Based on the work of Andrews (1993), Brunnbauer (2004), and Pieroni (2008), we suggested an introduction of maize to northern Albania in the 1520s (Galaty et al. 2013: 110), probably via Egypt (Albanian for maize is misr = Egypt, Egyptian corn). This date also coincided with a surge in our demographic data. A combination of Ottoman expansion, e.g. of the ciflik system, the effects of the Little Ice Age, and retreat to the mountains made maize a very attractive product. Beans and potatoes appear to have come quite a but later.  But this evidence is circumstantial.  What we really need is for Medieval-Ottoman archaeologists to float and conduct phytolith studies so we can track and date the movement of these food complexes.  That would be cool.

 

Andrews, J. 1993  Diffusion of Mesoamerican food complex to southeastern Europe.  Geographical Review 83: 194-204.

 

Brunnbauer, U. 2004 Environment, markets, and the state: Human adaptation in the Balkan mountains, 19th-early 20th centuries. Ethnologia Balkanica 8: 129-154.

 

Galaty, M. et al. 2013 Light and shadow: Isolation and interaction in the Shala Valley of northern Albania.  Cotsen/UCLA.

 

Pieroni, A. 2008 Local plant resources in the ethnobotany of Theth, a village in the northern Albanian  Alps. Genetic resources and crop evolution 55: 1197-1214.

Michael L. Galaty

Academic Trustee, Archaeological Institute of America

Professor and Department Head

Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures

Mississippi State University

P.O. Box AR

Mississippi State, MS 39762

662-325-7525

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