Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Early agricultural pathways: moving outside the 'core area' hypothesis in Southwest Asia.
Fuller, Dorian Q; Willcox, George; Allaby, Robin G.
Afiliação
  • Fuller DQ; Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK.
J Exp Bot ; 63(2): 617-33, 2012 Jan.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-22058404
The origins of agriculture in the Near East has been associated with a 'core area', located in south-eastern Turkey, in which all major crops were brought into domestication within the same local domestication system operated by a single cultural group. Such an origin leads to a scenario of rapid invention of agriculture by a select cultural group and typically monophyletic origins for most crops. Surprisingly, support for a core area has never been directly tested with archaeological evidence. Over the past decade a large amount of new archaeological and genetic evidence has been discovered which brings new light on the origins of agriculture. In this review, this new evidence was brought together in order to evaluate whether a core region of origin is supported. Evidence shows that origins began earlier than previously assumed, and included 'false starts' and dead ends that involved many more species than the typical eight founder crops associated with the core area. The rates at which domestication syndrome traits became fixed were generally slow, rather than rapid, and occurred over a geographically wide range that included the North and South Levant as well as the core area. Finally, a survey of the estimated ages of archaeological sites and the onset of domestication indicates that the domestication process was ongoing in parallel outside of the core area earlier than within it. Overall, evidence suggests a scenario in which crops were domesticated slowly in different locations around the Near East rather than emanating from a core area.
Assuntos

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Arqueologia / Botânica / Produtos Agrícolas / Agricultura Limite: Humans País como assunto: Asia Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2012 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Arqueologia / Botânica / Produtos Agrícolas / Agricultura Limite: Humans País como assunto: Asia Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2012 Tipo de documento: Article