguminous plant”) as originating in the Steppes just northeast of the Black Sea. Mikić (2015a,b) attributes to PIE additional words for legumes, including pea and lentil, as do Mikić (2009, 2011, 2012) and Mikić et al (2008).…”