Lentils grown in the Canary Islands today have roots that stretch back almost 2,000 years, according to the first genetic study of archaeological lentils. Researchers from Linköping University and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria analysed seeds preserved in volcanic rock grain silos once used by the island’s indigenous people.
The storage conditions were so effective that DNA from the ancient lentils survived, offering scientists a rare glimpse into crop history. By comparing this DNA with modern varieties grown in the Canary Islands, Spain and Morocco, the team traced how cultivation evolved.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, reveal that many current lentils descend from seeds the island’s early inhabitants brought from North Africa in the 200s. Adapted over centuries to hot, dry climates, these crops could hold valuable traits for plant breeding as climate change intensifies, according to a press release.
“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 did the lentils survive for nearly two millennia? Researchers suggest they were well adapted to the islands’ hot, dry climate. Another possibility is that indigenous women, who married incoming settlers, safeguarded traditional knowledge about which crops to grow.
Even today, women in the Canary Islands are often more familiar than men with the plants used for food.
The survival of these original lentil varieties is more than a curiosity. As interest in the islands’ cultural heritage grows, many people are eager to cook and eat foods tied to their history—and lentils are proving to be a key 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 uncovered another surprising detail. In Spanish shops, lentils are often sold under the label “Lenteja tipo Lanzarote”—a name linked to quality, though the crop is not actually grown on Lanzarote. Genetic comparisons revealed that today’s Lanzarote lentils likely resulted from cross-breeding between mainland Spanish varieties and those grown in the Canary Islands.
“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.
