Ancient crop discovered in the Canary Islands thanks to archaeological DNA

(Press-News.org) The lentils now grown in the Canary Islands have a history that stretches back almost 2,000 years on the site. This is shown in the very first genetic study of archaeological lentils, carried out by researchers at Linköping University and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. Since these lentils have been adapted for cultivation in hot and dry climates for a very long time, they may become valuable for plant breeding in the light of ongoing climate change.

Over a thousand years ago, the indigenous people of the island of Gran Canaria used long-term storage to preserve their harvest. They dug out grain silos directly from the volcanic bedrock in places that were very difficult to access. And there, some of the seeds remained. The conditions were so good that DNA was preserved in the plant parts into the present day. Today, these millennial crops are a goldmine for scientists.

In the current study, the researchers analysed lentils found in these grain silos. By comparing DNA from the archaeological lentils with those currently grown in the Canary Islands, Spain and Morocco, they were able to trace how the lentils, and their cultivation, have evolved over time. The study is one of the first to use archaeological DNA from legumes.

European seafarers discovered the Canary Islands outside Africa in the 1300s. At that time, the islands were inhabited by people who had arrived from North Africa more than a thousand years earlier. There are some written sources where Europeans describe farming by the indigenous people at the time – but there is no mention of lentils. So, when did the lentils come to the Canary Islands, and how?

The new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, shows that lentils have a long history in the islands. Genetic analyses carried out by the researchers showed that many of the lentils grown on the islands today actually originate from lentils that the indigenous people had brought with them from North Africa in the 200s.

“The same type of lentils has been cultivated for almost 2,000 years in the Canary Islands. This is interesting, especially considering that the indigenous population was greatly diminished when Europeans took over the islands. But the new settlers seem to have adopted the indigenous people’s crops and continued to grow them,” says Jenny Hagenblad, senior associate professor at Linköping University, who led the study.

How is it that the lentils survived that long? The researchers' theory is that these varieties were well adapted to the local climate. Another idea is that indigenous women, who married immigrating men, played an important role in preserving the knowledge of which crops to grow. To this day, Canarian women have more knowledge than men about the plants grown for food.

That the Canary Islands have preserved their original type of lentils for so long is not just a fun fact. Interest in the cultural heritage of the islands is growing and many want to cook and eat food rooted in their history. The lentils turn out to be part of that story.

“We also see in our study that different types of lentils are grown on different islands – even islands where it was previously thought that lentils were never cultivated. It’s important to preserve lentils from different islands, because genetic diversity can prove valuable for the future of agriculture,” says Jonathan Santana, researcher at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The researchers also made another discovery. “Lenteja tipo Lanzarote”, or Lanzarote lentil, is a common term for lentils in Spanish shops. These lentils are not produced on the island of Lanzarote, but the designation is associated with quality. When the researchers compared lentils currently grown on the Spanish mainland with contemporary Canarian lentils, DNA analyses showed that lentils from Lanzarote appear to have been cross-bred with the Spanish lentils.

“Our results indicate that the lentils from Lanzarote have contributed not only their name but also their genes to Spanish lentils. With the climate change that is now taking place, Canarian lentils, adapted to growing in dry and warm conditions, may be of great interest for future plant breeding,” says Jacob Morales, associate professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The study was funded with the support of, among others, the European Research Council (ERC) and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Data analyses were carried out using the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputers in Sweden (NAISS), which is partly funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Article: Ancient DNA from lentils (Lens culinaris) illuminates human - plant - culture interactions in the Canary Islands, Jenny Hagenblad, Jacob Morales, Rosa Fregel, Pedro Henríquez-Valido, Matti W. Leino, Amelia C. Rodríguez-Rodríguez and Jonathan Santana, (2025). Journal of Archaeological Science, published online 12 September 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106360

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