Agriculture along the upper part of the Middle Zarafshan River during the first millennium AD: A multi-site archaeobotanical analysis.

The Zarafshan River runs from the mountains of Tajikistan and terminates in the sands of the Kyzyl-Kum Desert in Uzbekistan; it served as a communication route and homeland for the Sogdians. The Sogdians are historically depicted as merchants existing from the end of the first millennium BC through the first millennium AD. While recent research has provided the first glimpse into cultivation, commerce, communication, and consumption in the Lower Zarafshan, the agricultural heartland of the Middle Zarafshan Basin has remained unstudied. This paper presents the results of archaeobotanical investigations conducted at five ancient urban sites/areas spanning the fifth to the twelfth centuries AD: Kainar (Penjikent citadel), Penjikent (shahristan), Sanjar-Shah, Kuk-Tosh (pre-Mongol Penjikent), and Afrasiab. Collectively, these data show that cereals, legumes, oil/fiber crops, fruits, and nuts were cultivated on the fertile Zarafshan floodplains. In this paper, we discuss evidence for the diversification of the agricultural assemblage over time, including the introduction of new staple crops and fruits into an already complex cultivation system. In addition, we contrast our data with previously published results from sites along the course of the Zarafshan to determine whether there is a dietary difference between pre-and post-Islamic conquest periods at settlements located along the river.

Continuous presence of proto-cereals in Anatolia since 2.3 Ma, and their possible co-evolution with large herbivores and hominins.

Cereals are a central resource for the human diet and are traditionally assumed to have evolved from wild grasses at the onset of the Neolithic under the pressure of agriculture. Here we demonstrate that cereals may have a significantly longer and more diverse lineage, based on the study of a 0-2.3 Ma, 601 m long sedimentary core from Lake Acigöl (South-West Anatolia). Pollen characteristic of cereals is abundant throughout the sedimentary sequence. The presence of large lakes within this arid bioclimatic zone led to the concentration of large herbivore herds, as indicated by the continuous occurrence of coprophilous fungi spores in the record. Our hypothesis is that the effects of overgrazing on soils and herbaceous stratum, during this long period, led to genetic modifications of the Poaceae taxa and to the appearance of proto-cereals. The simultaneous presence of hominins is attested as early as about 1.4 Ma in the lake vicinity, and 1.8 Ma in Georgia and Levant. These ancient hominins probably benefited from the availability of these proto-cereals, rich in nutrients, as well as various other edible plants, opening the way, in this region of the Middle East, to a process of domestication, which reached its full development during the Neolithic.

Metabolic profiling of historical and modern wheat cultivars using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

To determine changes in the grain components between historical and modern wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, wholemeal flours from 19 wheat cultivars and 2 landraces released or introduced between 1870 and 2013 and grown over two crop years were extracted using hydroalcoholic solution and analyzed using one dimensional 1H NMR spectral profiling. Grain yield, grain volume weight (GVW), and grain protein concentration were also measured. Grain yield increased while protein concentration decreased by release year (p < 0.001). Increasing trends (p < 0.01) were observed for tryptophan, sum of the measured amino acids, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, and sum of the measured phenolic acids. Grain yield, phenolic acids, and tryptophan were mainly associated with modern cultivars, whereas grain protein concentration and GVW were associated with historical cultivars. The findings from this study showed changes in concentration of grain components over a century of breeding that may have implications for grain quality and human health.

Southwest Asian cereal crops facilitated high-elevation agriculture in the central Tien Shan during the mid-third millennium BCE.

We report the earliest and the most abundant archaeobotanical assemblage of southwest Asian grain crops from Early Bronze Age Central Asia, recovered from the Chap II site in Kyrgyzstan. The archaeobotanical remains consist of thousands of cultivated grains dating to the mid-late third millennium BCE. The recovery of cereal chaff and weeds suggest local cultivation at 2000 m.a.s.l., as crops first spread to the mountains of Central Asia. The site's inhabitants possibly cultivated two types of free-threshing wheats, glume wheats, and hulled and naked barleys. Highly compact caryopses of wheat and barley grains represent distinct morphotypes of cereals adapted to highland environments. While additional macrobotanical evidence is needed to confirm the presence of glume wheats at Chap II, the possible identification of glume wheats at Chap II may represent their most eastern distribution in Central Asia. Based on the presence of weed species, we argue that the past environment of Chap II was characterized by an open mountain landscape, where animal grazing likely took place, which may have been further modified by people irrigating agricultural fields. This research suggests that early farmers in the mountains of Central Asia cultivated compact morphotypes of southwest Asian crops during the initial eastward dispersal of agricultural technologies, which likely played a critical role in shaping montane adaptations and dynamic interaction networks between farming societies across highland and lowland cultivation zones.

Agricultural intensification was associated with crop diversification in India (1947-2014).

Declines in agricultural biodiversity associated with modern farming practices may negatively affect the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, but formal knowledge of historical variation in spatio-temporal variation of agro-biodiversity is limited. We used time series of national (1947-2014) and district-level (1956-2008) crop distribution data for India to show that despite strong agricultural intensification after 1960, the average crop species diversity at the district level was stable, but increased at the country-level. While there was a decline in diversity in the major rice and wheat producing regions of northwestern India, associated with intensification of the production of these crops, diversity in western and southern India increased due to expansion of oilseeds and horticultural crops that replaced millet and sorghum. These opposite, but related, trends in crop-level diversity at the sub-national level partially canceled each other out at national level, but there nevertheless was a noticeable increase in overall crop diversity in India during this time period. Our results illustrate how patterns of change in crop diversity need to be considered at different levels of aggregation, and how a decrease in diversity associated with intensification and specialization in one area, may be associated with increased diversity elsewhere, and that support for intensive agriculture with relatively low crop diversity in some regions may be associated with an increase in crop diversity in other regions and at a higher level of aggregation.

A 3,000-year-old Egyptian emmer wheat genome reveals dispersal and domestication history.

Tetraploid emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccon) is a progenitor of the world's most widely grown crop, hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), as well as the direct ancestor of tetraploid durum wheat (T. turgidum subsp. turgidum). Emmer was one of the first cereals to be domesticated in the old world; it was cultivated from around 9700 BC in the Levant1,2 and subsequently in south-western Asia, northern Africa and Europe with the spread of Neolithic agriculture3,4. Here, we report a whole-genome sequence from a museum specimen of Egyptian emmer wheat chaff, 14C dated to the New Kingdom, 1130-1000 BC. Its genome shares haplotypes with modern domesticated emmer at loci that are associated with shattering, seed size and germination, as well as within other putative domestication loci, suggesting that these traits share a common origin before the introduction of emmer to Egypt. Its genome is otherwise unusual, carrying haplotypes that are absent from modern emmer. Genetic similarity with modern Arabian and Indian emmer landraces connects ancient Egyptian emmer with early south-eastern dispersals, whereas inferred gene flow with wild emmer from the Southern Levant signals a later connection. Our results show the importance of museum collections as sources of genetic data to uncover the history and diversity of ancient cereals.

Sedentism and plant cultivation in northeast China emerged during affluent conditions.

The reasons and processes that led hunter-gatherers to transition into a sedentary and agricultural way of life are a fundamental unresolved question of human history. Here we present results of excavations of two single-occupation early Neolithic sites (dated to 7.9 and 7.4 ka) and two high-resolution archaeological surveys in northeast China, which capture the earliest stages of sedentism and millet cultivation in the second oldest center of domestication in the Old World. The transition to sedentism coincided with a significant transition to wetter conditions in north China, at 8.1-7.9 ka. We suggest that these wetter conditions were an empirical precondition that facilitated the complex transitional process to sedentism and eventually millet domestication in north China. Interestingly, sedentism and plant domestication followed different trajectories. The sedentary way of life and cultural norms evolved rapidly, within a few hundred years, we find complex sedentary villages inhabiting the landscape. However, the process of plant domestication, progressed slowly over several millennia. Our earliest evidence for the beginning of the domestication process appear in the context of an already complex sedentary village (late Xinglongwa culture), a half millennia after the onset of cultivation, and even in this phase domesticated plants and animals were rare, suggesting that the transition to domesticated (sensu stricto) plants in affluent areas might have not played a substantial role in the transition to sedentary societies.

Multiple indicators of rice remains and the process of rice domestication: A case study in the lower Yangtze River region, China.

The process of rice domestication has been studied for decades based on changing morphological characteristics in assemblages of both macroremains, such as charred seeds and spikelet bases, and microremains, such as phytoliths, esp. bulliform and double-peaked phytoliths. The applicability of these indicators in determining if a specific assemblage is wild or domesticated, however, is rarely discussed. To understand the significance of these indicators in the determination of domestication, we collected 38 archaeological samples from eight Neolithic sites, dating from 10-2ka BP, in the lower Yangtze River region to analyze and compare the changes of these different indicators over eight thousand years. The data demonstrate that the comprehensive analysis of multiple indicators may be the best method to study the process of rice domestication developed thus far. An assemblage of rice remains can be identified as domesticated forms if they meet the following criteria simultaneously: 1) the proportion of domesticated-type bulliform phytoliths is more than 73%; and 2) the proportion of domesticated-type rice spikelet bases is higher than 75%. Furthermore, we found that each indicator tends to change steadily and gradually over time, and each stabilized at a different time, suggesting that the characteristics of domesticated rice developed slowly and successively. Changes of multiple indicators during the period between 10,000-2,000 yr BP indicate that the process of rice domestication in the lower Yangtze River region lasted as long as ca. 6,000 years during the Neolithic, and can be divided into three stages with the turning points in the middle Hemudu-late Majiabang culture (6,500-5,800yr BP) and the late Liangzhu culture (4,600-4,300yr BP).

Estimating the responses of winter wheat yields to moisture variations in the past 35 years in Jiangsu Province of China.

Jiangsu is an important agricultural province in China. Winter wheat, as the second major grain crop in the province, is greatly affected by moisture variations. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there were significant trends in changes in the moisture conditions during wheat growing seasons over the past decades and how the wheat yields responded to different moisture levels by means of a popular drought index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). The study started with a trend analysis and quantification of the moisture conditions with the Mann-Kendall test and Sen's Slope method, respectively. Then, correlation analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between de-trended wheat yields and multi-scalar SPEI. Finally, a multivariate panel regression model was established to reveal the quantitative yield responses to moisture variations. The results showed that the moisture conditions in Jiangsu were generally at a normal level, but this century appeared slightly drier in because of the relatively high temperatures. There was a significant correlation between short time scale SPEI values and wheat yields. Among the three critical stages of wheat development, the SPEI values in the late growth stage (April-June) had a closer linkage to the yields than in the seedling stage (October-November) and the over-wintering stage (December-February). Moreover, the yield responses displayed an asymmetric characteristic, namely, moisture excess led to higher yield losses compared to moisture deficit in this region. The maximum yield increment could be obtained under the moisture level of slight drought according to the 3-month SPEI at the late growth stage, while extreme wetting resulted in the most severe yield losses. The moisture conditions in the first 15 years of the 21st century were more favorable than in the last 20 years of the 20th century for wheat production in Jiangsu.

Plant behaviour from human imprints and the cultivation of wild cereals in Holocene Sahara.

The human selection of food plants cannot always have been aimed exclusively at isolating the traits typical of domesticated species today. Each phase of global change must have obliged plants and humans to cope with and develop innovative adaptive strategies. Hundreds of thousands of wild cereal seeds from the Holocene 'green Sahara' tell a story of cultural trajectories and environmental instability revealing that a complex suite of weediness traits were preferred by both hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. The archaeobotanical record of the Takarkori rockshelter in southwest Libya covering four millennia of human occupation in the central Sahara gives us a unique insight into long-term plant manipulation and cultivation without domestication. The success of a number of millets was rooted in their invasive-opportunistic behaviour, rewarded during their coexistence with people in Africa. These wild plants were selected for features that were precious in the past but pernicious for agriculture today. Reconnecting past practices with modern farming strategies can help us to seek out the best resources for the future.

Dental wear quantity and direction in Chalcolithic and Medieval populations from southwest France.

The aim of this study was to verify if dental wear changed due to the dietary shift between the Chalcolithic and Middle Ages from relatively hard and fibrous foods to soft cooked cereals. This was accomplished by comparing dental wear quantity and direction between people from two archaeological sites, Les Treilles during the Chalcolithic (mixed subsistence farmers) and Marsan from the Middle Ages (agriculturalists) in southwest France. The materials studied include 65 mandibles, 32 from Les Treilles and 33 from Marsan; 549 teeth were studied. The results show statistically significant difference in wear quantity and direction, the Chalcolithic population (Les Treilles) had the greatest levels of wear in a mainly oblique direction, with the anterior teeth heavily affected by wear. Comparatively, the Medieval sample (Marsan) had lesser levels of wear in a mainly horizontal direction, and the most heavily worn teeth were the molars and incisors. The quantity of wear seems to correlate well with changes in diet, the high level of wear on the anterior teeth in the Chalcolithic sample corresponds with the consumption of a mixed diet of fibrous and tough foods. At Marsan, the lower wear quantity was likely due to a diet of soft boiled cereals, requiring less mastication. However, wear direction appears dependent on several factors and may correlate with more mixed subsistence practices. This study demonstrates the need for additional research into the complex actions of mastication and its effect on dental wear, as well as standardised methodology for the examination of dental wear in archaeological samples.

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

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.

El origen africano del cultivo de arroz en las Américas / The african origins of rice cultivation in the Americas

El arroz no empezó a ser cultivado en las Américas sino hasta el periodo del comercio transatlántico de esclavos. Para el siglo XVIII este cultivo ya se había establecido extensamente en plantaciones desde Carolina del Sur hasta Brasil. Cultivado por esclavos así como cimarrones, tanto para la subsistencia como para la exportación, el comienzo de la cultivación de arroz en las Américas invariablemente se ha atribuido a los dueños de plantaciones europeos. Este artículo presenta evidencia del importante papel que desempeñaron los africanos en establecer la cultura del arroz en el Nuevo Mundo. Este trabajo se enfoca sobre el arroz africano (Oryza glaberrima), personas esclavizadas de África occidental para quienes este cultivo era un alimento básico, y un sistema de conocimiento indígena sobre el arroz con características idénticas entre el Atlántico africano y americano. Un estudio comparativo de usos del suelo, métodos de cultivo, procesos de molienda y tradiciones culinarias ilumina el tema de la difusión de la cultura africana de arroz a las Américas, así como la labor que desempeñaron los esclavos de África occidental en liderar el cultivo de arroz para eventualmente convertirlo en un alimento básico de subsistencia en el Nuevo Mundo (AU)

Until the period of the transatlantic slave trade, rice was not cultivated in the Americas. By the eighteenth century the crop was widely established across plantation societies from South Carolina to Brazil. Grown by slaves as well as maroons, for subsistence and also for export, the onset of rice cultivation in the Americas has long been attributed to European planters. This article presents evidence that supports African agency in establishing rice culture in the New World. Emphasis is on African rice (Oryza glaberrima), enslaved West Africans for whom the crop was a dietary staple, and an indigenous rice knowledge system with identical features across the African and American Atlantic. A comparative analysis of land use, methods of cultivation, milling and cooking traditions illuminates the diffusion of African rice culture to the Americas and the role of West African slaves in pioneering rice as a New World subsistence staple (AU)

Microbotanical evidence of domestic cereals in Africa 7000 years ago.

The study of plant exploitation and early use of cereals in Africa has seen over the years a great input from charred and desiccated macrobotanical remains. This paper presents the results of one of the few examples in Africa of microbotanical analyses. Three grave contexts of phytolith-rich deposits and the dental calculus of 20 individuals were analysed from two Neolithic cemeteries in North and Central Sudan. The radiocarbon-dated phytoliths from the burial samples show the presence of Near East domestic cereals in Northern Sudan at least 7000 years ago. Phytoliths also indicate the exploitation of wild, savannah-adapted millets in Central Sudan between 7500 and 6500 years ago. The calculus samples contained starch grains from wheat/barley, pulses and millets, as well as panicoid phytoliths. This evidence shows that Near East domestic cereals were consumed in Northern Africa at least 500 years earlier than previously thought.

Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers.

The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ(15)N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets.

Archaeobotanical study of ancient food and cereal remains at the Astana Cemeteries, Xinjiang, China.

Starch grain, phytolith and cereal bran fragments were analyzed in order to identify the food remains including cakes, dumplings, as well as porridge unearthed at the Astana Cemeteries in Turpan of Xinjiang, China. The results suggest that the cakes were made from Triticum aestivum while the dumplings were made from Triticum aestivum, along with Setaria italica. The ingredients of the porridge remains emanated from Panicum miliaceum. Moreover, direct macrobotantical evidence of the utilization of six cereal crops, such as Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare var. coeleste, Panicum miliaceum, Setaria italica, Cannabis sativa, and Oryza sativa in the Turpan region during the Jin and Tang dynasties (about 3(rd) to 9(th) centuries) is also presented. All of these cereal crops not only provided food for the survival of the indigenous people, but also spiced up their daily life.

The plague under Commodus as an unintended consequence of Roman grain market regulation.

This paper begins with a review of Roman grain market policies. It is argued that policies such as forced sales and maximum prices made urban consumers hesitant to rely on the market for secure access to grain. Consequently, consumers hoarded grain in their homes. The hoarded grain formed a volatile fuel ready to be ignited by the arrival of the bubonic plague bacillus. This scenario fits events in the city of Rome under Commodus. Attested grain market interventions were followed by a severe epidemic, arguably bubonic plague, which decimated the city's population.