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Dorian Q. Fuller
Contrasting Patterns in Crop Domestication and Domestication Rates: Recent Archaeobotanical Insights from the Old World
Ann Bot 2007; 100: 903-924 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read eLetter] African millets carried to India by Dravidian Speakers ?
Clyde Winters   (19 March 2008)

African millets carried to India by Dravidian Speakers ? 19 March 2008
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Clyde Winters,
Professor
Governors State University, COE , University park, Illinois 60466-0975

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Re: African millets carried to India by Dravidian Speakers ?

Fuller provides a detailed discussion of the domestication events in Africa, East and South Asia. His discussion on pearl millet domestication in Africa and India was very interesting.

Millet cultivation as noted by Fuller originated in Africa. The major grain exploited by Saharan populations was rice ,the yam and pennisetum. Arcaheologists believe that African millets were first cultivated in the savanna region of Africa or around Lake Chad.

Millet was early collected by hunter gather groups in Africa . Millet has been found at various sites in Africa dating back to: 7000 BC at Fayum; 4500-3300 BC at Tenerean and 3310 BC at Kadero (Winters, 2000). McIntosh and McIntosh (1988) has shown that the principal domesticate in the southern Sahara was bulrush millet (pennisetum). Millet impressions have been found on Mande ceramics from both Karkarchinkat in the Tilemsi Valley of Mali, and Dar Tichitt in Mauritania between 4000 and 3000 BP. (McIntosh & McIntosh 1983a,1988; Winters 2000,2007; Andah 1981)

India has several native millets, but the major millets cultivated in India are of African origin (Fuller et al, 2004). In India millets have been found at Harappan sites dating to the 3rd millennium BC (Fuller et al,2004; Winters, 2000) and also in South India. Weber (1998) claims that during Harappan times African millets were integrated into the South Asian subsistence pattern. It is interesting to note that where millet was cultivated in ancient India and Africa, we also see the cultivation of rice.

Some researchers, e.g., Fuller et al (2004) believe that millet may have come to India from East Africa. The only problem with this theory is that Wiegboldus (1996) found no evidence of millet and bicolour sorghum being cultivated in East African countries until late antiquity, millennia after African millets were being cultivated in the Sahara, West Africa and at Harappan sites.

Sergent (1999) has argued that the Dravidian speaking people originated in Africa. The Dravidian languages are genetically related to African languages spoken in West Africa including the Mande group(Aravanan,1976,1979; Upadhyaya & Upadhyaya, 1976,1979; Winters, 1980,1994 ).

In relation to millet cultivation in Africa and India it is interesting to note that African and Dravidian languages share similar terms for millet, and the Paleo-Dravido-African terms for millet was *sona, *kora and *tena (Winters, 2000). The linguistic evidence indicate that Africans and Dravidians used hoes to cultivate millet. The Paleo- Dravido-African term for hoe was probably *ba(r)/ pa (r ) (Winters,2000) .

The presence of millet cultivation in Africa and its later appearance in India may indicate that Dravidians took millet cultivation to India sometime after 3000 BC. Winters (2007) claims that molecular, linguistic, osteological, anthropological and archaeological evidence supports an African origin for Dravidian speakers.

References:

Andah, B Wai. (1981). West Africa before the Seventh Century", In General History of Africa, Vol 2, Paris: UNESCO.

Aravanan,K.P. (1976). Physical and cultural similarities between Dravidians and Africans", Journal of Tamil Studies 10, 23-27.

Aravanan, K. P. (1979). Dravidians and Africans. Madras.

Fuller, D, et al. Early plant domestication in southern india:some preliminary archaeobotanical results. Veget. Hist. Archaeobot, 13 (2004), 115-129.

McIntosh, S K & McIntosh, R.J. (1986). Archaeological Research and date from West Africa, Journal of African History 27, 413-442.

McIntosh, S K & McIntosh, R.J. (1988). From Sciecles obscurs to revolutionary centuries on the Middle Niger, World Archaeology ,20 (1), 141-165.

Sergent , Bernard (1992). Genèse de L'Inde. Paris: Payot .

Upadhyaya,P & Upadhyaya,S.P.(1979).Les liens entre Kerala et l"Afrique tels qu'ils resosortent des survivances culturelles et linguistiques, Bulletin de L'IFAN, no.1, 1979, pp.100-132.

Upadhyaya,P & Upadhyaya,S.P.(1976). Affinites ethno-linguistiques entre Dravidiens et les Negro-Africain, Bull.de L’IFAN,No.1, 1976,pp.127- 157.

Weber, S.A.(1998). Out of Africa: The initial impact of millets in South Asia. Current Anthropology, 39(2), 267-274.

Wigboldus,J.S. (1996). Early presence of African millets near the Indian Ocean. In J. Reade, The Indian Ocean (pp.75-86), London: The British Museum.

Winters, C. (1980). "The genetic unity of Dravidian and African languages and culture",Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Asian Studies (PIISAS) 1979, Hong Kong: Asian Research Service.

Winters, C. (1994). The Dravidian and African languages, International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 23 (2), 34-52.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad.(2000). Proto-Dravidian agricultural terms. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 30 (1), 23-28. Winters, C.( May 2007). Did the Dravidian Speakers Originate in Africa? BioEssays,27(5):497-498.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared