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 themiddle 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.
The spread of the Neolithic from its area of origin in the Fertile Crescent into Europe, North Africa and Central Asia, vast regions with high ecological and geographical disparity, in a relatively ...short period of time (a little over two millennia) shows the expansive potential of this new way of life. This was possible because a robust and flexible socio-economic system was built during the four millennia in which the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming societies took place. Better knowledge of how the dynamic forces of the Neolithic developed in the Near East is a precondition for understanding the mechanisms and reasons of its successful expansion. During the last decade, thanks to the intensive work carried out by many international research teams, a much better comprehension on how this happened has been gained. The Fertile Crescent now appears to have been the location of a mosaic of groups evolving at different rhythms and creating different cultural patterns, but who were walking in the same direction due to strong currents of interaction existing between distant regions. These synergies, which contributed to the dynamism and resilience of the process, were possible because of the setup of complex exchange networks, the migration of whole communities and the wandering of task groups.
The multi-component site of Cueva Epullán Grande is located in the south of Neuquén province (in the northwest of Patagonia, Argentina) and contains an archaeological sequence spanning the early ...Holocene to historical periods. Initial research was carried out under the Rescate Arqueológico e Investigaciones Prehistóricas project in the Piedra del Águila area, following an agreement between the University of Buenos Aires and Hidronor S. A. In 2006, the area was incorporated into a binational p...
Le site de Cueva Epullán Grande se situe au sud de la province de Neuquén (dans le nord-ouest de la région patagonique, Argentine) et contient une séquence archéologique à composantes multiples ...allant de l’Holocène ancien aux périodes récentes. Les premiers travaux ont été effectués dans le cadre du projet d’Archéologie de Sauvetage et de Recherches Préhistoriques dans la région de Piedra del Águila, suite à un accord entre l’Université de Buenos Aires et Hidronor S. A. En 2006, la zone d’étu...
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