50,000

Wild date seed were left in the Shanidar Cave of Northern Iraq. Also discovered at that site was evidence that cave dwellers consumed chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, and acorns. (Root, 1980)

17,000+

Excavations at Wadi Kubbaniya, Nile Valley (Egypt) reveal charred remains of 25 different plants, including wild nutsedge tubers, acacia seed, cattail rhizomes, and palm fruit. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)

8000+

The cultivation of grains had an essential role in the development of civilization. By this time period, wheat and barley were Near Eastern food crops. In ancient cultures, barley was the everyday food of the poor. Archeologists have learned that by this time people used flint sickles and grinding stones.

7000

Flax was known in Syria and Turkey, and is apparently the earliest plant source for fiber (used to make linen) as well as an important source of oil (pressed from the seed). By 5000 B.C. we know that various species of flax (Linum) were cultivated/harvested. Evidence shows that flax seed size increased over time, suggesting that humans were selecting for larger seed.

6800

A “large hoard of carbonized lentils,” over 1,000,000 seed, was abandoned in B Yiftah’el, north Israel. The size of this hoard indicates the lentils were under cultivation. (Zohary & Hops, 1994)

6500

Faba bean was known in Israel. Lentil, pea, chickpea, and faba bean constituted the principal pulses for ancient Old World agriculture.

6000

Chili pepper and beans of this date have been discovered in a Peruvian highland valley. Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) and regular beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are known archaeologically from Peru. (Heiser, 1981)

5500

Researchers have discovered evidence of gourds, squashes, beans, and chili peppers in midden levels dating from 5500 to 7000 B.C. in Tamaulipas, Mexico. .

5000

Corn (Zea mays) was cultivated in Meso-America. This important grain would be introduced to Europe by Columbus. [See 1550, China]

5000

Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) is reported from the Ho-mu-tu site in Chekiang Prov., China. Cabbage seed from this period were discovered in earthen jars in Shensi Province (today cabbages make up 1/4 of all expenditures for vegetables among Chinese families).

4000

Cotton seed dating from this time period have been found in Pakistan.

4000

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is thought to have been cultivated in the area from Afghanistan to the Black Sea.

3000

Sorghum was known in sub-Saharan Africa. [See 1100 B.C., China].

2800

The Fah Shên-Chih Shu details five sacred crops of China: soybeans, rice, wheat, barley, and millet. (Root, 1980)

2750

A coffin from the Egyptian Saqqara Pyramid was made of six layers of wood veneers, sandwiched and glued together like plywood. Cypress (Cupressus), juniper (Juniperus), and cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus) were used. (Connor, 1994)

2737

Tradition credits Chinese Emperor Shen Nung with the first brewing of tea as a beverage. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)

2000

Pearl millet was cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa.

2000

Since the Bronze Age, olive has figured into the wealth of many Mediterranean populations.

2000

Peach (Prunus persica) and apricot (Prunus armeniaca) were mentioned in Chinese literature before 2000 B.C., where they are considered to be native. It is supposed that apricots were introduced to Greece by Alexander the Great. Certainly the Greeks knew peaches by 332 B.C. Virgil noted the Persian fruit in Rome, circa 50 B.C. By 1571 the Spanish had introduced three kinds of peaches to Mexico. [See 1663; 1977]

1550

A 65ft long medical scroll from Egypt (discovered in 1884 by Georg Ebers and named the Ebers Papyrus) lists about 800 medicinal drugs, including many herbs and spices, among them anise, caraway, cassia, coriander, fennel, cardamon, onions, garlic, thyme, mustard, sesame, fenugreek, saffron, and poppy seed. (Rosengarten, 1969)

1485

Hapshepsut, Queen of Egypt, had 31 myrrh trees imported to Egypt for planting at Thebes as homage to the god Amon. (Rosengarten, 1969)

1370

Chemical tests of red fabrics from Tell el ‘Amara, Egypt show the presence of alizarin, a pigment extracted from madder (Rubia tinctorum.) (Zohary & Hopf, 1994)

1325

Many seed and other plant products were deposited in the Tutankhamen tomb, including watermelon, safflower, emmer wheat, barley, lentils, chickpeas, flax, fenugreek, olive (both leaves and oil), almond, date palm, garlic, cumin, and coriander. (Zohary & Hopf, 1994)

1100

Soybean (Glycine max) long had been domesticated in China. By 300 B.C. it is thought to have taken the role as one of two major food crops for northern China. By A.D.100 soybean was common throughout China and Korea. Lotus also was known to have been a crop by this time.

1000

Archaeological evidence shows peanuts were cultivated at this time in Peru, demonstrating that the peanut is truly native to South America.

1000

By this time it is certain that oats were cultivated, most probably originating as weeds in wheat and barley fields. (Zohary & Hopf, 1994)

c694

Trees bearing wool (cotton) were introduced to Assyria by Sennacherib.

c500

The Susruta-Samhita, an Indian herbal, described 700 different plants of value. This time period in India also provides the earliest known record of banana.

c500

The oldest known Chinese herbal, the Classical Pharmacopeia of Tzu-I was written. Although no version of this book has survived since AD 500, a copy was available to Shen Nung, the writer of the Classical Herbal (which was produced as early as 100 BC.)

c500

It is supposed that the radish was introduced to China from Europe.

c400

Hippocrates wrote numerous treatises on medicinal plants, discussing plants such as saffron, cinnamon, thyme, coriander, mint, and marjoram. (Rosengarten, 1969)

c399

Condemned to death, Socrates was allowed to administer his own sentence by drinking a potion of poison hemlock, the celery-relative Conium maculatum. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996.)

c300

Theophrastus (ca. 372-287 B.C.), the Father of Greek Botany, taught about plants from his own working knowledge of them, experience reflected in the “Inquiry” (Historia Plantarum) and “Causes” (De Causis Plantarum). Text covers 550 kinds of plants, including strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), date palm, figs, and water lilies. His avoidance of more mystical notions about plants made a seemingly auspicious beginning for botanical study. During the middle ages, however, the Theophrastan works were generally unavailable, and second-hand versions were corrupted with misinformation - thus the level of botanical knowledge available in writing actually declined. The rediscovery and printing of his works beginning in 1483 replaced muddled interpretations of plants and helped rekindle an interest in botany. (HNT)

c300

Plants known to the ancient Chinese were discussed by Erh Ya. Other treatments from the period mention cultivated crops such as yam (Dioscorea esculenta) and taro (Colocasia).

250

By this time the Maya are known to have cultivated cacao intensively in Belize.

241

Annual tribute demanded after the conquest of Sicily allowed Rome to provide wheat cheaply to its citizens. War in general brought benefits through the capture of productive acreage, the opening of markets for Roman plantation-produced wine, and the taking of slaves. (Gras, 1946)

216

The south China province of Kweilin (a word that means Cassia Forest) was founded. The Kwei River could be translated as the Cassia River. (Rosengarten, 1969) Cassia refers to the Chinese form of cinnamon, the pungent Cinnamomum cassia.

203

Tribute to Rome from Carthage included 500,000 bushels of wheat and 300,000 bushels of barley. (Root, 1980)

c50

Varro described Roman agriculture, including cultivation of grain (wheat, spelt, & barley - but not rye or oats), legumes, olive, and grapes. By this time Romans had well-developed systems of legume rotation (the use of legumes as a fertilizer crop to return nitrogen to the soil.) (Gras, 1946)

c50

Columnella wrote a treatise on Roman Agriculture, covering many subjects, including the various benefits and difficulties of managing slaves versus tenants on large properties. (Gras, 1946)

c50

Virgil, though not a botanist, gave descriptions and information concerning 164 different plants known to the Greeks in his Georgica. (HNT, 1492 edition) Advice included laying fields fallow and allowing a crop of vetch and lupine (legumes) to mature before sowing wheat. Virgil recommends the scattering of manure as well as ashes. (Gras, 1946)

Aelius Gallus, the Egyptian prefect for Augustus’ Roman Empire, led an ill-fated campaign to conquer the South Arabian spice kingdoms. (Rosengarten, 1969)

c32

The extreme value of spikenard, a fragrant emollient made from Nardostachys jatamansi, is highlighted in a Biblical episode in Mark 14:3-6. A believer is chastised by other supporters for anointing Christ with the expensive spikenard, which could have been sold for charity. By the time of Pliny [See c70] the increase in direct Roman trade with India [See c40] lowered the cost of spikenard to one-third of the value it held before Roman fleets began to sail with the monsoons. (Rosengarten, 1969)

c32

Biblical account of Palm Sunday. The date palm has long been considered the tree of life in deserts of the Old World. With 70% sugar content the fruit serve humans and other animals. Moreover, the date palm is associated with fertility and fecundity.

C40

The Greek merchant Hippalus is said to have been the first to realize that the winds from seasonal monsoons could power sailing vessels between Egypt and the pepper-producing Malabar coast of India. This led to extensive development of Roman fleets, which captured the Indian spice trade from overland routes controlled by Arab traders. An account of this trade is recorded in The Periplus..., a treatise known from about 90 A.D. (Rosengarten, 1969)

c50

Dioscorides (the Father of Medical Botany) authored his Materia Medica (HNT), a compilation of descriptions and medicinal uses for plants, including about 650 different species. As the most widely known western botanical text during the middle ages, Dioscorides’ work became the basis for most early herbals. With an expanding awareness of the natural world in the 16th-century, herbalists began to make their own descriptions of plants, and at last Dioscorides’s influence waned.

c70

Pliny (Caius Plinius Secundus, A.D. 23-79), in his compilation called a Natural History (HNT), discussed about 1000 different plants. Well known throughout the middle ages, Pliny’s book constituted a major source of information on plants. Primarily an historian and storyteller, Pliny related accounts uncritically, even fancifully. Once original, rarer source documents were discovered and printed, errors in Pliny’s account became more obvious. Still the work remains valuable; it is through Pliny that we know the exact costs of many products, and that farmers alternated crops, such as beans and spelt. Included in his comments was the growing trend of farm land consolidation into slave-maintained plantations. (Gras, 1946) On teaching: “Yes indeed, those who have gained a little knowledge keep it in a grudging spirit secret to themselves, and to teach nobody else increase the prestige of their learning.” (transl. Eamon, 1994)

24 August - Pompeii was buried by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Walnuts were left at a table, uneaten by priests whose meal was terminally interrupted. (Root, 1980)

c90

John predicted the fall of Rome (disguised as Babylon,) describing how the merchants of that city would mourn the loss of their cinnamon and frankincense. (Rosengarten, 1969)

105

In this year, according to tradition, the first paper was made. Paper maker, Ts’ai Lun, used the inner bark of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). (Levetin & McMahon, 1996) This tree can be seen at the Huntington; a stand is quite evident along the eastern edge of the Parking Lot.

280

Roman Emperor Probus rescinded the edict of Domitian, which had prohibited planting grape vineyards in outlying provinces. (Johnson, 1989)

290

A Peruvian Moche warrior priest was interred/entombed with gold and silver jewelry shaped like peanuts. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)

332

Constantine issued an edict that bound tenants to country parcels, ensuring continued cultivation of land that might otherwise be abandoned. (Gras, 1946)

335

Cloves were delivered to Constantine - the first record of this spice in the West. The source of cloves, flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, had been known in China for centuries. Etiquette in the Han Court demanded that a person received by the emperor hold a clove in his mouth to sweeten the breath. (Root, 1980)

c350

During the middle ages popular herbals of very little scientific content appeared. They contained no observations beyond those taken from Dioscorides. The various versions of Apuleius’ herbals were unfortunate simplifications both in text and in accuracy of plant illustrations. The Huntington has a printed edition of Apuleius (1483), considered to be the first printed herbal.

400

Haric (Alaric) the Goth demanded 3000 lbs of black pepper as part of the ransom for the city of Rome. His assaults on the city continued, and Rome fell on 24 August 410 after the third siege. (Rosengarten, 1969)

500

Coffee, apparently native to the mountains of Ethiopia, was known as a beverage in Arabia. It was first thought to have been roasted in the 1450's, with drinking of brewed coffee spreading to Egypt by 1510, to Constantinople in 1550, to Venice in 1616, to England in 1650, and to Holland in 1690. By 1600, coffee was grown in India, Ceylon, and the East Indies. Cultivation moved to the West Indies and Brasil via propagation from a single tree that was grown in Amsterdam. [See 1706]

548

Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote his Topographia Christiana, describing the harvesting and processing of black pepper (Piper nigrum.) (Rosengarten, 1969)

593

Tea is said to have been taken to Japan, where it assumed a major role in Buddhist ritual. (Simpson, 1989)

c600

Mohammed was partial owner of a shop in Mecca, trading in plant products such as myrrh, frankincense, and spices. (Rosengarten, 1969)

610

Papermaking is said to have been first introduced from China to Japan. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)

632

Mohammed’s death. His injunction against consumption of alcohol had immediate impact, such that within ten years of his demise, drinking was already banned in Arabia and much of the new Islamic empire (Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia.) (Johnson, 1989)

746

The Dutch and Germans began adding hops to beer. The British would not use hops until after 1524. (Simpson, 1989) Hops adds its own unique flavor to beer, and is said to retard spoilage.

775

Charlemagne gave the upper slopes of the hill of Corton to the Abbey of Saulieu, where vineyards have a great history. Wine from this zone is still called Corton-Charlemagne. (Johnson, 1989)

812

Charlemagne ordered imperial farms in Germany to grow anise, fennel, fenugreek, and flax. (Rosengarten, 1969)