Les « arbres à laine »

Abstract

Cotton plants, belonging to several species of the Gossypium genus, have attracted the attention of Old World populations since the Neolithic because of the fibres that are attached to their seeds. Despite the importance of these textile plants today , the origin and the evolution of their cultivation have long been ignored. Recent discoveries of Gossypium, in the form of fibres, textiles and seeds, on archaeological sites in the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent, makes it now possible to retrace the its ancient history in this part of the world. This article presents the main events of this history on the basis of botanical, archaeological and textual evidence.