Simone Riehl

Emergence of Agriculture in the Foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran

Early Farmers? What was the role of the eastern Fertile Crescent (which includes southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, and western Iran) in the transition from foraging to farming? Riehl et al. (p. 65; see the Perspective by Willcox) investigated an archaeobotanical assemblage from Chogha Golan, in modern Iran over an apparently continuous occupation of the site over 2000 years, which captures the transition from foraging to farming. The rich archaeobotanical remains suggest the use of a wide array of plant species, including the progenitors of key crop plants (wheat, barley, and large-seeded legumes). Residents of the eastern Fertile Crescent thus appear to have been involved in plant management and possibly in the domestication of wild crop plants. An archaeobotanical assemblage spans the transition period from foraging to farming in the Near East. [Also see Perspective by Wilcox] The role of Iran as a center of origin for domesticated cereals has long been debated. High stratigraphic resolution and rich archaeological remains at the aceramic Neolithic site of Chogha Golan (Ilam Province, present-day Iran) reveal a sequence ranging over 2200 years of cultivation of wild plants and the first appearance of domesticated-type species. The botanical record from Chogha Golan documents how the inhabitants of the site cultivated wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and other wild progenitor species of modern crops, such as wild lentil and pea. Wild wheat species (Triticum spp.) are initially present at less than 10% of total plant species but increase to more than 20% during the last 300 years of the sequence. Around 9800 calendar years before the present, domesticated-type emmer appears. The archaeobotanical remains from Chogha Golan represent the earliest record of long-term plant management in Iran.

Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ13C in barley grain

Significance Collapse and resilience of ancient Near Eastern societies is intrinsically tied to agricultural production. Despite intensive palaeoclimate research, the role of environmental conditions in ancient agricultural production is little understood. Stable carbon isotope analysis on cereal grains from archaeological sites provides a direct evidence for drought stress. This paper demonstrates that drought stress correlated with major climatic fluctuations and affected many agricultural settlements in the ancient Near East but that its regional impact was diverse and influenced by geographic factors and human technology. The results lead to a better understanding of how ancient agricultural societies performed under fluctuating climate and regionally diverse environmental conditions. The collapse and resilience of political systems in the ancient Near East and their relationship with agricultural development have been of wide interest in archaeology and anthropology. Despite attempts to link the archaeological evidence to local paleoclimate data, the precise role of environmental conditions in ancient agricultural production remains poorly understood. Recently, stable isotope analysis has been used for reconstructing site-specific ancient growing conditions for crop species in semiarid and arid landscapes. To open the discussion of the role of regional diversity in past agricultural production as a factor in societal development, we present 1.037 new stable carbon isotope measurements from 33 archaeological sites and modern fields in the geographic area of the Fertile Crescent, spanning the Aceramic Neolithic [10,000 calibrated years (cal) B.C.] to the later Iron Age (500 cal B.C.), alongside modern data from 13 locations. Our data show that drought stress was an issue in many agricultural settlements in the ancient Near East, particularly in correlation with the major Holocene climatic fluctuations, but its regional impact was diverse and influenced by geographic factors. Although cereals growing in the coastal areas of the northern Levant were relatively unaffected by Holocene climatic fluctuations, farmers of regions further inland had to apply irrigation to cope with increased water stress. However, inland agricultural strategies showed a high degree of variability. Our findings suggest that regional differences in climatic effects led to diversified strategies in ancient subsistence and economy even within spatially limited cultural units.

Genomic analysis of 6,000-year-old cultivated grain illuminates the domestication history of barley

The cereal grass barley was domesticated about 10,000 years before the present in the Fertile Crescent and became a founder crop of Neolithic agriculture. Here we report the genome sequences of five 6,000-year-old barley grains excavated at a cave in the Judean Desert close to the Dead Sea. Comparison to whole-exome sequence data from a diversity panel of present-day barley accessions showed the close affinity of ancient samples to extant landraces from the Southern Levant and Egypt, consistent with a proposed origin of domesticated barley in the Upper Jordan Valley. Our findings suggest that barley landraces grown in present-day Israel have not experienced major lineage turnover over the past six millennia, although there is evidence for gene flow between cultivated and sympatric wild populations. We demonstrate the usefulness of ancient genomes from desiccated archaeobotanical remains in informing research into the origin, early domestication and subsequent migration of crop species.

Stable isotopes in archaeobotanical research

In recent decades the analysis of stable isotopes in plants has become a useful method to infer natural and anthropogenic effects on the growing conditions of plants. Here we present a review of the state-of-the-art regarding the use of stable isotopes in plant macroremains. After providing a brief theoretical and methodological background, we will concentrate on the most common applications developed so far: reconstruction of climate and crop growing conditions, and crop provenancing. Finally, we will discuss current methodological challenges, and potential new directions for research.

Mid-To-Late Holocene Agricultural System Transformations in the Northern Fertile Crescent: A Review of the Archaeobotanical, Geoarchaeological, and Philological Evidence

Climates, Landsca Geophysical Mon

New Radiocarbon Dates from Tel Kabri Support a High Middle Bronze Age Chronology

This article presents new radiocarbon evidence from the Middle Bronze Age palatial site of Tel Kabri (Israel). The final phase of the palace (Phase III) can be dated to Middle Bronze Age II, with an end date around the transition from Middle Bronze II to III or very early in Middle Bronze III. According to our 14 C data, the end of Tel Kabri Phase III (and thus the transition from Middle Bronze II to III) can be dated to ~1700 BC. This date is about 50–100 yr earlier than traditional chronological models for the Middle Bronze Age propose (~1650 BC according to the traditional chronology or ~1600 BC according to the low chronology). 14 C data from Tel Kabri thus add additional evidence for a higher Middle Bronze Age chronology for the Levant, consistent with recent 14 C evidence from Tell el-Dab c a (Egypt), Tel Ifshar (Israel), and Tell el-Burak (Lebanon).

New Evidence for Middle Bronze Age Chronology and Synchronisms in the Levant: Radiocarbon Dates from Tell el-Burak, Tell el-Dabʿa, and Tel Ifshar Compared

We report a set of radiocarbon data for the Middle Bronze Age monumental building at Tell el-Burak in Lebanon, dating it to the 19th century b.c., and summarize the relevant archaeological information concerning the stratigraphy and dating of the building. The radiocarbon data from Tell el-Burak is consistent with the high Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon dates recently reported for Tell el-Dabʿa in the eastern Nile Delta and with radiocarbon dates for Middle Bronze Age Tel Ifshar in the coastal plain of Israel. A comparison of these radiocarbon dates questions the current (low) Middle Bronze Age absolute chronology of the southern Levant, which is largely based on the stratigraphic sequence of Tell el-Dabʿa. Due to open questions in the archaeological dating of Tell el-Dabʿa, we argue against using a single site as a main reference for dating the Middle Bronze Age in the Levant and argue for adopting a comprehensive and independent approach based on archaeological, historical, and radiocarbon evidence from all relevant sites.

The Role of the Local Environment in the Slow Pace of Emerging Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent

The origin of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent is among the most frequently investigated topics in Old World archaeology. Environmental pressure in relation with the Younger Dryas event is frequently discussed as a general determinant in the transition to cultivating domesticated cereals. Although there are data on the palaeoclimate and vegetation at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Fertile Crescent, the role of environmental conditions at the emergence of agriculture on the local level has rarely been investigated. Archaeobotanical data from a number of Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic sites in the northern and eastern parts of the Fertile Crescent, as well as stable carbon isotope data on wild cereals from some of these sites, are investigated for their explanatory power regarding ancient ecological conditions of early cereal production and the slow pace of emerging agriculture. The data emphasize a high diversity on the taxonomic as well as on the inter-site level in the oldest aceramic Neolithic sites, supporting opportunistic resource use. At the same time, there is a trend toward higher amounts of small-seeded taxa in older sites with lower modern mean annual precipitation, as well as a generally stronger stress signal in large-seeded progenitor species than in PPNB (Pre-pottery Neolithic B) sites. Large-seeded progenitor species, in contrast, occur in greater amounts at younger sites with higher modern mean annual precipitation. Environmental variability in space and time seem to have strongly determined human choices in plant subsistence.

Subsistence strategies and vegetation development at Aceramic Neolithic Körtik Tepe, southeastern Anatolia, Turkey

With the advent of sedentism, or living in permanent settlements, a new way of life began. The hunter and gatherers’ well established subsistence strategy of thousands of years slowly moved towards farming, beginning with herding and cultivation and leading to the domestication of animals and plants. The Aceramic Neolithic site of Körtik Tepe in southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, provides insight into a permanent settlement of hunters and gatherers at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Early Holocene. Archaeobotanical investigations at the site including charcoal studies provide new information about the origins of agriculture in the northern Fertile Crescent. With the start of the Younger Dryas, there was an opening up of the oak woodland, which may have allowed widespread dense stands of annual, especially small-seeded grasses and riverine taxa to grow and thus provide staple foods for the inhabitants of Körtik Tepe. With the beginning of the Early Holocene, the oak woodland spread again and replaced these open grass-dominated stands, and the people of Körtik Tepe seem to have then favoured large-seeded grasses, nuts and legumes. Riverine taxa and a large diversity of edible plants were used for subsistence in both time periods. Increasing numbers of chaff remains and weeds in the Early Holocene samples suggest small-scale cultivation of the wild progenitors of cereals and pulses.

A systematic review of wild grass exploitation in relation to emerging cereal cultivation throughout the Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic of the Fertile Crescent

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.