Within the Collaborative Research Centre 1266 at Kiel University, the ‘Millet Dating Programme’ (2017-2019) produced direct radiocarbon dates on over a hundred grains of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) from archaeological sites across Europe. The results demonstrate that millet cultivation began during the Middle and Late Bronze Age, at slightly different times in different parts of Europe (Filipović et al. in prep.) and earliest in Ukraine (Dal Corso et al. in prep.). Building upon the now available solid chronological basis, we want to explore how the (beginning of) full cultivation of millet across Europe correlates with changes and new tendencies in economy and lifestyle recognised from the archaeological record. Moving beyond the When?, we want to investigate the How? and Why? of the integration of millet into Bronze Age agrarian systems.

This workshop will present and discuss:

• Aspects of subsistence economy in different regions of Europe in the Middle-Late Bronze Age, and the changes in it that took place when millet became one of the staple crops.
• Ethnographic and experimental insights into millet cropping systems, from sowing to consumption, including aspects such as the required time/labour and yield-improvement measures.
• New scientific methods that track the spread, cultivation or consumption of millet, and their integration with conventional approaches.

Venue : Wissenschaftszentrum Kiel, Germany