Identification and exploitation of wild rye (Secale spp.) during the early Neolithic in the Middle Euphrates valley

Douché, Carolyne; Willcox, George

doi:10.1007/s00334-023-00906-4

Cited by 2 publications

References 45 publications

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Revisiting the concept of the ‘Neolithic Founder Crops’ in southwest Asia

Arranz‐Otaegui

Roe

2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Zohary and Hopf coined the term ‘founder crops’ to refer to a specific group of eight plants, namely three cereals (einkorn, emmer and barley), four legumes (lentil, pea, bitter vetch and chickpea), and a fibre/oil crop (flax), that founded early Neolithic agriculture in southwest Asia. Zohary considered these taxa as the first cultivated and domesticated species, as well as those that agricultural communities exploited and eventually spread to Europe and other regions. As a result, these eight species soon become the hallmark of the Neolithic plant-based subsistence. However, the ‘founder crops’ concept was defined at the end of the 1980s, when the development of agriculture was considered a rapid event, and therefore, terms like domestication, agriculture and plant cultivation were used interchangeably in the literature. The aim of this paper is thus to revisit concept of the ‘Neolithic founder crops’. Through a critical review of the archaeobotanical evidence gathered in the last 40 years, we evaluate the relative contribution of the ‘eight founder crop’ species to the plant-based subsistence across different periods of the southwest Asian Neolithic. We conclude that multiple groups of ‘founder’ species could be defined depending on whether one seeks to represent the most exploited plants of the Neolithic period, the first cultivated and domesticated crops, or the species that agricultural communities cultivated and eventually spread to Europe. Improved understanding of Neolithic plant-based subsistence in general, and agriculture in particular, will be attained by moving beyond conventional narratives and exploring the evolutionary history of plants other than the original ‘founder’ species.

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Revisiting the concept of the ‘Neolithic Founder Crops’ in southwest Asia

Arranz‐Otaegui

Roe

2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Sequencing of historical plastid genomes reveal exceptional genetic diversity in early domesticated rye plants

Komluski,

Filatova,

Schlütz

et al. 2024

Preprint

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In medieval central Europe, rye was one of the most important agricultural crops. It’s properties of frost resistance, general resilience and resistance to many pathogens made it invaluable for medieval farmers. Rye has a distinct domestication history compared to other cereal crops and was not domesticated directly from its wild ancestors, like barley and wheat. Rye is considered to be a “secondary domesticate”, i.e. a crop with domestication traits that initially evolved as an arable weed but eventually was intentionally sown and propagated as a crop. To study the history of rye domestication, genetic sequences of present-day plant populations as well as material from historical samples can provide insights into the temporal and spatial signatures of domestication. In this study we combined archaeobotanical methods and ancient DNA sequencing of well-preserved, historical rye material to study patterns of genetic diversity across four centuries. We first applied archaeobotanical methods to characterize rye material acquired from construction material ranging from the 14thto 18thcentury from different locations in Germany. Next, we extracted DNA to sequence complete chloroplast genomes of six individual samples. We compared the 115,000 bp chloroplast genomes of historical rye samples to chloroplast genomes of other cereal crops and identified 217 single nucleotide variants exclusive to historical samples. By comparing the aDNA chloroplast samples with modern rye chloroplasts, we show that the genetic variation in ancient rye populations was exceptionally high compared to samples from contemporary rye cultivars. This confirms that late domestication and selective breeding have reduced genetic variation in this important crop species only in the last few centuries.HighlightsHistorical plant material covering four centuries was obtained from half-timbered houses from five locations in GermanyIntegrative archaeobotanical analyses and ancient DNA sequencing provided insights into genetic diversity of rye plants from historical farmland fields.Sequence analyses of complete assembled chloroplast genomes reveal expectational diversity in rye populations.Late domestication of rye preserved genetic diversity over centuries. The more recent intensification of rye breeding has however conferred a considerable loss of genetic diversity in this important crop.

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Identification and exploitation of wild rye (Secale spp.) during the early Neolithic in the Middle Euphrates valley

Cited by 2 publications

References 45 publications

Revisiting the concept of the ‘Neolithic Founder Crops’ in southwest Asia

Revisiting the concept of the ‘Neolithic Founder Crops’ in southwest Asia

Sequencing of historical plastid genomes reveal exceptional genetic diversity in early domesticated rye plants

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