New archaeobotanical evidence for Medicago from the Astana Cemetery in Turpan, Xinjiang

Abstract

The study of crop dispersal and their cultivation technique communication can provide a valuable insight into the history of cultural exchange in ancient Eurasia. Previous studies have focused predominantly on the cereals, with few being carried out on fruit, vegetable and forage crops. This paper reports on legume remains found at three tombs of the Astana Cemetery, Turpan, Xinjiang, which dated to the Jin and Tang dynasties (about third to ninth centuries). The exceptional state of preservation of the desiccated remains allowed their unambiguous determination to species level. By comparing the morphological characteristics of the Medicago remains with published references, they were ascribed to Medicago sativa and Medicago lupulina. This is the first archaeobotanical evidence of M. lupulina in China and the earliest relevant physical material so far found. In addition, combined with the record of unearthed documents, our study shed new light on the early history of M. sativa cultivation and use in Turpan and further underlined its important role in cultural exchange between the West and the East in antiquity.