Corrigenda: This paper uses a non-standard transliteration system peculiar to this publication. T... more Corrigenda: This paper uses a non-standard transliteration system peculiar to this publication. The dates for the Indus seals have been mislabelled. They should read 2600-1900 BCE. The paper examines the identity of Indus language(s) through the lens of loanwords in Mesopotamian languages (Akkadian/ Sumerian), genetic data and Vedic substrates.
This paper outlines the movements of crops from South Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterrane... more This paper outlines the movements of crops from South Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean between the third and first millennia bce. It draws in particular on textual sources and considers the implications of this early spread for later movements of tropical and subtropical crops into these regions.
Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), typically a water-intensive crop, is widely cultivated in the s... more Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), typically a water-intensive crop, is widely cultivated in the semi-arid zones of South India and Sri Lanka and is a staple among sedentary populations in these regions when the opposite should prevail in light of environmental constraints. This paper investigates the origins of large-scale rice cultivation in South India and Sri Lanka and the attendant innovations in hydraulic technologies using a wide range of sources but with a special focus on Tamil "Caṅkam" texts, the earliest surviving textual corpus for the Dravidian language family.
*If you do not have institutional access, please write to me for a copy.
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, O... more Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through which routes this plant reached the Mediterranean. To investigate Greek and Latin texts, we performed a search using the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), plus commentaries and English and French translations of original texts. Results show that while in the early Greek and Latin literature the name kolokasia (Greek κολοκάσια) and its Latin equivalent colocasia refer to Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., after the 4th century AD a poorly understood linguistic shift occurs, and colocasia becomes the name for taro. We also found that aron (Greek ἄρον) and its Latin equivalent arum are names used to indicate taro from the 3rd century BC and possibly earlier.
This paper explores the textual and archaeological evidence for the introduction and cultivation ... more This paper explores the textual and archaeological evidence for the introduction and cultivation of Old World cotton in ancient Babylonia, roughly cor- responding to modern Iraq south of Baghdad. While the references to cotton cultivation in the royal in- scriptions of the 7th century BC Assyrian king Sennacherib have been known for long, the convincing identification of cotton with the term kiṭinnû in the Babylonian language is relatively recent. Apart from reviewing the linguistic and contextual evidence for the identification of kiṭinnû with cotton, this paper will also consider the dispersal routes and the likely modes of cultivation for cotton in Babylonia.
Rice (Oryza sativa), cotton (Gossypium arboretum) and citrons (Citrus medica) rank amongst the be... more Rice (Oryza sativa), cotton (Gossypium arboretum) and citrons (Citrus medica) rank amongst the better-known cultivars which spread from South Asia to the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BC. The westerly diffusion of South Asian cucurbits especially cucumber (Cucumis sativus) remains however nebulous especially on account of the lexicographical discrepancies pertaining to cucurbits in antiquity. A recent paper (Paris et al, 2011) has even argued that Cucumis sativus was absent from the Mediterranean and Near East up to 500 AD. This paper will however argue for an earlier diffusion of Cucumis sativus in the 1st millennium BC drawing especially on sources in Akkadian and Greek read in conjunction with the archaeobotanical and iconographic evidence. Arguments for the late introduction of Cucumis sativus are in any case invalidated by much overlooked Hellenistic fragments on gastronomy and botany which not only qualify certain cucurbits as ‘Indian’ but even recognise that their seeds were brought from India. In the process of elucidating the spread of South Asian cultivars to the Middle East and the Mediterranean we will also highlight the vibrant trade relations and modes of communications along the maritime corridor between the Persian Gulf and South Asia from the late Assyrian to Achaemenid period which has been much neglected at the expense of Indo-Hellenistic and Indo-Roman commercial exchanges.
From rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers, this book chronicles the earliest histories of fa... more From rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers, this book chronicles the earliest histories of familiar tropical Asian crops in the ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean. Drawing on archaeological materials and textual sources in over seven ancient languages, The Tropical Turn unravels the breathtaking anthropogenic peregrinations of these familiar crops from their homelands in tropical and sub-tropical Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, showing the significant impact South Asia had on the ecologies, dietary habits, and cultural identities of peoples across the ancient world. In the process, Sureshkumar Muthukumaran offers a fresh narrative history of human connectivity across Afro-Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the late centuries BCE. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520390843/the-tropical-turn
Corrigenda: This paper uses a non-standard transliteration system peculiar to this publication. T... more Corrigenda: This paper uses a non-standard transliteration system peculiar to this publication. The dates for the Indus seals have been mislabelled. They should read 2600-1900 BCE. The paper examines the identity of Indus language(s) through the lens of loanwords in Mesopotamian languages (Akkadian/ Sumerian), genetic data and Vedic substrates.
This paper outlines the movements of crops from South Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterrane... more This paper outlines the movements of crops from South Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean between the third and first millennia bce. It draws in particular on textual sources and considers the implications of this early spread for later movements of tropical and subtropical crops into these regions.
Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), typically a water-intensive crop, is widely cultivated in the s... more Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa), typically a water-intensive crop, is widely cultivated in the semi-arid zones of South India and Sri Lanka and is a staple among sedentary populations in these regions when the opposite should prevail in light of environmental constraints. This paper investigates the origins of large-scale rice cultivation in South India and Sri Lanka and the attendant innovations in hydraulic technologies using a wide range of sources but with a special focus on Tamil "Caṅkam" texts, the earliest surviving textual corpus for the Dravidian language family.
*If you do not have institutional access, please write to me for a copy.
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, O... more Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through which routes this plant reached the Mediterranean. To investigate Greek and Latin texts, we performed a search using the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), plus commentaries and English and French translations of original texts. Results show that while in the early Greek and Latin literature the name kolokasia (Greek κολοκάσια) and its Latin equivalent colocasia refer to Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., after the 4th century AD a poorly understood linguistic shift occurs, and colocasia becomes the name for taro. We also found that aron (Greek ἄρον) and its Latin equivalent arum are names used to indicate taro from the 3rd century BC and possibly earlier.
This paper explores the textual and archaeological evidence for the introduction and cultivation ... more This paper explores the textual and archaeological evidence for the introduction and cultivation of Old World cotton in ancient Babylonia, roughly cor- responding to modern Iraq south of Baghdad. While the references to cotton cultivation in the royal in- scriptions of the 7th century BC Assyrian king Sennacherib have been known for long, the convincing identification of cotton with the term kiṭinnû in the Babylonian language is relatively recent. Apart from reviewing the linguistic and contextual evidence for the identification of kiṭinnû with cotton, this paper will also consider the dispersal routes and the likely modes of cultivation for cotton in Babylonia.
Rice (Oryza sativa), cotton (Gossypium arboretum) and citrons (Citrus medica) rank amongst the be... more Rice (Oryza sativa), cotton (Gossypium arboretum) and citrons (Citrus medica) rank amongst the better-known cultivars which spread from South Asia to the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BC. The westerly diffusion of South Asian cucurbits especially cucumber (Cucumis sativus) remains however nebulous especially on account of the lexicographical discrepancies pertaining to cucurbits in antiquity. A recent paper (Paris et al, 2011) has even argued that Cucumis sativus was absent from the Mediterranean and Near East up to 500 AD. This paper will however argue for an earlier diffusion of Cucumis sativus in the 1st millennium BC drawing especially on sources in Akkadian and Greek read in conjunction with the archaeobotanical and iconographic evidence. Arguments for the late introduction of Cucumis sativus are in any case invalidated by much overlooked Hellenistic fragments on gastronomy and botany which not only qualify certain cucurbits as ‘Indian’ but even recognise that their seeds were brought from India. In the process of elucidating the spread of South Asian cultivars to the Middle East and the Mediterranean we will also highlight the vibrant trade relations and modes of communications along the maritime corridor between the Persian Gulf and South Asia from the late Assyrian to Achaemenid period which has been much neglected at the expense of Indo-Hellenistic and Indo-Roman commercial exchanges.
From rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers, this book chronicles the earliest histories of fa... more From rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers, this book chronicles the earliest histories of familiar tropical Asian crops in the ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean. Drawing on archaeological materials and textual sources in over seven ancient languages, The Tropical Turn unravels the breathtaking anthropogenic peregrinations of these familiar crops from their homelands in tropical and sub-tropical Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, showing the significant impact South Asia had on the ecologies, dietary habits, and cultural identities of peoples across the ancient world. In the process, Sureshkumar Muthukumaran offers a fresh narrative history of human connectivity across Afro-Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the late centuries BCE. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520390843/the-tropical-turn
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*If you do not have institutional access, please write to me for a copy.
*Write to me if you would like a copy of this paper. The ebook is available for purchase at this link: https://readabook.store/products/9789811812729?_pos=1&_sid=df82a7ad6&_ss=r
*If you do not have institutional access, please write to me for a copy.