Teff domestication
Domesticación del tef
- Date
- c. 1600 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Tigray highlands, Ethiopia
- Credited to
- Farmers of the Ethiopian highlands
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Domestication of Eragrostis tef, a tiny-grained, highly nutritious cereal adapted to high altitude. It is the basis of injera and was only ever grown at scale in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The oldest remains come from pre-Aksumite and Aksumite contexts (first millennium BCE); domestication may have been considerably earlier.
What it led to
- high-altitude agriculture in the Horn of Africa
- the food base of the Aksumite state
- a gluten-free cereal now spread beyond Africa