Cereal ears on Aksumite coins: Reflections between numismatics and archaeobotany

Investigation of ears of cereals depicted on some Aksumite coins was conducted with the aim of identifying the species of the plants represented. A synthesis of this topic both in historical and numismatic studies and in archaeological and archaeobotanical research is given and an alternative view regarding past proposed identifications is discussed. Considering that both exogenous and endogenous influences converge in Aksumite coinage, it is proposed to include in the latter also the ears of cereals which could be identified as certain Ethiopian landraces of tetraploid free-threshing wheats that may have been cultivated during the Aksumite period. The importance of the cereal cultivation and rich plant biodiversity of the Ethio- Eritrean Highland, both now and in the past, is highlighted. This had been underlined by the Russian botanist Vavilov who included this area among what he called the primary centres of origin of the tetraploid wheats. Furthermore, the importance of cereal cultivation in this region during the past is attested both by the already known Ethio-Eritrean archaeobotanical record, which is summarized here, and by new archaeobotanical investigations carried out in the Eritrean coastal site of Adulis.