Translations:Legume/47/en

History

Neanderthals and early modern humans used wild pulses when cooking meals 70,000 to 40,000 years ago. Traces of pulse production have been found around the Ravi River (Punjab), the seat of the Indus Valley civilisation, from c. 3300 BC. Meanwhile, evidence of lentil cultivation has also been found in Egyptian pyramids and cuneiform recipes. Dry pea seeds have been discovered in a Swiss village that are believed to date back to the Stone Age. Archaeological evidence suggests that these peas must have been grown in the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions at least 5,000 years ago and in Britain as early as the 11th century. The soybean was domesticated around 5,000 years ago in China from a descendant of the wild vine Glycine soja.