The origins, domestications, diffusions of cotton cultivation and products in the Old World.

International audienceIncreasing evidence of cotton (Gossypium herbaceum/arboreum), both seeds of cotton and textile fragments in cotton, as well as textual mention sheds light on the diffusion paths of this tropical plant in the Old World. Both species have different trajectories. The first archaeological discoveries dating back to the 6th-4th mill. show perhaps localized domestication events of Gossypium arboreum in the Indian subcontinent while the spread of Gossypium herbaceum occurs at a later period around the change of era. During the beginning of the 1st mill. CE, cotton appears in numerous places in Arabia and Northeastern Africa, indicating its trade and acclimatization in arid environment. The examination of direct radiocarbon dating combined to the analysis of the distribution of the cotton archaeological finds and the textual evidence allow us to better characterise the trade routes and the introduction of cotton cultivation in local agrosystems, with a special focus on cotton in Arabia