ABSTRACT
I believe the time is ripe for a systematic survey of the historical geography of major crops. The late 20th century has seen drastic changes in the crops themselves and in scientific knowledge of them. Their prehistories have been much clarified by archaeological research with improved methods of recovery, dating, and identification of plant remains. Their taxonomy has been greatly clarified partly by modern cytogenetics and comparative biochemistry, including isozyme analysis. Origins have been clarified by field study of geography and ecology of wild relatives.
