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Ethnobotany of millet cultivation in the north of the Iberian Peninsula

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Abstract

Having found Setaria italica (foxtail millet) and Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) still being cultivated traditionally in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, we carried out ethnographic interviews with farmers to help us document an agricultural process on the verge of extinction. Crop processing of S. italica and P. miliaceum varies depending on the use of either plant. In Asturias, Setaria italica is harvested while green and used as fodder. In Galicia and in the north of Portugal, P. miliaceum grain is used mainly for human consumption. This distribution of millet in the north of the Iberian Peninsula appears to have been the case in prehistory too, although this will need to be confirmed by future research.

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Acknowledgments

This work is dedicated to the memory of Lydia Zapata. We are extremely grateful for her friendship and work. We would like to thank all the farmers and people who helped us, especially Luisa and Manuel from Villategil (Asturias, Spain), Luis from Rebollar (Asturias, Spain), Maruja from Camiño Real (Galicia, Spain), Celia and Manuel from Busto (Galicia, Spain), the people of Cabreiros (Galicia, Spain) and Lucinda, Delia and Alicia from Cunha (Paredes de Coura, Portugal). We would also like to thank Emilio Abad-Vidal, for drawing up the map in Fig. 1, and Oier Moreno for the drawing in Fig. 6d. This work is part of: Research Group IT622-13/UFI 11-09. Project HAR2011-23716 Nuevos cultivos, nuevos paisajes: Agricultura y antropización entre las primeras sociedades campesinas del norte peninsular, Plan Nacional I+D+I. Aitor Moreno-Larrazabal was given a predoctoral grant from the Gobierno Vasco–Eusko Jaurlaritza while the work was being carried out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Francisco Tomás y Valiente s/n., 01006, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

    Aitor Moreno-Larrazabal, Itsaso Sopelana-Salcedo, Amaia Arranz-Otaegui & Lydia Zapata

  2. Department of History I, Faculty of Geography and History, University of Santiago de Compostela, Praza da Universidade 1, 15782, Santiago De Compostela, Spain

    Andrés Teira-Brión

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  1. Aitor Moreno-Larrazabal
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Correspondence to Aitor Moreno-Larrazabal.

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Communicated by C. C. Bakels.

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Moreno-Larrazabal, A., Teira-Brión, A., Sopelana-Salcedo, I. et al. Ethnobotany of millet cultivation in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Veget Hist Archaeobot 24, 541–554 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-015-0518-y

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