Plant domestication (Prehistoric Archaeology)

Alternative Adaptive Regimes for Integrating Foraging and Farming Activities

by Jacob Freeman

There are two distinct forager-farmer adaptive regimes
evidenced in the ethnographic record: an ancillary and... more There are two distinct forager-farmer adaptive regimes
evidenced in the ethnographic record: an ancillary and surplus cultivation
regime. Societies characterized by these different regimes define different
systems for allocating time to the production of domesticated plants.
Cross-cultural patterns support the proposition that two socioecological
conditions are logically necessary in order for an ancillary cultivation
regime to develop and persist within a population of foragers. Wild
resources must be sufficiently available, and farmers who produce a surplus
of crops must be available to exchange with, live with or raid to
redistribute crops after an episode of crop loss. The cross-cultural
presence of two empirically distinct regimes for integrating foraging and
farming is a useful frame of reference for evaluating how prehistoric
foragers first integrated foraging and farming activities in archaeological
contexts of secondary crop acquisition. A preliminary examination indicates
that the ethnographic patterns are most consistent with the interpretation
that the earliest farmers to inhabit the American Southwest produced at
least a minimal surplus of domesticated plants. It is postulated that the
adoption of a surplus cultivation regime by a population creates the
adaptive opportunity for ancillary cultivation to develop and persist on a
landscape.

Harvesting practices and early Neolithic barley cultivation at el-Hemmeh, Jordan

by Cheryl Makarewicz

Fuller&Weisskopf_EarlyRiceProjct

by Dorian Fuller

The Early Rice Project, at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, is clarifying the origins of Asian rice agriculture. In... more The Early Rice Project, at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, is clarifying the origins of Asian rice agriculture. In the Lower Yangtze region of China, we have found the tipping point when domesticated forms first outnumber wild types c.4600 BC. Investigations of assorted weed flora are also revealing how the cultivation of rice changed over time, with early cultivation in small, irregular, dug-out paddy fields in the Lower Yangtze from c.4000 BC, providing a means for the careful control of water conditions. We also work on early rice cultivation in Thailand and India. By better characterising how rice was cultivated across its entire range, we aim to model the ancient output of atmospheric methane from wet rice fields, as this was a potential contributor to the long story of human-caused global warming.

New archaeobotanical information on plant domestication from macro-remains: tracking the evolution of domestication syndrome traits

by Dorian Fuller

In Biodiversity in Agriculture. Domestication, Evolution, and Sustainability (eds. P. Gepts, T.R. Famula, R. L. Bettinger, S. B. Brush, A. B. Damania, P. E. McGuire, C. O. Qualset). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 110-135. (2012)

Energy, Intensification, and Subsistence Change: Hunter-Gatherer Earth Ovens and Alternatives to Plant Domestication In Central Texas

by Jacob Freeman

Traditional Knowledge and Management of Umbu (Spondias tuberosa, Anacardiaceae): An Endemic Species from the Semi–Arid Region of Northeastern Brazil

by Ulysses Albuquerque

Early agricultural pathways: moving outside the ‘core area’ hypothesis in Southwest Asia

by Dorian Fuller

Dorian Q Fuller, Robin G. Allaby, George Willcox. in Journal of Experimental Botany

The origins of agriculture in the Near East has been associated with a ‘core area’, located in south-eastern Turkey,... more 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.

Crop introduction and accelerated island evolution: archaeobotanical evidence from ‘Ais Yiorkis and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Cyprus

by Dorian Fuller

Leilani Lucas, Sue Colledge, Alan Simmons, Dorian Q Fuller. in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

Charred plant remains from the Cypriot Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Krittou Marottou ‘Ais Yiorkis, situated in the... more Charred plant remains from the Cypriot Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Krittou Marottou ‘Ais Yiorkis, situated in the foothills of the Troödos Mountains and dated to ca. 7500 cal. b.c., demonstrate the early introduction of two-grained einkorn (Triticum monococcum sensu lato). Grain measurements of two-grained einkorn from ‘Ais Yiorkis are compared to those from Aceramic and early Neolithic sites elsewhere in Cyprus, in northern Syria and central Europe. The grains appear to be larger than domestic grains of a later date from the Levantine mainland. Recent work by Purugganan and Fuller (Evolution 65:171–183, 2011) demonstrates a slow evolutionary rate in increasing grain size relative to the rates of evolution in wild species subject to natural selection. When the measurements of two-grained einkorn wheat from ‘Ais Yiorkis are compared with these same allochronic data the results indicate an accelerated rate in attaining larger grain size on Cyprus than on the mainland. The possibility of a domestication ‘event’ or rapid fixation of larger grain size characteristic of domesticated cereal crops in the context of an initially small island population is suggested by the colonisation by farmers of Cyprus in the Cypro-Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

Cultivation as slow evolutionary entanglement: comparative data on rate and sequence of domestication

by Dorian Fuller

DQ Fuller, Eleni Asouti, Michael Purugganan. in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

Recent studies have suggested that domestication was a slower evolutionary process than was previously thought. We... more Recent studies have suggested that domestication was a slower evolutionary process than was previously thought. We address this issue by quantifying rates of phenotypic change in crops undergoing domestication, including five crops from the Near East (Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum, Hordeum vulgare, Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris) and six crops from other regions (Oryza sativa, Pennisetum glaucum, Vigna radiata, Cucumis melo, Helianthus annus, Iva annua). We calculate rates using the metrics of darwin units and haldane units, which have been used in evolutionary biology, and apply this to data on non-shattering cereal spikelets and seed size. Rates are calculated by considering data over a 4,000-year period from archaeological sites in the region of origin, although we discuss the likelihood that a shorter period of domestication (1,000–2,000) years may be more appropriate for some crops, such as pulses. We report broadly comparable rates of change across all the crops and traits considered, and find that these are close to the averages and median values reported in various evolutionary biological studies. Nevertheless, there is still variation in rates between domesticates, such as melon seeds increasing at twice the rate of cereals, and between traits, such as non-shattering evolving faster than grain size. Such comparisons underline the utility of a quantitative approach to domestication rates, and the need to develop larger datasets for comparisons between crops and across regions.

Cultivation and domestication had multiple origins: arguments against the core area hypothesis for the origins of agriculture in the Near East

by Dorian Fuller

Dorian Q Fuller, George Willcox, Robin Allaby. in World Archaeology 43 (4): 628-652. (2011)

This paper debates claims that plant domestication occurred rapidly in a single restricted sub-section of the Near... more This paper debates claims that plant domestication occurred rapidly in a single restricted sub-section of the Near Eastern Fertile Crescent. Instead we argue for numerous parallel processes of domestication across the region in the Early Holocene. While a previous generation of genetic results seemed to support a single ‘core area’, the accumulation of genetic evidence and refinements in methods undermine this, pointing increasingly towards multiple geographical origins. We stress that it is important to recognize that modern germplasm collections are an imperfect sample of the diversity of wild and cultivated populations of the past, which included some extinct lineages. We briefly synthesize the accumulated data from archaeobotany, defending the reliability of archaeological science to inform us about the past plant populations used by people. These data indicate an extended period of pre-domestication cultivation of at least a millennium and the slow evolution of morphological domestication adaptations in crop plants. The appearance of early cultivars and domesticates was spread piecemeal around the Near East, and a whole crop package is not evident. The ‘core area’ claimed by some authors has no better claim for primacy or completeness in comparison to other parts of the Near East. Evidence from zooarchaeology similarly points towards a diffuse appearance of various domesticated animals. The ‘non-centric’ appearance of domesticates from the Near East is therefore similar to the emerging evidence from many other regions of the world where plants were domesticated. We develop a hypothesis of why this should be expected given that anatomically modern human ancestors shared practices of vegetation management and planting, the necessary background knowledge for cultivation. Cultivation then was not a rare discovery but was a strategic and systematic shift in economies. The question then becomes why it was developed in the particular regions and periods where it appeared.

From foraging to farming in the southern Levant: the development of Epipalaeolithic and Pre-pottery Neolithic plant management strategies

by Dorian Fuller

Eleni Asouti and Dorian Q Fuller. in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

This paper reviews the archaeobotanical record of the transition from foraging to farming in the southern Levant. The... more This paper reviews the archaeobotanical record of the transition from foraging to farming in the southern Levant. The concise presentation of the published botanical evidence follows a critical assessment of: (a) the nature of Epipalaeolithic plant management strategies, (b) the place of the southern Levant in the polycentric development of Near Eastern plant cultivation and domestication, and (c) region-specific pathways for the emergence of domesticated crop “packages”. Some inferences are drawn and suggestions are made concerning the potential contribution of archaeobotanical research to questions of broader archaeological significance about socio-economic change in the southern Levant during the Pre-pottery Neolithic.

Finding Plant Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent

by Dorian Fuller

Current Anthropology supplement issue on Agricultural Origins (2011)

Recent research indicates that cultivation may have begun in as many as five regions of India before the introduction... more Recent research indicates that cultivation may have begun in as many as five regions of India before the introduction of exogenous crops and cultivation systems: South India, Orissa, the Middle Ganges, Saurashtra, and the Himalayan foothills of the Punjab region. These potential centers of crop origin have been triangulated from data on the biogeography of wild progenitors and a growing archaeobotanical database. Nevertheless, none of these centers provide unambiguous evidence for local domestication or evidence that domestication occurred entirely in the absence of introduced crops and food-production systems. One of the major lacunae is archaeobotanical evidence from hunter-gatherer sites or evidence of the transition to initial cultivation. In addition, documentation of the morphological changes accompanying domestication is available for only a few species. This paper reviews the arguments for local domestication in each of these five regions, paying particular attention to data that might document domestication processes. But an alternative hypothesis for several regions also can be considered in which agriculture arose as a result of secondary domestications of local species after an initial introduction of farming from outside. On the basis of these alternative working hypotheses, research priorities are identified for resolving these issues

Archaeobotanical Insight into the Origin and Early History of Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Near East

by Jaromír Beneš

In Czech and English, co-authored with T. Salkova and Z. Vanecek

Botanically, barleys represent a separate genus of the grass (Poaceae) family with total number of 45 taxa. This study... more Botanically, barleys represent a separate genus of the grass (Poaceae) family with total number of 45 taxa. This study describes the history of barley domestication and barley spread in the Old Word at the end of the last ice age and during the Holocene especially from an archaeobotanical point of view. This article describes the spread of wild barley Hordeum spontaneum and domestication conditions in the Near East and other regions of the Old World. The study then pays attention to a so-called Neolithic package with respect to morphological domestication of barley in the territory of the Near East and spread of this plant in southeastern Europe. Description is based mainly on archaeobotanical evidence of gathering and growing, minor attention is also paid to barley genetic aspects.

Sunflower domestication alleles support single domestication center in eastern North America

by Benjamin Blackman

Contributions of flowering time genes to sunflower domestication and improvement

by Benjamin Blackman

The role of recently derived FT paralogs in sunflower domestication

by Benjamin Blackman

¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos de domesticación vegetal en el noa? Revisión de antiguas propuestas bajo nuevas perspectivas teóricas

by Verónica Soledad Lema

Este capítulo corresponde a un libro resultado de la mesa de discusión: “¿Integración o especificidades disciplinarias? La arqueobotánica en la encrucijada teórica.” coordinada por Verónica Lema y Marco Giovannetti en la
IV Reunión internacional de teoría arqueológica en América del Sur. Inter.-Congreso WAC. San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, 3 a 7 de Julio de 2007.

La domesticación de especies vegetales ha sido una problemática que la arqueología trató desde antiguo, usualmente... more La domesticación de especies vegetales ha sido una problemática que la arqueología trató desde antiguo, usualmente bajo el tema más general de los “orígenes de la agricultura”. En Argentina el estudio de este proceso ha sido diverso y fluctuante. Abordado principalmente desde la agronomía o desde la arqueología, el mismo sufrió de un tratamiento dispar teniendo momentos de auge y otros de olvido. Dentro de los esquemas elaborados a nivel general sobre la domesticación de especies vegetales, el noroeste argentino ocupo en su momento un lugar destacado, siendo luego desestimado sin que se retomara el análisis de este tema de manera sistemática.
Entendiendo a la domesticación como un conjunto de procesos de cambio que involucran  ciertos comportamientos humanos junto a modificaciones en las poblaciones vegetales, pudiendo llevar al surgimiento de un sistema socio-económico como la economía agrícola y a especies vegetales totalmente novedosas, considero que su estudio refleja como ningún otro el vínculo entre antropología/arqueología y ecología/botánica. El mismo implica un conocimiento acabado de los conceptos y problemáticas que se han generado históricamente en cada una de dichas disciplinas así como también los replanteos, reformulaciones, discusiones y criticas mas recientes en cada una. Procesos que se han estudiado por separado debido a recortes disciplinares académicos -generalmente en arqueología es sinónimo de agricultura, y en biología se aborda como cambio sin considerar la acción humana-  tienen que ser puestos en relación para entender un fenómeno que de hecho aconteció como una unidad. Ello implica que el investigador debe combinar marcos epistemológicos, posturas teóricas y categorías analíticas que generalmente responden a concepciones dispares. Esto ha de hacerlo además atento a no transpolar de manera arbitraria o acrítica ideas que se han desarrollado y validado en un campo hacia el otro, puesto que el status ontológico que tienen plantas y personas es muy distinto. Creo que aquí nos encontramos con el “núcleo duro”, el “meollo” del quehacer arqueobotánico/paleoetnobotánico: poner en relación no solo plantas y gente, sino también abordajes que por mucho tiempo estuvieron separados y que necesariamente deben ir juntos. Debe aunar, combinar y replantear modelos que se han generado de manera aislada y que han ignorando o no han tomando en su justa medida la complejidad que implicaba el otro componente dentro de la relación bajo estudio o, mejor dicho, que ignoraban los desarrollos teóricos generados desde otra disciplina acerca del otro componente de la relación. Por ello el arqueobotánico/paleoetnobotánico  puede haberse formado tanto en ciencias sociales como en ciencias naturales. Sin embargo en la práctica deberá necesariamente incursionar en la ciencia en que no se ha formado a fin de hacer análisis rigurosos y no simplificar el tratamiento de ninguno de los componentes que participan del proceso que esta estudiando. Considero que esto es algo que caracteriza a esta disciplina, sin que ello le sea propio o exclusivo,  distinguiéndola tanto dentro de la arqueología como dentro de la botánica.
En Argentina el estudio del proceso de domesticación no ha tenido hasta el momento lo que podríamos considerar un abordaje arqueobotánico/paleoetnobotánico como ha tenido en otros países. Aun no se ha articulado lo propuesto desde las ciencias sociales con lo propuesto desde las ciencias naturales y ello ha tenido como resultado que el lugar que ocupa el NOA dentro de los esquemas de domesticación vegetal en América del Sur sea poco claro o mal fundado. En este trabajo pretendo revisar desde qué recorte disciplinar ha sido abordado el estudio de la domesticación vegetal en Argentina y que implicancias ha tenido esto en la caracterización de dicho proceso. Tomando esto como base analizaré si un abordaje arqueobotánico/paleoetnobotánico con una metodología distinta puede ser factible y, de serlo, si ayudaría al avance en la comprensión de un fenómeno que pudo no haber sido revolucionario en su origen, pero que sin lugar a dudas ha marcado el camino de la humanidad hasta nuestros días.

The possible influence of post-harvest objectives on Cucurbita maxima subspecies maxima and subspecies andreana evolution under cultivation at the Argentinean Northwest: an archaeological example

by Verónica Soledad Lema

This paper investigates the possible links between
postharvest activities and methods of plant husbandry ormore This paper investigates the possible links between
postharvest activities and methods of plant husbandry or
management of Cucurbita maxima ssp. maxima and C.
maxima ssp. andreana in the prehispanic Argentinean
Northwest area. Microscopic methods were used to assess
the micromorphological characteristics of modern specimens
of South American Cucurbita and Lagenaria species to
obtain diagnostic anatomical traits. These traits were then
used as criteria for identifying archaeological Cucurbitaceae
rind remains from domestic to funerary contexts of the
Pampa Grande archaeological site (1720±50 BP, cal. 259–
433 AD). Following the taxonomic identification of the
archaeological plant remains, they were futher assessed for
signs of human selection or possible cultivation, including:
rind thickness, qualitative characters (lobbing, wartiness and
colour) and postharvest traits (artificial shape, charring,
staining and decoration of sherds). The results indicate the
presence of Lagenaria siceraria together with spontaneous,
intermediate and domestic C. maxima morphotypes. Different
subspecies maxima morphtypes were recognized: those
intended as food, having thin pericarps to facilitate consumption
and those intended also as food, but as containers too, as
in Lagenaria, in which the rinds are thickened and lignified.
The latter morphotype may possibly represent a strategy of
postharvest intensification, but not through new processing
techniques, but through the development of landraces with a
longer fruit shelf life, resulting from changing husbandry
criteria to selective pressures over cultivated stands.

East Asian plant domestication

by Gary Crawford

The origins of rice agriculture: recent progress in East Asia

by Gary Crawford