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Regional diversity on the timing for the initial appearance of cereal cultivation and domestication in southwest Asia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 113:14001-14006. [PMID: 27930348 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1612797113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have broadened our knowledge regarding the origins of agriculture in southwest Asia by highlighting the multiregional and protracted nature of plant domestication. However, there have been few archaeobotanical data to examine whether the early adoption of wild cereal cultivation and the subsequent appearance of domesticated-type cereals occurred in parallel across southwest Asia, or if chronological differences existed between regions. The evaluation of the available archaeobotanical evidence indicates that during Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) cultivation of wild cereal species was common in regions such as the southern-central Levant and the Upper Euphrates area, but the plant-based subsistence in the eastern Fertile Crescent (southeast Turkey, Iran, and Iraq) focused on the exploitation of plants such as legumes, goatgrass, fruits, and nuts. Around 10.7-10.2 ka Cal BP (early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), the predominant exploitation of cereals continued in the southern-central Levant and is correlated with the appearance of significant proportions (∼30%) of domesticated-type cereal chaff in the archaeobotanical record. In the eastern Fertile Crescent exploitation of legumes, fruits, nuts, and grasses continued, and in the Euphrates legumes predominated. In these two regions domesticated-type cereal chaff (>10%) is not identified until the middle and late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10.2-8.3 ka Cal BP). We propose that the cultivation of wild and domesticated cereals developed at different times across southwest Asia and was conditioned by the regionally diverse plant-based subsistence strategies adopted by Pre-Pottery Neolithic groups.
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Weide A, Riehl S, Zeidi M, Conard NJ. A systematic review of wild grass exploitation in relation to emerging cereal cultivation throughout the Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic of the Fertile Crescent. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0189811. [PMID: 29293519 PMCID: PMC5749723 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2017] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study investigates the occurrence of wild grasses at Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic sites in the Near East in order to assess their role in subsistence economies alongside the emergence of cereal cultivation. We use Chogha Golan in the foothills of the central Zagros Mountains (ca. 11.7-9.6 ka cal. BP) as a case study, where the archaeobotanical data suggest the frequent exploitation of a complex of wild grasses for almost 2,000 years. Domesticated emmer replaced these wild grasses as the major food resources towards the end of occupation at the site (ca. 9.8 ka cal. BP). We discuss possible implications of this development and conclude that the traditional concept of pre-domestication cultivation seems unsuited for explaining the patterns from Chogha Golan. These data are in good accordance with the overall picture in the Zagros Mountains, where wild grasses were routinely gathered throughout the early Holocene. In contrast, wild grasses were gradually replaced by wild cereals in the Levantine corridor since the end of the Pleistocene. However, several sites located in this region provide evidence for a continuous exploitation of wild grasses alongside emerging cereal cultivation and most of these taxa were part of the earliest segetal floras that evolved with the appearance of domestic cereals throughout the 11th millennium cal. BP. Some sites contemporary to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B still provide evidence for the usage of wild grasses, which possibly reflects the utilization of edible arable weeds and continuous gathering of wild grasses by more mobile groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Weide
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Simone Riehl
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Tübingen Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mohsen Zeidi
- Tübingen Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J. Conard
- Tübingen Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Caracuta V, Vardi J, Paz Y, Boaretto E. Farming legumes in the pre-pottery Neolithic: New discoveries from the site of Ahihud (Israel). PLoS One 2017; 12:e0177859. [PMID: 28542358 PMCID: PMC5443508 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2016] [Accepted: 04/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
New discoveries of legumes in the lower Galilee at the prehistoric site of Ahihud in Israel shed light on early farming systems in the southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating of twelve legumes from pits and floors indicate that the farming of legumes was practiced in southern Levant as early as 10.240-10.200 (1σ) ago. The legumes were collected from pits and other domestic contexts dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The legumes identified include Vicia faba L. (faba bean), V. ervilia (bitter vetch), V. narbonensis (narbon vetch), Lens sp. (lentil), Pisum sp. (pea), Lathyrus inconspicuus (inconspicuous pea) and L. hirosolymitanus (jerusalem vetchling). Comparison with coeval sites in the region show how the presence of peas, narbon vetches, inconspicuous peas, jerusalem vetchlings and bitter vetches together with faba bean and lentils is unique to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and might indicate specific patterns in farming or storing at the onset of agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Caracuta
- Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, Rehovot, Israel
- D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Jacob Vardi
- Israel Antiquity Authority, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ytzhak Paz
- Israel Antiquity Authority, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Elisabetta Boaretto
- Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, Rehovot, Israel
- D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rehovot, Israel
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Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms based on RNA sequencing data of diverse bio-geographical accessions in barley. Sci Rep 2016; 6:33199. [PMID: 27616653 PMCID: PMC5018957 DOI: 10.1038/srep33199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2015] [Accepted: 08/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Barley is one of the founder crops of Old world agriculture and has become the fourth most important cereal worldwide. Information on genome-scale DNA polymorphisms allows elucidating the evolutionary history behind domestication, as well as discovering and isolating useful genes for molecular breeding. Deep transcriptome sequencing enables the exploration of sequence variations in transcribed sequences; such analysis is particularly useful for species with large and complex genomes, such as barley. In this study, we performed RNA sequencing of 20 barley accessions, comprising representatives of several biogeographic regions and a wild ancestor. We identified 38,729 to 79,949 SNPs in the 19 domesticated accessions and 55,403 SNPs in the wild barley and revealed their genome-wide distribution using a reference genome. Genome-scale comparisons among accessions showed a clear differentiation between oriental and occidental barley populations. The results based on population structure analyses provide genome-scale properties of sub-populations grouped to oriental, occidental and marginal groups in barley. Our findings suggest that the oriental population of domesticated barley has genomic variations distinct from those in occidental groups, which might have contributed to barley’s domestication.
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Asouti E, Fuller DQ. A Contextual Approach to the Emergence of Agriculture in Southwest Asia. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1086/670679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Besnard G, Khadari B, Navascués M, Fernández-Mazuecos M, El Bakkali A, Arrigo N, Baali-Cherif D, Brunini-Bronzini de Caraffa V, Santoni S, Vargas P, Savolainen V. The complex history of the olive tree: from Late Quaternary diversification of Mediterranean lineages to primary domestication in the northern Levant. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 280:20122833. [PMID: 23390107 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The location and timing of domestication of the olive tree, a key crop in Early Mediterranean societies, remain hotly debated. Here, we unravel the history of wild olives (oleasters), and then infer the primary origins of the domesticated olive. Phylogeography and Bayesian molecular dating analyses based on plastid genome profiling of 1263 oleasters and 534 cultivated genotypes reveal three main lineages of pre-Quaternary origin. Regional hotspots of plastid diversity, species distribution modelling and macrofossils support the existence of three long-term refugia; namely the Near East (including Cyprus), the Aegean area and the Strait of Gibraltar. These ancestral wild gene pools have provided the essential foundations for cultivated olive breeding. Comparison of the geographical pattern of plastid diversity between wild and cultivated olives indicates the cradle of first domestication in the northern Levant followed by dispersals across the Mediterranean basin in parallel with the expansion of civilizations and human exchanges in this part of the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Besnard
- CNRS-UPS-ENFA, EDB, UMR 5174, Bât. 4R1, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
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Kaniewski D, Van Campo E, Boiy T, Terral JF, Khadari B, Besnard G. Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2012; 87:885-99. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185x.2012.00229.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012; 109:3640-5. [PMID: 22371591 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113931109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 138] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9-11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical basis to explain the origins of agricultural lifestyles in the Levant by suggesting a failure of foraging societies to adjust. This explanation however, does not fit the scarcity of data for predomestication cultivation in the Natufian Period. The resilience of Younger Dryas foragers is better illustrated by a concept of adaptive cycles within a theory of adaptive change (resilience theory). Such cycles consist of four phases: release/collapse (Ω); reorganization (α), when the system restructures itself after a catastrophic stimulus through innovation and social memory--a period of greater resilience and less vulnerability; exploitation (r); and conservation (K), representing an increasingly rigid system that loses flexibility to change. The Kebarans and Late Natufians had similar responses to cold and dry conditions vs. Early Natufians and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A responses to warm and wet climates. Kebarans and Late Natufians (α-phase) shifted to a broader-based diet and increased their mobility. Early Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A populations (r- and K-phases) had a growing investment in more narrowly focused, high-yield plant resources, but they maintained the broad range of hunted animals because of increased sedentism. These human adaptive cycles interlocked with plant and animal cycles. Forest and grassland vegetation responded to late Pleistocene and early Holocene climatic fluctuations, but prey animal cycles reflected the impact of human hunting pressure. The combination of these three adaptive cycles results in a model of human adaptation, showing potential for great sustainability of Levantine foraging systems even under adverse climatic conditions.
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Fuller DQ, Willcox G, Allaby RG. Early agricultural pathways: moving outside the 'core area' hypothesis in Southwest Asia. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2012; 63:617-33. [PMID: 22058404 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/err307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The origins of agriculture in the Near East has been associated with a 'core area', located in south-eastern Turkey, in which all major crops were brought into domestication within the same local domestication system operated by a single cultural group. Such an origin leads to a scenario of rapid invention of agriculture by a select cultural group and typically monophyletic origins for most crops. Surprisingly, support for a core area has never been directly tested with archaeological evidence. Over the past decade a large amount of new archaeological and genetic evidence has been discovered which brings new light on the origins of agriculture. In this review, this new evidence was brought together in order to evaluate whether a core region of origin is supported. Evidence shows that origins began earlier than previously assumed, and included 'false starts' and dead ends that involved many more species than the typical eight founder crops associated with the core area. The rates at which domestication syndrome traits became fixed were generally slow, rather than rapid, and occurred over a geographically wide range that included the North and South Levant as well as the core area. Finally, a survey of the estimated ages of archaeological sites and the onset of domestication indicates that the domestication process was ongoing in parallel outside of the core area earlier than within it. Overall, evidence suggests a scenario in which crops were domesticated slowly in different locations around the Near East rather than emanating from a core area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorian Q Fuller
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
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Özkan H, Willcox G, Graner A, Salamini F, Kilian B. Geographic distribution and domestication of wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides). GENETIC RESOURCES AND CROP EVOLUTION 2011. [PMID: 0 DOI: 10.1007/s10722-010-9581-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
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