Narrowing the harvest: Increasing sickle investment and the rise of domesticated cereal agriculture in the Fertile Crescent

Maeda, Osamu; Lucas, Leilani; Silva, Fabio; Tanno, Ken-ichi; Fuller, Dorian Q.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.032

Cited by 67 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…In accordance with the differences observed in the archaeological record between sites in the Levant and the eastern Fertile Crescent (33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50), the archaeobotanical evidence also highlights regional diversity in the plant-based subsistence around 11.7-10.7 ka Cal BP (PPNA in the Levant) (51)(52)(53). With few exceptions, wild cereals were the preferred type of plant exploited at sites in the southerncentral Levant and the Euphrates area, and there is substantial evidence of cultivation at several sites.…”

supporting

confidence: 79%

“…The spread of domesticated-type cereals is correlated with an overall increase in the presence of cereals as opposed to other plants in archaeobotanical assemblages, although exceptions exist (8, and see data in ref. 46). The information compiled so far indicates that cereals constituted 46.2% of the archaeobotanical assemblages at sites dated to 10.2-7.4 ka Cal BP, in comparison with the average of 22.4% found at sites dated to 13.8-10.2 ka Cal BP (based on ref.…”

Section: The Regional Evidence For Cereal Domestication (Early/ Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The information compiled so far indicates that cereals constituted 46.2% of the archaeobotanical assemblages at sites dated to 10.2-7.4 ka Cal BP, in comparison with the average of 22.4% found at sites dated to 13.8-10.2 ka Cal BP (based on ref. 46). However, the evidence suggests that there is not a directional change toward increased proportions of domesticated-type chaff, because these proportions are sometimes similar to or even lower than those seen during the EPPNB in southern Syria (c. 30%) (Figs.…”

Section: The Regional Evidence For Cereal Domestication (Early/ Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent excavations in the eastern Fertile Crescent have revealed significant differences in terms of architecture (42)(43)(44)(45), lithic industries (39,41,46), burial customs (36), and animal (47)(48)(49)(50) and plant exploitation (51)(52)(53) in comparison with sites in the Levant. Because of these differences, the aceramic Neolithic groups of the eastern Fertile Crescent are often referred to as "sedentary hunter/ herder-gatherer groups" as opposed to the farming societies of the Levantine area (36,54).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Regional diversity on the timing for the initial appearance of cereal cultivation and domestication in southwest Asia

Arranz‐Otaegui

Colledge

Zapata

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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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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supporting

confidence: 79%

Section: The Regional Evidence For Cereal Domestication (Early/ Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Regional Evidence For Cereal Domestication (Early/ Middlmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Regional diversity on the timing for the initial appearance of cereal cultivation and domestication in southwest Asia

Arranz‐Otaegui

Colledge

Zapata

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…8200-7500 BC) (Cucchi, Auffray and Vigne 2012). This rapid rise in commensal mice correlates with both increasing reliance on cereals across many sites (Maeda et al 2016), the appearance of increasingly larger sites (Fig. 3), and more readily recognizable evidence for storage bins within houses (Kuijt 2011).…”

Section: Entering the Storage Nichementioning

confidence: 87%

Open for Competition: Domesticates, Parasitic Domesticoids and the Agricultural Niche

Fuller¹,

Stevens²

2017

Self Cite

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This paper explores the relationship of weeds and crop parasites in the domestication of crop-plants within the Old World, drawing predominately on China and the Near East. This relationship is explored using the concept of niche construction in which the act of cultivation sets about chains of feedback in which the ecological worlds of plants and humans became increasingly intertwined resulting in ever increasing spheres of interdependence. Into this domestication entanglement a number of peripheral organisms (termed parasitic domesticoids) were drawn, from the weeds which came to inhabit arable fields, to the insect pests and rodents that came to settle in the grain stores of the first farmers. The evolution and spread of these organisms is then outlined against that of the crop itself.

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Loss of Reproductive Organ Separation Zones as Adaptation to Anthropogenic Seed‐Dispersal‐Based Mutualism

Baeyer

Tranbarger

Spengler

2022

Annual Plant Reviews Online

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Domestication, or the evolutionary adaptation of organisms to anthropogenic ecosystems, is a key area of research that links the biological and social sciences. The domestication of a select few species of angiosperms (notably in Poaceae and Fabaceae) played a prominent role in driving the demographic and cultural changes that led humanity into the modern world. The earliest phenotypic changes in plants during the first stages of the domestication process in each of the independent centres of domestication around the world include: (i) an increase in seed size (possibly pleiotropically linked to an overall increase in plant mass) and (ii) a loss of traits for seed dispersal, notably a loss of function in separation zones, abscission or dehiscence, resulting in seeds that remain attached to the plant. Archaeobotanists and geneticists have heavily focused on the evolution of these two sets of traits, tracing out their timing and pathways towards introgression; however, there are still ongoing debates related to the role of humans in this process and what specific ecological factors during the transition to agriculture changed selective pressures. In this article, we review what is known about the ecology of seed‐dispersal mechanisms in crop lineages before and after their adoption into cultivation systems; we specifically focus on abscission and dehiscence zones as archaeologically visible features directly associated with seed dispersal.

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Narrowing the harvest: Increasing sickle investment and the rise of domesticated cereal agriculture in the Fertile Crescent

Cited by 67 publications

References 66 publications

Regional diversity on the timing for the initial appearance of cereal cultivation and domestication in southwest Asia

Regional diversity on the timing for the initial appearance of cereal cultivation and domestication in southwest Asia

Open for Competition: Domesticates, Parasitic Domesticoids and the Agricultural Niche

Loss of Reproductive Organ Separation Zones as Adaptation to Anthropogenic Seed‐Dispersal‐Based Mutualism

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