TY - CHAP

T1 - Hunter-gatherer plant use in southwest Asia

T2 - The path to agriculture

AU - Otaegui, Amaia Arranz

AU - Ibañez, Juan José

AU - Zapata, Lydia

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - This paper focuses on plant use by the last hunter-gatherers in the Levant, from theLast Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the first experiments with plant cultivation at thebeginning of the Holocene. This review of Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic plantuse summarises available archaeobotanical and technological data. Information forthe Early Epipalaeolithic, especially from the site of Ohalo II, shows that, from theLGM, humans had access to exceptionally rich plant-food staples that included smallgrainedgrasses and wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and wild wheat (Triticumdicoccoides). Grasses seem to have been the staple plant foods but other plants werealso present: wild pulses, acorns, almonds, pistachios, wild olives, fruits, and berries.Grinding and pounding stone tools were in use at this time for processing plantresources. During the Late Epipaleolithic (Natufian) period plant use intensified, ascan be seen in the site of Abu Hureyra. The seed assemblage from Abu Hureyra Imay have included more than 120 food types comprising possible staples such as thegrain of wild rye (Secale spp.) and wheat (Triticum spp.), feather grasses (Stipa andStipagrostis spp.), club-rush (Scirpus maritimus), Euphrates knotgrass (Polygonumcorrigioloides), small-seeded grasses, and wild shrubby chenopods (Atriplex spp. andothers). The presence in Natufian sites of tools with glossy edges that were usedfor harvesting cereals, and the widespread nature of mortars suggest that cerealswere a more common food. During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), the firstexperiments with cultivation of morphologically wild cereals, and also probably oflegumes, took place. This involved cereals such as wild emmer (T. dicoccoides), wildeinkorn (T. boeoticum), wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and wild oat (Avenasterilis), and pulses such as rambling vetch (Vicia peregrina) and probably others.Human manipulation of plant resources opened the path to domestication with thefirst evidence found during the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB). However,the exploitation of wild plants continued to be important for these societies, as issuggested by the admixture of plant exploitation strategies during most of the PPNperiod and the late establishment of crop ‘packages’ during the Late PPNB.

AB - This paper focuses on plant use by the last hunter-gatherers in the Levant, from theLast Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the first experiments with plant cultivation at thebeginning of the Holocene. This review of Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic plantuse summarises available archaeobotanical and technological data. Information forthe Early Epipalaeolithic, especially from the site of Ohalo II, shows that, from theLGM, humans had access to exceptionally rich plant-food staples that included smallgrainedgrasses and wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and wild wheat (Triticumdicoccoides). Grasses seem to have been the staple plant foods but other plants werealso present: wild pulses, acorns, almonds, pistachios, wild olives, fruits, and berries.Grinding and pounding stone tools were in use at this time for processing plantresources. During the Late Epipaleolithic (Natufian) period plant use intensified, ascan be seen in the site of Abu Hureyra. The seed assemblage from Abu Hureyra Imay have included more than 120 food types comprising possible staples such as thegrain of wild rye (Secale spp.) and wheat (Triticum spp.), feather grasses (Stipa andStipagrostis spp.), club-rush (Scirpus maritimus), Euphrates knotgrass (Polygonumcorrigioloides), small-seeded grasses, and wild shrubby chenopods (Atriplex spp. andothers). The presence in Natufian sites of tools with glossy edges that were usedfor harvesting cereals, and the widespread nature of mortars suggest that cerealswere a more common food. During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), the firstexperiments with cultivation of morphologically wild cereals, and also probably oflegumes, took place. This involved cereals such as wild emmer (T. dicoccoides), wildeinkorn (T. boeoticum), wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and wild oat (Avenasterilis), and pulses such as rambling vetch (Vicia peregrina) and probably others.Human manipulation of plant resources opened the path to domestication with thefirst evidence found during the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB). However,the exploitation of wild plants continued to be important for these societies, as issuggested by the admixture of plant exploitation strategies during most of the PPNperiod and the late establishment of crop ‘packages’ during the Late PPNB.

UR - http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/wild-harvest.html

M3 - Book chapter

SN - ISBN 978-1-78570-123-8

T3 - Studying scientific archaeology

SP - 91

EP - 110

BT - Wild harvest

A2 - Hardy, Karen

A2 - Kubiak-Martens, Lucy

PB - Oxbow Books

CY - Oxford

ER -