Plant Cultivation in the Bronze Age

Abstract Cultivated plants have long been considered as the main foundation of human nutrition. This article assesses the regional dominance and basic importance of several crops in Bronze Age Europe. The discussion is limited to rough regional classifications of the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Age, and the three main groups of cultivated crops most important for nutrition, namely legumes and pulses, oilseeds, and cereals. Regional overviews of the agricultural development and practices in Europe are included. The article also discusses separately the types of plants that were cultivated during the Bronze Age, and determines how much the observed or assumed patterns of crop cultivation during the Bronze Age followed social and natural environmental conditions.