Статья // American Anthropologist. — 1949. — № 51 — Pp. 274-292.The earliest archeological finds of the common or field bean belong to the Neolithic age. They are concentrated in the general Mediterranean region, as are also those of the Bronze age. The spread of the field bean into western Europe must have taken place rather later, for the oldest finds in Germany belong to the Iron age.
With the antiquity of the cultivation of the bean in the Mediterranean region well established, it is possible to turn with more assurance to the role it played in religion, philosophy, magic, and dietetics.
