Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 bc. in europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 bc, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium bc, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century bc, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/ fourteenth centuries bc. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium bc europe.

New archaeobotanical results from 15 Neolithic sites in northern Germany are presented in a review of the Neolithic plant economy in northern and northwestern Europe. Available archaeobotanical data from north-western Europe are evaluated and compared with our new results. In the whole region, barley and emmer were the main crops. Regional and diachronic differences are observed in the cultivation of einkorn, spelt and naked wheat. For oil plants and pulses only rare information from macro remains is available, as we mainly deal with charred material. It is noticeable that gathered plants played an important role in the Funnel Beaker economy. Plant choice, especially the relevance of cultivated versus gathered plants is discussed, based on new and existing data. Based on a structural comparison of charred plant assemblages from domestic sites and tombs, we develop a research hypothesis that settlement finds provide insight into production and consumption of food from crops, while tombs mainly yield evidence of plants gathered in the wild or in semi-wild areas in the vicinity of former settlements. Therefore, we suggest a model of different purposes and meanings of plants, depending on whether primarily an economic or a social/ritual sphere is regarded. But, for all evaluations and interpretations, it is essential to consider the taphonomic processes and conditions. Therefore, further research is necessary to verify our hypothesis, which derives from first insights into new material.

Analysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from centres of domestication but also to determine modes of food processing, artefact function and the culinary significance of the crop. Here, we propose a new approach to identify millet in pottery vessels, a crop that spread throughout much of Eurasia during prehistory following its domestication, most likely in northern China. We report the successful identification of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether), a pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether that is enriched in grains of common/broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), in Bronze Age pottery vessels from the Korean Peninsula and northern Europe. The presence of millet is supported by enriched carbon stable isotope values of bulk charred organic matter sampled from pottery vessel surfaces and extracted n-alkanoic acids, consistent with a C4 plant origin. These data represent the first identification of millet in archaeological ceramic vessels, providing a means to track the introduction, spread and consumption of this important crop.

29Apple is an iconic tree and major fruit crop worldwide. It is also a model species for the study of the 30 evolutionary processes and the genomic basis underlying the domestication of clonally propagated 31 perennial crops. Multidisciplinary evidence from across Eurasia has documented the pace and 32 process of cultivation of this remarkable crop. While population genetics and genomics have 33 revealed the overall domestication history of apple across Eurasia, untangling the evolutionary 34 processes involved, archeobotany has helped to document the transition from gathering and using 35 apples to the practice of cultivation. Further studies, integrating archeogenetics and -genomics 36 approaches, will definitively bring new insights about key traits involved in apple domestication. 37 Such knowledge has potential to boost innovation in present-day apple breeding. 38 39 40 41 42 43 Keywords: Adaptive introgression, self-incompatibility, rootstock, pathogen, Silk Road, targeted 44 sequencing, plant remains, paleogenetics. 45 46 47 Glossary 48 Archeobotany: The study of plant remains (seeds, fruits, wood, leaves, pollen, etc.) found in 49 archeological deposits with the aim of reconstructing the paleo-environment and the management of 50 plant resources (including the domestication of wild plants), their uses, and the waste disposal 51 practices of ancient societies. 52 Archeo/paleogenetics and -genomics: Research fields that use the genetic information gathered 53 from archeological plant or animal remains (ancient DNA; aDNA) to address questions about the 54 evolution, domestication and history of use and cultivation of plants and animals (e.g. [1-8]). 55 Balancing selection: Selection regimes that result in increased genetic diversity relative to neutral 56 expectations in populations of living organisms. 57 Crabapple [9]: Wild apple species that usually blossom profusely and produce small, acidic fruits. 58 The word crab comes from the Old English 'crabbe' meaning bitter or sharp tasting. Many 59 crabapples are cultivated as ornamental trees. In Western Europe the term crabapple is often used to 60 refer to Malus sylvestris (the European crabapple), in the Caucasus to M. orientalis (the Caucasian 61 crabapple) and, in Siberia, to M. baccata (the Siberian crabapple). The native North American 62

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