Common bean domestication
Domesticación del frijol común (judía)
- Date
- c. 2500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Guitarrero Cave, Callejón de Huaylas, Ancash, Peru
- Credited to
- Andean and Mesoamerican peoples (double domestication)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Phaseolus vulgaris was domesticated twice, in the Andes and in Mesoamerica, from distinct wild populations. It supplies the lysine maize lacks and fixes nitrogen in the soil.
The early dates from Guitarrero (c. 8000 BCE) were revised downward by AMS dating to c. 2500 BCE. The oldest dated Mesoamerican beans are more recent (c. 500 BCE), although domestication was probably earlier.
What it led to
- a protein complement to maize in the American diet
- the maize-bean-squash polyculture (milpa)
- the worldwide spread of beans after 1492