Approaches and constraints of using existing landrace material to understand agricultural spread in prehistory
What are landraces?
A formal definition of a landrace is a “dynamic population or populations of a cultivated plant that has historical origin, distinct identity and lacks formal crop improvement, as well as often being genetically diverse, locally adapted and associated with traditional farming systems” (Camacho Villa et al., 2005).
In simple terms, landraces are grown from seed that has not been systematically selected and marketed by seed companies or developed by plant breeders. A significant proportion of the world’s farmers grow landraces. We have been studying the spread of cereal agriculture into Europe, a region where landraces have largely fallen out of use. European cereal landraces were grown by our ancestors before the work of the 19th century seed improvers and the 20th century plant breeders produced improved varieties. The terms ‘landrace’ and ‘traditional variety’ are sometimes used interchangeably.
