Canary Lentils Date Back 2,000 Years

This is the first genetic study ever conducted on archaeological lentils.
Deep within the silos carved into the volcanic rock of Gran Canaria, scientists have uncovered something seemingly small but with the power to revolutionize the archipelago’s agricultural history, National Geographic reports.

An international collaboration between researchers from Linköping University (Sweden) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria found tiny lentil seeds. The team extracted DNA from these archaeological seeds and, thanks to modern science, has uncovered their oldest secrets.

Researchers compared the lentils found in the silos with modern varieties currently grown in the Canary Islands, the Iberian Peninsula, and North Africa. The result was, at the very least, surprising: the Canary lentils we grow and consume today descend directly from the lentils brought by colonizers in the 3rd century AD, nearly two millennia ago.

The history of the Canary Islands is marked by an early migration from North Africa; these first settlers, of Berber origin, who arrived during one of the colonization waves and inhabited the islands, introduced not only their culture and language but also agricultural practices adapted to the environment.

Lentil seeds were an essential part of that agricultural package (probably brought by the Phoenicians). In an archipelago with such climatic variability, their cultivation successfully adapted to local conditions. Moreover, indigenous women, a branch of the ancient culture’s survival, possessed extensive knowledge about which crops to plant.

In fact, this hypothesis about the role of indigenous women in maintaining agricultural continuity after the arrival of European colonizers in the 14th century would have enabled the selection of cultivated varieties, and according to experts, women were key in this regard.

The analyzed seeds were found in underground granaries carved directly into volcanic rock (silos), a technology developed by the ancient Canarians to preserve their harvests for long periods. These millennia‑old silos provided ideal temperature and humidity conditions for storing grains and legumes, and thanks to them, some seeds were preserved well enough to allow genetic analysis centuries later.

Lanzarote‑Type Lentil

Another interesting result from this work refers to the so‑called “Lanzarote‑type lentil,” which is not actually produced on that island despite its name. This variety has hybridized over time with the peninsula lentil to ensure greater adaptability. In this regard, Professor Rosa Fregel of ULL explains that:

“The Lanzarote lentils have contributed their genes to Spanish lentils. In the face of current climate change, Canary lentils, adapted to grow in warm, dry conditions, could be of great interest for the future genetic improvement of these plants.”

The study, whose results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, was funded, among others, by the European Research Council (ERC) and Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Data analyses were carried out using Sweden’s National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing (NAISS), partially funded by the Swedish Research Council.