Just published is a special issue of the on-line, open access journal Ethnobotany Research and Applications, devoted to the "History of Banana Domestication". For those unfamiliar with the journal, it is worth watching, as it publishes a wide range of ethnobotanical papers, including several that have been relevant to studying crop origins and traditions of use. The journal is free, after one registers, and articles can be downloaed as PDF. This special banana issue arrises from a session at the Dublin World Archaeological congress. It starts on page 163 of Volume 7.
The contents are as follows:
Special Issue: History of Banana Domestication
Why Bananas Matter: An introduction to the history of banana domestication...Edmond De Langhe, Luc Vrydaghs, Pierre de Maret, Xavier Perrier, Tim Denham [link to this abstract]
Bananas and People in the Homeland of Genus Musa: Not just pretty fruit...Jean Kennedy
Combining Biological Approaches to Shed Light on the Evolution of Edible Bananas...Xavier Perrier
Differentiating the Volcaniform Phytoliths of Bananas: Musa acuminate...Luc Vrydaghs, Terry Ball, H. Volkaert, Ines van den Houwe, J. Manwaring, Edmond De Langhe
Relevance of Banana Seeds in Archaeology...Edmond De Langhe
Impressions of Banana Pseudostem in Iron Slag from Eastern Africa...Louise Iles
Banana (Musa spp.) Domestication in the Asia-Pacific Region: Linguistic and archaeobotanical perspectives...Mark Donohue & Tim Denham
Banana Cultivation in South Asia and East Asia: A review of the evidence from archaeology and linguistics...Dorian Q. Fuller & Marco Madella [download pdf]
Early Bananas in Africa: The state of the art...Katharina Neumann & Elisabeth Hildebrand
Bananas and Plantains in Africa: Re-interpreting the linguistic evidence...Roger Blench
