Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Associate Professor at the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Iranian Center for Archaeological Research
Abstract
The origin and early dispersal of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) remain difficult to reconstruct due to the absence of extant wild progenitors and the limited preservation of archaeobotanical remains in early agricultural contexts. As a result, the spatial and chronological framework of early faba bean cultivation outside the core Mediterranean zone of the Fertile Crescent is still poorly defined. This study presents new archaeobotanical evidence for faba bean cultivation from the Late Village Period site of Chega Sofla, located in southwestern Iran.
Seven charred faba bean seeds were recovered from a storage-related context associated with an in situ burning event. The remains were identified through detailed morphological examination and documented using standard archaeobotanical criteria. One well-preserved seed was selected for AMS radiocarbon dating, yielding a calibrated age of 6486–6387 cal BP.
Morphometric observations indicate that the Chega Sofla faba beans belong to a small-seeded type and are generally smaller than many published assemblages from contemporaneous or later sites in Southwest Asia and Europe. Given the limited sample size and the well-known effects of charring on seed morphology, these observations are treated as descriptive rather than explanatory and do not imply taxonomic differentiation.
Despite these limitations, the securely dated remains provide direct evidence for faba bean cultivation in southwestern Iran during the Chalcolithic. The data contribute to refining the geographical range of early legume agriculture and suggest that faba bean cultivation was integrated into village-based agricultural systems beyond the Mediterranean core of the Fertile Crescent. More broadly, the findings highlight the role of crop diversification, storage practices, and localized agricultural strategies in shaping Village Period subsistence systems in southern Iran.
Keywords
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