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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology pp 6587–6590Cite as

Sesame: Origins and Development

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Basic Species Information

Sesamum indicum L. (syn. S. orientale L.) Pediliaceae. The name sesame is derived from the Late Babylonian shawash-shammu, “oil seed” or plant oil, via Phoenician to Greek sesamon to Latin sesamum (www.etymonline.com). Sometimes sesame is known as gingelly from the Hindi gingli, which is from Arabic jaljala, the meaning referring to the sound of the seeds rattling within the capsules (http://www.oed.com). Sesame has one of the highest oil contents of any seed, approximately 50 % oil and 25 % protein. The meal left after pressing for oil can be used as a high-protein animal feed. The oil can survive for long periods before going rancid due to the presence of antioxidants, sesamol and sesamolin (Oplinger et al 1990). There are many recorded medicinal uses (Bedigian 2004).

Sesame is an oilseed crop that is self-pollinating and annual but occasionally perennial (Bedigian 2004). The four-segmented seed capsule is grooved, is rectangular in section, and ranges from...

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Sesame: Origins and Development, Fig. 1
Sesame: Origins and Development, Fig. 2

References

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Further Reading

  • Zohary, D., M. Hopf & E. Weiss. 2012. Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK

    Alison Weisskopf & Dorian Q. Fuller

Authors
  1. Alison Weisskopf
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  2. Dorian Q. Fuller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alison Weisskopf .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Claire Smith

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Weisskopf, A., Fuller, D.Q. (2014). Sesame: Origins and Development. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2327

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