Using Computerized X-ray Tomography to track rates of Agricultural Domestication using Seed coat Thickness

Summary

Pulses were an important crop in human prehistory. Tracking traits of domestication in pulses has been limited in the past due to poor preservation of diagnostic features of domestication. Traditionally, morphometric techniques have focused on changes in seed size. The authors measured horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) from South Asia, dating from the Neolithic (2000BC) to the Early Historic Period (400-700AD), which showed an increase through time with domestication. This is in juxtaposition to other pulses such as lentils from the Near East which show a slower and gradual increase in size without a clear leveling off after the Neolithic. To understand these differences in pulse domestication trajectories another trait of domestication was studied.

Decreases in seedcoat thickness has been an assumed trait of pulse domestication. We measured seedcoat thickness in horsegram from southern India dating from 4000 and 3200 years BP with computerized x-ray tomography using the UK Synchroton. It was the first time archaeological pulses have been successfully imaged. We discovered different grades of testa thickness over time which suggests this trait is not under the control of a single underlying genetic factor. Thus, synchroton technology offers new possibilities into non-destructive, high resolution imaging to investigate specific archaeological issues.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15876