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History

The earliest well-preserved archaeobotanical evidence of chickpea outside its wild progenitor's natural distribution area comes from the site of Tell el-Kerkh, in modern Syria, dating back to the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic period around c.8400 BC.

Cicer reticulatum is the wild progenitor of chickpeas. This species currently grows only in southeast Turkey, where it is believed to have been domesticated. The domestication event can be dated to around 7000 BC. Domesticated chickpeas have been found at Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites in Turkey and the Levant, namely at Çayönü, Hacilar, and Tell es-Sultan (Jericho). Chickpeas then spread to the Mediterranean region around 6000 BC and India around 3000 BC.

In southern France, mesolithic layers in a cave at L'Abeurador, Hérault, have yielded chickpeas, carbon-dated to 6790±90 BC. They were found in the late Neolithic (about 3500 BC) sites at Thessaly, Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini, Greece.

Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagne 's Capitulare de villis (about 800 AD) as cicer italicum, as grown in each imperial demesne. Albertus Magnus mentions red, white, and black varieties. The 17th-century botanist Nicholas Culpeper noted "chick-pease or cicers" are less " windy " than peas and more nourishing. Ancient people also associated chickpeas with Venus because they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing semen and milk production, inducing menstruation and urination, and helping to treat kidney stones. "White cicers" were thought to be especially strong and helpful.

In 1793, ground, roasted chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a substitute for coffee in Europe. In the First World War, they were grown for this use in some areas of Germany. They are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee.