The Emergence of Agriculture 0716750554

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THE EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE

BRUCE

D.

SMITH

Science/Archaeology

$32.95

THE EMERGENCE OF

AGRICULTURE BRUCE

How and

D.

SMITH

did agriculture begin? In in

what sequence

what combinations were

species of plants

first

parts of the world?

and animals

first

did agriculture

domesticated

Where were in

some

different

certain plants

domesticated, and

emerge

different in

how? Why

regions and not

others?

In

The Emergence of Agriculture, well-known

archaeologist Bruce Smith explores the

initial

emergence and early expansion of agriculture, and the transformations in human society that it made possible. Archaeologists have come to recognize that agriculture didn't just emerge in one or two places, from whence it spread to others, but was independently invented several times over, in widely separated parts of the world. In his book, Bruce Smith charts the course of the agricultural revolution as it occurred in the Middle East, Europe, China, Africa,

and the Americas, showing, too, how

basic archaeological

methods and modern

technologies such as plant analysis, radiocarbon dating, and DNA sampling are used to

Although in the popular mind the agricultural revolution is often seen as a one-step transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming ones, Smith shows how truly varied were the patterns of animal and plant domestication in difinvestigate this pivotal event.

ferent parts of the world.

Much

of the field's excitement

comes from the

multifaceted approaches used to explore the

Whereas the archaeoloUerpmann when sheep were domesticated by

origins of agriculture. gists

Daniel Helmer and Hans-Peter

can tell measuring the size of 8000-year-old animal

(continued on back flap)

The Emergence

of Agriculture

THE EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE Bruce D. Smith

SCIENTIFIC

AMERICAN LIBRARY

A division New York

of

HPHLP

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Bruce D.

The emergence of

agriculture.

Includes index. 1.

gin.

Agriculture

4.

—

Origin.

Domestic animals

botany.

I.

2.

Agriculture, Prehistoric.

—

Origin.

5.

Man

—

3.

Plants, Cultivated

Influence on nature.

6.

—

Ori-

Paleoethno-

Title.

GN799.A4S52

630'

1994

94-22833

.9—

I

i-

i

two

A

child and Ins pet. Hunter-gatherer

societies

would have consistently

brought home young wild animals raise as pets,

their habits

becoming

to

familiar with

and needs, and learning

about their potential

tor control

and

domestication.

animals might have been kept in a compact group

of these plants from wild populations. The analo-

upon whenever meat was required.

gous point that marks the transition to the domes-

to be preyed

Humans might

have constrained the

movement

habitat and a supply of water. these animals to

human

was reached when humans

tication of animals

of

wild species within a small area with a favorable

lated a herd or flock of animals

The habituation of

iso-

and undertook to

control their reproduction. Like seed plants, animals

responded to the new

herders/hunters could have

set of selective pressures they

encountered, to the confinement and crowding of

been an important early step along the pathway to domestication.

the

human environment, and underwent many cases,

of morphological changes. In

these morphological markers

ot

a variety

however,

domestication are

not so uniformly present in individual organisms as those that appear in plants. As a result, the evidence

Markers or Animal Domestication

of early domestication seeds than

The

critical

of seed plants in

am

point on the road to the domestication is

it

is

in

is

easier to read

in

ancient

bone fragments excavated from

lent settlements.

Unlike seeds, individual bones

only rarely carry clear structural changes indicative

the deliberate planting of seed stock

prepared seedbeds, and the associated separation

of initial captivity

?8

and domestication.

C

r

e a t

i

n

g

N

Plant

A

ii

i

was thought that such

structure marker to be invalid, no other clear mi-

a basic structural signature of animal domestication

cromorphological marker of domestication in ani-

had been found. After analyzing the microstructure

mals has been proposed.

For a time in the 1970s

it

of bones from the sites of Suberde and Erbabain in

This

Turkey, Dexter Perkins of Columbia University and Patricia

and consistent

not to

say,

however, that no morpho-

with domestication can

be observed in animal bones recovered from archae-

Daly of the University of Pennsylvania be-

lieved they had found clear

is

logical changes associated

ological sites.

differ-

ences between the bones of wild and domesticated

in skeletal

On

the contrary, a variety of changes

elements have been employed to distin-

sheep and goats. Bone consists of crystals of calcium

guish domesticated animals from wild individuals

phosphate (hydroxyapatite) deposited along long

of the same species. Such morphological markers

According to Perkins

provide a valuable way of recognizing the presence

fibers of the protein collagen.

and Daly, hydroxyapatite

crystals

were oriented per-

pendicularly to the long axis of collagen fibers in the wild animals, whereas they were

more randomly

oriented in the bones of animals thought to be domesticated. If Perkins and Daly were correct, a simple microscopic examination of a thin section of

bone could establish whether an animal was wild or domesticated.

To

test the validity

of the proposed marker of

animal domestication, Melinda Zeder of the National

Museum

of Natural History, Smithsonian In-

stitution (then an undergraduate at the University

of Michigan), looked for differences in the bone

modern wild and domesticated sheep from the Near East. Four wild sheep killed in the

structure of

Tarus Mountains near the Caspian Sea were found to have the expected perpendicular orientation of crystals.

A

dozen domesticated sheep acquired from

traditional pastoral societies in Iran, however, also

remote rural areas of

had hydroxyapatite

crystals ori-

ented perpendicular to the long axis of collagen fibers, contrary to It

was

later

found that the random orientation of

crystals Perkins

ological

what Perkins and Daly predicted.

and Daly observed

in

some archae-

bone samples had been caused not by do-

mestication but rather by chemical processes that

Melinda A. Zeder, Smithsonian Institution archaeologist,

took place long after the bones had become buried in the

excavating a small domesticated donkey at the

ground. Since Zeder showed the crystalline

Halif in the southern Levant.

29

site

of Tel

c

kip

t

ei

I

u

..

the teeth of pigs has been used to identify the initial

domestication

Whether they

of

result

this

Old

World

from relaxation

of

pressures in the wild or from deliberate lection over generations, however, such ical

species.

selective

human

se-

morpholog-

markers of domestication may not appear

for

some time after the animals have been domesticated. As a result, zooarchaeologists today build their arguments not simply on the presence or absence of a limited number of isolated morphological markers, but on the patterns of change that can be seen only

by examining larger assemblages of bones that rep-

whole herds or

resent

flocks.

In the ideal situation for this kind of

"whole

herd" analysis, one would begin with a deep archaeological site that revealed a vertical sequence of

deposits

spanned

that

hunting and gathering

the

full

transition

from

to agriculture. If each layer

sequence of deposits yielded large and well-

in the

preserved assemblages of animal bones, zooarchaeologists could then start with

animal species found

ticular

layer. Let's locate this

the

Near

By

goats. These two specimens from the Ali Kosh trate

how

site in Iran illus-

alyzing

the horns of wild goats differ in cross section from

marker of domestication has a

for this species.

more four-sided

Coward the front goat (right)

is

(top),

The wild goat horn

earliest

while the horn of the domesticated in cross section, flat

in the lowest, earliest

long-occupied settlement

let's

say the bones belonged to

carefully identifying, measuring,

all

and an-

of the goat bones found in the lowest

determine

human

inhabitants of the settlement. Vari-

ous bones could be measured to establish the range

along the

in size of the

medial side with a peak facing backward (bottom).

human

animals culled from the wild herd by

hunters. Their range in age could be deter-

mined by analyzing tooth eruption and wear terns, of

domesticated animals

semblages.

A

in archaeological

bone

skulls, horns, pelvises,

sections of the horns of domesticated goats and

individuals. Similarly, a distin(

I

in the teeth,

pat-

and whether

By measuring

and other distinctive bones.

zooarchaeologists could establish

how manv animals

were female and how many were male. They could

them from wild

ive size

annual growth rings

or not bones had finished growing.

as-

very distinctive change in the cross

sheep, for example, distinguishes

in

the group profile of the wild goats hunted by the

cross section, with a peak facing

more triangular

and

the bones of a par-

layer of the site, zooarchaeologists could

those of domesticated animals, providing a morphological

(left)

East,

all

document the growth patterns and pathology

reduction in

}0

of

L

tea

t

Pi ants

io

a

A

tl

n

bones to show the general health of the animals.

in the profiles of

Tooth eruption patterns, seasonal growth rings

sition

teeth,

in

and the presence of very young animals could

indicate the seasons of the year in

mals were

which the

working

gists

ani-

any species through the to domesticated.

prehensive set of

By comparing the numbers of

killed.

from wild

sites to

full tran-

Lacking a com-

work with, zooarchaeolo-

in different regions of the

to settle for an incomplete,

world have

fragmented mosaic of

these animals with the representation of other ani-

evidence. Excavated settlements were often occupied

mal species found

researchers

for only short spans of time, so each settlement

they were as a

provides information about only one part of the

could determine

at

the settlement,

how important

source of food.

transition.

Moving up through time through the

each succeeding deposit of goat bones and produce a profile of each goat herd. site

had been analyzed in

begin

Once

any patterns of change

for

all

in the

control.

produce

large, well-

less effort is

made

is

less

smaller

to recover bones, or perhaps

the bones are not as well preserved in the ground.

would

Given the scattered and

partial evidence, the small

fragments of the domestication puzzle that must be

herd profiles

might mark increasing human

that

and

the layers of the

this way, the search

sites

useful collections. Perhaps the excavation

the investigators could similarly scrutinize

site,

While some

preserved assemblages of bones, others yield

the layers of

A

drawn together from many settlements of

different

change in one aspect of the herd profile that could

times, what are the various changes in herd profiles

be linked to captivity and reproductive control, such

that zooarchaeologists look for as possible indica-

as

age composition or male-female

tainly provide

begun.

some evidence

A much

would

tions that the animals were living in captivity, their

cer-

that domestication had

reproduction controlled by

When

stronger and more convincing case

made should

could be

ratio,

trol

to captivity

and human con-

diate.

To extend

some

impact on the cap-

respects be almost

more

imme-

For example, bone pathologies might be

brought on by the physical trauma, poor

of breeding.

scale, let's

are constrained, the

tive herd could in

in several characteristics of the goat herd, all of

which could be linked

herders?

animals are held in captivity and their

movements

related changes be observed

human

diet,

and

regional

higher stress and infection rates of confinement. At

suppose that a good number of such deep-

the agricultural village of Tepe Sarab in western

this ideal situation to a

layered settlements scattered across the

Near East

were

all

files

tracked through time. If a characteristic set of

carefully excavated

Iran,

and their goat herd pro-

numerous

dence of

gum

cases of chronic arthritis

and

evi-

disease in goats have been cited as

early evidence of confinement

and domestication.

A

changes in goat herd profiles linked to captivity and

high frequency of bone pathology in goats from a

human

farming settlement

control were

documented

at all of the exca-

dan has

vated settlements, then an even stronger case could

be

made

that the observed changes constitute

evidence of the

initial

good

as

site in Jor-

marking the

early do-

Halfway around the world, on the high puna

appearance of domesticated

grasslands of Peru, the Telarmachay rock shelter has

yielded another possible indicator of animal domes-

Unfortunately, such an ideal research situation

Few

been proposed

Ghazal

mestication of this species.

goat herds at particular times in particular places.

does not exist today.

also

at the 'Ain

settlements have been ex-

about 5500 to number of bones of fetal and

tication. Here, in deposits dating to

5000

cavated that provide opportunities to track changes

31

years ago, a large

Chapter

newborn llamas have been recovered, perhaps dence of the

man

earliest corralling oi this species

among

mortality rates, which are low

(guanacos) today, are

.is

high

mestic herds that are corralled

bacteria that thrive in dirty, not

known

muddy

cause,

it

is

has been proposed,

species the

sumption could

all

drawing of milk reduce

grow up

in smaller infants that

for

possible,

also

size,

animal species

in

of

course,

that

human

more docile animals, which would then be more likely to survive to reproductive age.

diminish the

efforts

to

The

would

fall

human

growth and

fetal

is

second

into

a

tion

—

general

initial

those resulting from

Such direct

of captive animals

size

second

changes brought on by

and

parasites,

body

successfully. Smaller

herders could have deliberately selected for smaller,

pregnant females. Mal-

and

also

bulk

less

likely to survive to adult-

syndrome of domestication

It

marked reduction

a

is

with

subjected to confinement and crowding.

is

captivity,

as early as the first or

nutrition, higher levels of disease

some

tive

corrals but are

a decrease in the size of animals.

in the nutritional status of

in

hood and reproduce

to infect wild populations of guanacos.

one that can appear

would be more

would

diets

then, can also be considered one aspect of the adap-

two Clostridium

Another potential early indication of generation,

to sustain

at night. In present-

the result of infections caused by

weaning and the leaner

result in smaller animals. Individuals

in do-

day domesticated herds, high newborn mortality

.1

Earlier

by hu-

wild llamas

50 percent

as

»

evi-

Wheeler argues that newborn

herders. Jane

I

category

of

animal domestica-

humans managing

the

reproduction of captive herds.

When

con-

herds are kept in isolation from wild pop-

ulations and cared for by

result

to be small adults.

human

herders, they are

relieved of the selective pressures that shape wild

populations.

By imposing

their

own

selection of an-

imals for breeding, herders would be free to ify

mod-

the size and appearance of the animals, the size

of the herd, the relative balance of

males and

males, and the age profile of the herd in any

fe-

man-

ner that worked to improve the dependability of the

herd as a food source, or walking

larder.

Managers

could, for example, decide to remove large and aggressive males in order to reduce disruption in the

herd while facilitating their

own

control of the im-

portant lead male position. But because by doing so they would be clearing the way for the reproductive success of the

wimps

in the

group, they would

in

the process be reducing the size of the animals in the herd. In a similar fashion, herders could easily pro-

[be bones are smaller in domesticated cattle, reflecting an \i rail

old

tirsi

Umm i"

redui tion

phalanx

m oi

tin

size "l these

an auroi

lis

animals.

(ri^ht)

is

Qseir in northeastern Syria. The

6000

year-old km

from the sue

oi

bone

Mashnaqa,

oi

.1

The 7000

from the

much

site

yeai

duce and maintain the basic structure population

smaller 7000

domesticated animal

of

.1

managed

t

(left)

oi

domesticated animals through selec-

tive harvesting.

is

merous females

also in northeastern Syria.

32

A of

breeding herd consisting of nureproductive age would need only

L

r

e a t

i

ants

n

n J

A

n

i

A

present-day herder and his assistant

in the Alps. Pastoral

evolved in a period of

a few males to impregnate them.

The

many

economies have

parts of Europe over

more than 7000

blages that were different from those

vast majority

left

of the young born every year would be slated for

hunting of wild populations. In sum,

slaughter, to be harvested as the need arose, once

seem

they approached adult

size.

Young animals

to

fill

tion began,

domesticated plant

is

and

when animal domesticait is. The decrease in

in general

phological marker of domestication

set aside

Other

each year to ensure next year's crop while the rest

clues, such as indications of

now

is

available for consumption, so the

disease,

breeding herd

is

the seed stock of the next genera-

served. In addition, herd profiles depart

and the food-stock animals are stored stand-

ing up and ready for slaughter.

The

and

parasites,

are also occasionally ob-

Together, these changes in the individual animals,

and the composition of the herd

ing on the species' primary uses

good

sources of meat,

milk, or skins, or as pack or draft animals). All of the herd profiles that

human

would be similar

they would

all

in

shall see,

however, recent

innovations have enabled researchers to take into consideration a

one important respect:

leave archaeological

provide a

of interrelated markers of initial domes-

bone assemblages. As we

ma-

nipulating different captive species for different ends,

set

itself,

tication that can be recognized in archaeological

societies in

different regions of the world could create,

from those

of wild populations in age and sex composition.

restructuring of

captive herds can take a variety of forms, depend(as

available.

poor nutrition,

of the harvest

tion,

would

the size of captive animals provides the best mor-

vacancies resulting from old age or death. Just

as the seed stock of a

it

by the

a rather straightforward task to identify in

the archaeological record

that ex-

hibited desirable traits could be spared for breeding

years.

much wider

variety of information

in their efforts to identify the initial domestication

bone assem-

of plants and animals.

33

NEW TECHNOLOGY AND THE SEARCH FOR AGRICULTURAL ORIGINS

?

In

search of the past.

brooms excavate the

Workers using hand

now

and

early farming settlement of Gritille in

southeast Turkey. In spite of the gies

picks, trowels,

many

sophisticated technolo-

used by archaeologists, excavation to recover artifacts

such as the sickle blades on the facing page, as well as plant

and animal remains,

is still

hard and demanding work.

C

li

.1

p

t

e

r

agriculture has expanded and intensified consid-

erably since the pioneering efforts of Vavilov and

Braidwood. Scientific technology in the of the twentieth century has given us a

i

in

the archaeological record.

much more

New

A and

methods

scattered through archaeological sites; a

botanist,

successfully used by an Austrian

H. Unger,

I860. Unger was in-

as early as

terested in studying cereal grains

new

ded

dating method allows us to determine the age of

in ancient

Egyptian

mud

and seeds embed-

bricks.

Recognizing

the differences in density of the organic material and

bone fragments with preciand scanning electron microscopy reveals mi-

these small seeds and sion;

simple and easy method to recover small seeds other organic materials had actually been

worked out and

and machines have improved the recovery of small fragments of bones, seeds, and other organic materials

to be relatively sim-

would have

it

ple and inexpensive.

sophisticated understanding of the evidence to be

found

e e

widely adopted,

quarter

last

K

1950s, and very small and fragile objects, like seeds, were passing right through the screens. A more finegrain method was needed, and if it were to become

Biological and archaeological research on the origins i)i

1

cromorphological indicators of domestication that early investigators couldn't see.

At the same time,

biological research on present-day plant species has also

made

and animal

advances: Scientists are able

to chart the geographical distribution of domesti-

and their potential wild progenitors

cates

in

more

and they can now perform extremely finegrain molecular analysis of the genetic pathways of detail,

evolution.

Trie As

Recovery

Revolution

interdisciplinary approaches to the past devel-

oped

after

World War

II,

archaeologists

came

to rec-

ognize the need for better ways to recover plant and

animal remains during their excavations. The often small, fragile, and fragmented animal bones, seeds,

and other plant parts scattered through archaeological sites

could provide essential information about

ancient diets and agricultural origins.

The

soil

re-

moved from ancient settlements was sometimes passed through screens in order to recover objects thai

wen

Volney [ones

too small to be spotted during excavation,

but screening

ol

soil

was

far

from universal

ol

Awatovi Pueblo

in the

ot

36

che in

I

niversitj ol

the

C 1

>->(K.

was

Michigan, shown here a

pioneer

plant remains from archaeological sites

in

at

the analysis

Te

c

h

t

Ag

e

r

ii

t

o

a

C 1

g

1

D

the clay matrix, he separated the two by simply plac-

ing the brick fragments in water and then skim-

ming

off the seeds

and

cereals as they floated to the

Volney Jones, who was director of the Eth-

surface.

nobotanical Laboratory at the University of Michi-

gan and one of the founding fathers of archaeobotany in North America, used a similar "flotation"

method

1930s to recover ancient plant

in the

mains from the adobe bricks

of the

re-

Awatovi pueblo

in Arizona.

This simple principle of pouring archaeological water so that organic materials would

soil into

float

out was also applied on a small scale in European laboratories in the first half of this century, but

was not until the

late

Flotation recovery of seeds and other plant remains at the

it

Gritille site in southeast Turkey.

1960s that flotation recovery

charcoal, and other small plant parts, to be caught in a cloth

was transferred from the laboratory to excavation sites

and

its

had employed flotation recovery

ler

in the

filter.

scale of application dramatically ex-

panded. In the early 1950s the botanist

Hugh

Cut-

at excavations

Southwest, and he introduced the idea to the

archaeologist Stuart Struever in the early

Struever

method

in

turn

in eastern

tried

out

the

"new"

North America and urged

scale application.

Hans Helbeck,

a

gan to be routinely recovered

1960s.

in

From

its

wide-

German

Deh Luran

ar-

Direct Dating

plain

Flotation devices provided an excellent low-tech-

these various beginnings in both the

New

Old

nology method to separate small organic remains

Worlds, the use of flotation techniques

from their

rapidly expanded during the 1970s, producing a

was

revolution in the recovery of information relevant to ancient agricultural origins.

A

ficult

wide variety of

soil

matrix.

A

also developed in the

high-technology solution

1970s

for

—

for these small bits of evidence.

diocarbon dating, developed in the

lantic.

As

ment of

sides of the At-

a result of this explosion in the deploy-

flotation procedures, along

opment of other

early 1950s,

targeting of sites that promised

is

Conventional late

chaeological

means of establishing the

a reliable

good preservation of

sites,

100,000 such

organic materials, seeds and other plant parts be-

and

dates.

37

it

The

however, have restricted

ra-

1940s and

age of sizable organic materials recovered from

with the devel

recovery methods and the deliberate

dif-

establishing an accurate age

put into service

on both

an equally

problem that had long plagued research on

agricultural origins

water-separation devices were soon perfected and at excavations

abun-

recovery

southwest Iran.

and

in far greater

dance from archaeological deposits.

chaeobotanist, similarly reported on his successful

use of flotation at several sites of the

Water sluicing out of the

top of a flotation device carries buoyant carbonized seeds,

has produced

ar-

more than

limitations of this method, its

usefulness to researchers

a a p

e

seeking to establish the beginnings

t

e

I

and an-

of plant

imal domestication.

The most serious limitation has amount of material needed to determine preciate this problem,

how

stand

necessary

is

it

first to

under-

tive isotope carbon-

(

t

1

'

million (10

modern sample. Alter an organism

in a

atoms

are lost to radioactive decay.

ceeds at a

dead

atoms

known

5730

for

rate: alter

years, the 12

in relation to

C

duced by half (hence the years). In principle, then,

how

14

The decay

atoms

will have

•'half-life" it

is

of

14

been

C

'

4

C

to

^C

in its

ing establish this

C

1

small

materials only indirectly, by dating larger ol

organic

material,

usually

charcoal,

Such charcoal samples certainly yield

known cluding

possible to establish

ratio

that scientists could establish the age of these

is

reliable

that the

the same age as the small seeds it?

Seeds

difficult to

way because they may have been downward by a variety of agents

displaced up or

re-

J.

A.

J.

to operate in archaeological sediments, in-

burrowing organisms of various

Gowlett

ol the

kinds.

Oxford Radiocarbon Labora-

tory has estimated, for example, that one of every

Scientists using conventional radiocarbon dat-

counting individual

to be completely

date reliably in this

remains.

U C/ 12 C

specimen does con-

a

and other small objects are particularly

C

long ago an organism lived by measuring the

ratio of

if

would have

or animal bones found in "association" with

5730

is

it

meant

charcoal sample

an organism has been 1-1

required, or

bon dating, but how confident can we be

C

pro-

number of remaining

enough carbon,

age determinations through conventional radiocar-

dies, this raas

minimum

tain

ples.

C atom

becomes even more lopsided with time,

the

thought to be contemporary with the smaller sam-

there are a million

fact,

carbon- 12 atoms lor each

)

i

samples

radioac-

C) constitutes a tiny pro-

portion of this carbon. In

e

i

Until the early 1980s, this sample-size barrier

conventional radiocarbon dating works.

The

h

destroyed in the dating process.

the

To ap-

All living organisms contain carbon.

tio

been age.

I

five small pieces of organic material considered for

by detecting and

dating has

moved upward

or

downward

in its ar-

decay events, which are sig-

naled by emitted beta particles.

Over

a period of

several hours or more, the rate of radioactive break-

down

indicated by the emission of beta particles in

turn allows

them

atoms remaining

number

of

C

sample, and hence

its

age.

to estimate the

in their

Since only a small proportion of the

down

in the

must be

l4

C atoms

'

break

Wood

measuring period, however, the sample

large

enough

to provide an adequate

Charred bone

Bone

num-

ber of decay events to be counted. Samples con-

taining

1

to 5

grams of carbon, and often more,

are

usually required.

The need

for

such a large sample presents par-

as small as seeds or as bone, particularly (

)hcii

Charcoal

problems when the materials to be dated are

ticular

i

he amount

of

Grain

Parchment

have such a low carbon content

when they c

are poorly preserved.

arhon available

is

far less

The average amount

AMS

than

58

of matt-rial of various

kinds needed for

dating, compared in size to a U.S. penny.

T

12

C measured

ogy

h n

e c

\ Velocity filter

C

A

for

h

c

t

g

u

r

o

a

r

1

g

1

n

s

^Beam-bending magnet

\

L^/pMBB*-.^^ ^ Magnetic lens te^ 14

bear

n J

Accelerator

*

Beam-bending magnet

Mtttitt^^^

detector

^^

LflE

High-voltage

Tq^

source

ry

^^^Transformer

yfriBeam v

'

line

;

Ion source

The

accelerator

mass spectrometer can determine the age of

counting the number of

14

C atoms

bon atoms from the sample

beam

are first pulled as a

passes through the first

than heavier ones, and

move

the further progress of

all

beam

present. Starting

beam toward

beam-bending magnet,

lighter

to the inside of the diverging

it is

the accelerator.

a second

car-

As the

atoms turn more sharply

beam, where

a filter blocks

When

the

many molecules of mass 14 that l4 C atoms. The accelerator then pushes the

stripped of the

might be indistinguishable from single ticles.

sample material by

charged particles except those of atomic mass 14.

enters the accelerator,

maining ions through

a

from the ion source, ionized

beam-bending magnet,

The beam is focused before number of ions left.

filtering out

re-

more non- 1-l C par-

arriving at an extremely sensitive detector that

counts the

chaeological deposit,

into

younger or older than

it is.

a

layer

that

is

estimate the remaining

either

C

method

1977 and 1983.

It

first

tried

first

on archaeological samples

Mass spectrometers have been used

num-

in

various isotopes in samples on the basis of the dif-

more

ferences in their masses. Conventional mass spec-

now being dated by The technique differs from the conventional method in the way it assesses the amount of l4 C remaining in a sample. Rather than

AMS

for a

ber of years to measure the relative abundance of

than 2000 samples a year are the

1000 times

method.

for

tested in principle in

has gained acceptance rapidly, so that

directly counting

smaller than those required by the conventional

small samples. This accelerator mass spectrometry

(AMS) technique was

C by

atoms. The technique thus enables them to de-

termine the ages of samples up to

Fortunately, following closely on the recovery revolution, the late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed

the development of a radiocarbon dating

l4

trometers could not accurately measure the

technique.

of

C

in a sample, however,

was present

in

amount

both because the

UC

such small amounts and because the

overwhelming quantity of ions or molecules of sim-

counting decay events (beta counts), investigators

ilar

39

mass

l4 (

N,

13

CH, and

so forth)

would mask

its

V.

The development

presence.

Il

.1

|)

I

small accelerators as

ol

(he

high-energj mass spe< trometers solved the problem dt

background

mass-

competitors

i

1

portion of

a

These instruments

noise.

of

With

the development of this

to analyze

with

a detector.

new instrument,

be dated ley

Cowan

History and

human

and Cloudsplitter

shelters

light microscope,

we saw

submitted two seeds, each weighing

gram,

for

3500

b.p.

piants.

less

AMS age determination, and

to

1982

—

they need

to be seen clearly

employ

that

measure precisely the thickness

of

some 2000-year-old seeds

a grass-lined storage pit in

When

Cave, Alabama.

ner seed

coats

than

viewed them under

I

seemed the

Rus-

seeds

a

much

thin-

of modern

wild

to have

Chenopodium berlandieri plants, and thus held the

promise of providing the

the distinctive thin seed

came from domesticated

the seeds

in

laboratory,

Light.

light microscope, they

examined the seeds under an ordinary

North America. But

We

I

surements of these seed

SEM

than 0.03

quired.

the resultant

good evidence that

first

plant was domesticated long ago in eastern

this

we

coats that indicate low germination dormancy, so

knew

sell

sam-

Kentucky.

eastern

in

did

I

microscopes

optical

1950s from

in the

Newt Kash

had been recovered from the

When we

of Natural

paleofecal

SEM

fossil

Walter

of Chenopodium berlandieri that had been excavated

extracted small seeds of the plant

I

Chenopodium berlandieri from ples that

Museum

of the Cincinnati

basic reason

out

seek

museum's

the outer wall or testa of

1987, for example, Wes-

fairly routinely. In

and

researchers

something too small

wanted

1

both present-day and

of

of the

standard

lenses

now

of early domestication can

same

for the

a

small seeds or portions of bone exhibiting mor-

phology indicative

NMNH

Brown, director

sample's constituent atoms are propelled

through an accelerator system toward

micromorphology

organisms.

out

filter

various points, as

at

(

'

I,

I

needed more accurate meacoats.

me

technology gave

the closer look

I

re-

glued cross-sectioned chenopod seeds from

dates provide the earliest evidence cur-

Russell cave, along with comparable seed specimens

rently available lor the domestication of this east-

from present-day wild and domesticated plants,

ern North American plant species.

onto small mounts, and then took them to the

Our work on Chenopodium

is

also an

example

of

lab.

SEM

There they were given a very thin coating

of

SEM.

the importance of microscopes in research on agri-

palladium, and were ready to be viewed in the

cultural origins. Like other researchers, for closer

Once

views we turned from light microscopes to scanning

microscope, the seeds were scanned by an electron

electron microscopy (SEM).

beam. is

I

placed them

When

that

in the

beam

is

vacuum chamber

deflected to a detector,

then transformed into an image on

screen.

By

rotating

a

of the

tew dials

1

it

viewing

a

could observe

se-

lected portions of the seeds at progressively higher

Scanning Electron Microscopy

magnifications, and the SEM's built-in

ment Like other scanning electron microscopy facilities

around the world, the tional

Museum

SEM

Natural

of

Smithsonian Institution, lows

sc

icni

isi s

I

ron

i

laboratory

a

m

History

ot

me

to

measure-

determine the pre-

cise thickness of the seed coats.

With

the \.i

(NMNH),

Washington, D.C.,

capabilities enabled

this

improved technology, establishing

that the Chenopodium berlandieri seeds from Russell

Cave (and other prehistoric

al-

variety ol disc iphnes io studv

United States) represented

ID

a

sites

in

the

eastern

domesticated crop was

c 1 T eethnology

A

nJ

a

view looking outward from Russell Cave National

h

Monument

lor

in northeast

Agricultur

o

Alabama.

Like other dry caves and rock shelters throughout the Americas, Russell Cave has yielded remarkably preserved plant remains suitable for

SEM

analysis in search of

micromorphological markers of domestication.

a relatively straightforward proposition.

Not

domestication

only

of another

chenopod

Andes by 5000

species,

4000

C.

were their seed coats comparable in thickness to

quinoa, in the Peruvian

modern domesticated chenopod varieties and far thinner than those of modern wild populations, but when I viewed them under the SEM, I

ago.

could also see other distinctive micromorphological

morphology of early domesticated potatoes from the

those of

characteristics that distinguished

cated.

More

recently, Carol

them

as

at

to

Illinois

years

University

Carbondale also employed a scanning electron mi-

croscope in the early 1980s to examine the micro-

domesti-

desert coast of Peru.

Nordstrom and Chris-

tine Hastorf, of the University of

Donald Ungent of Southern

In Great Britain and in Europe too, scanning

Minnesota and

electron microscopy has been increasingly

employed

University of California, Berkeley, have extended

since the 1980s in the analysis of prehistoric plant

SEM analysis of seed-coat thickness to document the

remains, with interesting results. In Germany, for

41

c

a

Ii

p

l

i-

i

I

!

Pollen SequeiK As anyone with pollen well,

rich

a

knows only too

allergies

plants produce

of flowering

variety

pollen each growing season. Pollen

is

male portion of a flower and released

formed

in the

for transfer to

the female portion of another flower.

Some

flower-

ing plants rely on insects, birds, animals, or water

Many

to carry their pollen.

species of plants rely

the wind to disperse their pollen, and

wind-transported pollen grains that

An SEM photomicrograph berlandicri seed

torment allergy

A

sufferers.

fill

it

is

on

these

the air and

single flower of a wind-

of a 3500-year-old Chenopodium

from Newt Kash rock shelter

pollinated plant generally produces from 10,000 to

in eastern

Kentucky. With a seed coat only 15 microns (millionths of a

70,000 pollen grains. Wind-dispersed pollen grains

meter) thick, this remarkably preserved seed provides the

have aerodynamic designs, and are sometimes trans-

evidence for the domestication of this species in east-

earliest

ern

ported over considerable distances by air current be-

North Amenta. fore

they are deposited over the land surface as

"pollen rain."

Some, but not many, of the millions of grains

SEM

example,

enabled

has

Udelgard

Grohne of the University of Hohenheim

Korber-

Near East on the

employed changes

sites.

SEM

to

In

Israel,

identify

in barley associated

tication in the

sediment

layer

being

formed

that

in the

annual

year.

Decay

processes are often inhibited in the sediments that

domes-

slowly build up over the centuries on the bottoms

its initial

microscopy

of such bodies of water, allowing each year's pollen rain to be preserved.

has

is

just

is

beginning.

research frontiers

about the optimal

lection

Throughout

their span of ex-

and ponds (5000 square meters

istence, small lakes

application to ques-

tions of early plant domestication

The opening of new microscale

pollen grains that

on the calm surface

tom, and there become incorporated

ar-

have

a fairly standard tool in the analysis of its

Some rest

their mis-

of a small lake or pond. They soon sink to the bot-

Jordan Valley 10,000 years ago.

archaeobotanical specimens,

flowers.

fulfill

micromorphological

with

Although scanning electron

now become

from

investigators

on

miss their targets come to

in

basis of microstruc-

tural surface patterns of grains recovered

chaeological

each year's pollen rain actually

sion by landing

to distin-

guish between different species of cereals grown the ancient

in

thus serve as excellent col-

size)

and storage devices. Because the often

the study of agricultural origins has not, however,

Species, the pollen sequences preserved in lakes

been limited to the development of such technol-

ponds record the history

ogy

as

light

mu

grains

and

c

AMS of

and SEM. Reasearchers using standard

roscopes are finding important evidence pollen

t

climatii

dis-

tinct shapes of the pollen grains indicate their parent

in

ment and change

The

in

scientists

in the

who

of

and

vegetational develop-

surrounding

area.

study pollen, called paly-

nologists, gain access to these sequences by sending

change, land clearing,

long tubelike devices called corers

ultivat ion.

i

!

down through

e c h

n

n d

(i

these sediments and extracting

Ag

t

The pollen

the cylinders, or

t

u

r

profiles of

Origins

a

two ponds located

close

sediment retrieved in the tubes. By ana-

to the Little Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee

lyzing the assemblages of pollen grains in different

provided the Delcourts with evidence that over more

"cores," of

layers, palynologists

tion of past forests

can reconstruct the composi-

than a thousand years Native American societies

change over

steadily increased their clearing of forests along the

and patterns

in their

time. Using pollen sequence information recovered

bottomland and

from hundreds of pond bottoms across eastern North

Pond, on an intermediate-level terrace of the

America, Hazel and Paul Delcourt of the Univer-

Tennessee Valley, contained 6 feet of bottom sedi-

sity of

in

how

up

the region's vegetation has

changed over the past 18,000

years.

The Delcourts

to the present day.

the Delcourts

thrust

Working from a

Little

a.d.

400

a small

raft,

ments that had accumulated from about

Tennessee have reconstructed the broad and

complex patterns

of the valley. Tuskegee

terraces

2-inch-diameter stainless

down through

bottom sediments.

have also used these pollen cores to study quite small

steel

changes brought about by Native Americans' land-

From

clearance practices and farming economies before

century, the Tuskegee

the arrival of Europeans.

maize pollen in small but consistent percentages.

corer

its earliest

the

strata right

up

to the twentieth

Pond pollen

core contained

This scanning electron micrograph

shows pollen grains from species.

five different

Because pollen grains have

such distinctive shapes, the plant species that produced

be identified.

43

them can

often

*.

Since maize pollen

is

heavy

ompared

(

to other

b a p

t

e

i

I

h

r

i'

e

Europeans arrived. Extending back over 3000

wind-

Pond pollen record showed

years,

borne pollens, and on the average travels only about

the Black

60 meters,

land forest of pines and deciduous trees until about

continual presence along wirh that of

its

such crops as Chenopodium and marsh elder showed the lake to have been adjacent to

signals the arrival of

from A.n. 400 onward. While maize and other

fields

30

50 percent of the

to

The

anywhere from

earliest strata

that

Native American agricultural activities had

in

concert with the

analysis of plant remains from archaeological sites,

thus offers a detailed view of a long process of ex-

pollen record. Reflecting considerable deforestation,

remarkably high ragweed pollen count shows

Delcourts' analysis of the pollen cores from

Tuskegee and Black ponds,

of the pond's

this

European settlements and the

land forests growing over bedrock.

ragweed, a key indica-

rain,

tor of land clearance, accounted for

increase in ragweed pollen

use of metal tools to clear higher terraces and up-

crops were small but steady contributors to the

Tuskegee Pond pollen

when an

100 years ago,

permanent Indian

a stable up-

panding human impact on the landscape of the tle

Lit-

Tennessee Valley. The insights gained through

substantially modified the landscape of the Little

pollen analyses of the kind carried out by Hazel and

Tennessee Valley by A.n. 400.

Paul Delcourt are based on individually identifying

Judging from plant remains recovered from earlier

archaeological sites in the valley,

begun

to clear the forest

thousands

humans had

and cultivate the land long

this painstaking

change

before the earliest sediments were deposited at the

bottom

Tuskegee Pond. Crop species such

of

upon thousands of individual pollen

grains extracted from layers of sediment.

It is

from

process that general patterns of

in the pollen rain

and evidence of early agri-

culture emerge.

as

squash, sunflower, marsh elder, and chenopod, along

with pine, cane, and other wild species that invade disturbed ground, ical

record about

first

3500

appear in the archaeobotanb.r,

marking the

first

and

Searching ror Wild Ancestors

quite limited farming efforts, which were confined to the

bottomlands and lowest

From i

I

at the

terraces.

cared and planted expanded over the centuries

across

much

when

Pond pollen record picks up the

story,

large portions of the first, second, ot

Investigators have been intensifing their efforts to

of the bottomland and up onto the

lower and intermediate terraces. By a.d. 400, the Tuskegee

identify the wild ancestors of present-day ticates

domes-

when new biochemical for

working out the taxo-

success of John Doebley, a biologist at the Univer-

pollen core the Delcourts extracted from

Black Pond,

in

the uplands

I

sity of

kilometers to the north

of

the Little Tennessee River, suggests that the ex-

pansion

1970s,

the

methods were developed

farming.

ol

since

nomic and evolutionary relationships between domesticates and their potential wild progenitors. The

and third terraces

the Little Tennessee Valley had been cleared for

The

Molecular Level

modest beginning the amount of land

this

of

maize provides

ecular research.

a

in identifying

the wild ancestor

good case study of this new mol-

The

origin and evolution of maize

the expense

has been a topit of great interest

among

then slowed and stabilized until the

since the mid-nineteenth century,

and opinion has

the agricultural landscape

ol valley forest

Minnesota,

ai

ll

botanists

N

e

T

w

e

[

c

long been divided on the identity of tor.

Teosinte

is

common name

the

and widely distributed group

of

its

Search

h

wild ances-

century,

when

it

1930s

for

George Beadle

Not everyone

a

o

r

l

and

g

it

n

i

is

s

only

re-

John Doebleys landmark molecular work began with

fertile

wide-ranging

Throughout

hybrids, and

out

field

research

this century botanists

new populations

on

teosinte.

have been seeking

of teosinte across rural and of-

ten remote areas of Mexico and Central America.

late

1980 three perennial and three annual

to present a strong argu-

Some

r

solved the debate.

By

teosintes had

been identified and their geographical distribution

was the direct ancestor of maize.

agreed.

u

their supporters over the years,

was discovered that maize and some

that teosinte

l

wild grasses long

enough information had accumulated by the

ment

d

cently that molecular evidence has convincingly re-

on teosinte since the turn of the

forms of teosinte formed fully

A

given to a diverse

suspected to include the wild ancestor of maize. Interest has focused

In

had been plotted.

researchers, principally

Two

of the annuals (Zea mays

Paul Mangelsdorf of Harvard University, were con-

mexicana and Zea mays parviglumis) were found to

vinced that maize was derived not from teosinte but

be most similar to maize, and became the focus of

from a hypothetical "wild maize." Both the teosinte

Doebleys

and the hypothetical-wild-maize theories have had

today

research.

The mexicana subspecies grows 1800 to 2500 meters on the

at altitudes of

Z

diploperennis

Z

perennis

© Z

luxarians

• Z

mays mexicana

A

Z

mays parviglumis

Z

mays huehuetenagensis

Gulf of Mexico

Bay of Campeche

PACIFIC

Central Balsas River valley

OCEAN

The modern geographical

distribution of different teosintes in

America.

45

Mexico and Central

C n

A

seed spike of the wild grass teosinte

(left),

each kernel enclosed in a hard shell-like case. ing the seeds.

When

teosinte

spike into the

much

larger

that are not protected

when

by

a p

t

I

(.•

e

On

ripening, the spike shatters, scatter-

was domesticated, human selection transformed

maize ear

fruit cases

(right),

this seed

which has many more rows of kernels

and that adhere to the cob rather than dispersing

ripened.

Adapted

to wetter,

parviglumh 1

r

consisting of a single row of kernels, with

plains and valleys of central and northern Mexico.

is

found

~00 meters on

of

li

warmer

Doebley included samples from

at altitudes

of about 400 to

and parviglumh

the upper slopes of the river valleys

more southern and western Mexico. Each

samples

from

in his

the

other

annual

and

perennial

teosintes, representing the entire geographic range

of the

of the wild taxa of the genus Zea.

into three subdivisions found naturally at distinct

assembled

i!

of these

genetic research, along with

two subspecies has each been further broken down

Lit

all six

natural geographic divisions of subspecies mexicana

zones, the subspecies

all

the

Once Doebley had

known forms of

teosinte, he

ready to examine their genetic profiles and to

udes.

46

was

com-

Technology

t

h e

bear ch

lar

is

its

u

r

o

a

r l

by convincingly demonstrating that

the ancestor of maize, then the particu-

g

i

n

it

s

was teosinte

and not an elusive "wild maize" that gave

type of teosinte ancestral to maize should be very

similar to maize in

t

research he was thus able to resolve a long debate

pare them, each in turn, with domestic maize. If teosinte

Ag

f

rise to

the

maize we know today. Even more remarkably, Doe-

molecular features, while

other types of teosinte should show varying degrees

bley further proposed that the source of maize could

of dissimilarity. In comparing specific proteins in

be narrowed to a particular

the various wild teosintes with those in maize, Doe-

tions in the Balsas River valley, southwest of

bley found

that

the proteins

of maize and

the

is

much more

Over the past quarter century employed

similar

Once parviglumis was

closely at

agriculture.

its

three geographical subdivisions, and found the populations of parviglumis

growing

to maize.

of the scientific advances briefly dis-

Now

let

us see

how

these

new

ap-

proaches and technologies have illuminated this

landmark transition

in the central por-

tion of the Balsas River drainage to be biochemically

most similar

all

scientists have

to obtain a better understanding of the origins of

identified as the ancestral

more

Mex-

cussed above, and a variety of others, in their efforts

to maize than to any of the other teosintes.

source of maize, Doebley looked

of teosinte popula-

ico City.

teosinte subspecies parviglumis could not be distin-

guished, and that parviglumis

set

eties first

Through molecular

of the Near East.

47

in the area

where human

soci-

developed agriculture, the Fertile Crescent

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

1MMP Ix. Babylonian bull.

By the time

this

enameled

tile

and ceramic

brick bull had been placed on the Ishtar Gate of the city of

Babylon, Mesopotamia, around 600

B.C.,

domesticated cattle

had been an important draft animal and source of meat

Near East

for

more than 5000

years.

in the

n

C

I

1

.1

I'

I

e

r

I

Negev Desert

At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, across a

broad arching zone

t

.'Hi

grasslands and open oak-

With

pistachio woodlands tailed the Fertile Crescent, the

world's

first

agricultural

economies emerged be-

and

east

by

higher-elevation

B.P.,

and

forests

the end of the Pleistocene ice age and

growing conditions improved

grasses, including wild barley

for

and wild

t

ranean, and on the south by arid deserts and dry

sources for the people

some 2000

kilometers from the Mediterranean coast and the

the

wild

emmer and

cent.

Open

and

this

forests

who

lived in the Fertile Cres-

and grasslands expanded

expansion encouraged

in area,

increases

in

the

Vegetation zones

Forest Subtropit at

woodland

Steppe grassland Desert grassland :

Caspia Sea Hayaz

Amuq

Hiiyiik

el

Tell es-Sinn*

Mudiq*

C hemi and Shanidar

CENTRAL Asw^T\ ——

ReisnmoJ^ •. / beisamoun "/ Ramad Natal Oren G il»al witct WEST Net.v Hagdud^f V? Abu Gosh #/-Jericho

.Karim Shahir

Choga Mami

\v v AllKosh ,

Hatoula

Beidha

/ Am hav(

i
o

the Sahara. Pastoral economies also

lished on the savannahs oi east Africa by about

By 6500

years ago, about

ing economies had

first

I

000

years after full farm-

emerged

in

B.P.

southern Eu-

Diane Gifford-C ion/ales of the University

ifornia, Santa

rope, they also appeared in the Nile Valley of north-

lie

L06

and goats

Cm/,

in

became establOOO

of Cal-

has identified domesticated cat-

in several

sites of that

age

in

Kenya.

E

A

u

r

O p

And A f r

pastoral village scene in the Sudan. Cattle have been at the center of

herding economies

Similarly,

the

for

5000

herding

of cattle

and goats had

cates

—sheep and

—do

eventually

become

of African herding and farming economies, tle that

North African

cess

it is

where

and spread of There

Near Eastern animal domesti-

pigs

a

ate Europe,

western edge of the Sahara by about 3500 years ago. the other

c

years.

reached the Dhar Tichitt region along the south-

While

i

is

cattle

LBK

were essential to the suc-

agricultural societies.

a striking difference, however,

between

the early agricultural economies that swept across

part

temperate Europe and those that developed in the

cat-

Sahara-savannah

zone of Africa.

In

Europe the

wheats and barley introduced from the Near East

gain early and lasting prominence as the

most important domesticated animal south of the

were the major crop plants. In Africa,

The prominence of cattle in Africa parallels an interesting way their prominence in temper-

it

in

barley, that

107

in contrast,

was three indigenous crop plants, not wheat and

Sahara.

formed the

basis of an agricultural

way

oi

life.

These three African crop plants

rue— arc

sorghum, and African

—

long to the same genus, and resemble each other, differthey were independently domesticated from

millet,

today important

ent wild plants. African nee

across Africa sources of rood tor millions of people

ancestor

has the three, African nee (Oryzd glaberrima)

today it the most limited range of cultivation: NigeMali, Coast, (Ivory Africa grown only in West

on

where a number of tribes

are heavily

been largely replaced

in these areas

in the

by Asiatic

fill

up during the

The

dry season.

from the

crop has

up-

in

its

wild

a savannah plant that grows in water

cated African rice,

dependent

African rice crops. In recent years, this

is

holes that

is

ria),

grown today

land forests, west of the Niger River, but

and Asia.

Of

is

site of

rains

earliest

and then dry out

evidence

of

domesti-

elating to about A.D. 200, comes

Jenne-Jeno near the bend of the

Niger River, suggesting that this is the general area where it was brought under domestication.

rice

rice be(Oryza sativd). Although African and Asiatic

W*»

f

n 4 24

cd

— — —

in, hi

\

\20incht

4ii

s .

Main an ,„

i

i

.

,./

\

of present-day

,:

ullivation

Ma.

,1

i

o) .'"""

J

ri

The proposed

in e

,in

Proposi

1

1

mi

mill,

i

"1

donu

Uit

sorghum, and the archaeological

' i,

i

re-

gions and sites thai have yielded the earliest evidenced indigenous

in distribution q) wildpi ,nl i

areas of domestication

of African rue. pearl millet, and

hum Modi

™^™

f

Rainfall hes

"1

Aim

.Hum

108

an agrit ulture

E u

o p e

r

a

n d

Alii

c a

Munson

Patrick

wm^isii ,

vestigated sites of the

of Indiana University has in-

Dhar

Tichitt region along the

southern margin of the Sahara, where he found ev-

teas

idence that pearl millet {Pennisetum glaucum) was be-

ing cultivated in the southwestern Sahara by about

3000

b.p. Earlier,

in the

Dhar

by about 3500 years ago,

societies

Tichitt had established settlements at

lake edges supported by cattle and goat herding, fishing, hunting,

The

and the harvesting of wild

plants in the ancient diet at

Dhar

plants.

Tichitt were

recorded in the form of grain impressions preserved

A woman

carries a

bundle of

rice after the harvest in

Mada-

gascar.

The the

grasslands origin of African rice links

two other major African

cereal crops

—

it

to

millet

and sorghum, both of whose ancestors were droughtresistant

savannah plants. There

is

little

archaeo-

logical evidence for the early history of domestica-

tion of millet and

same

central

sorghum, and

it

comes from the

and southern Sahara areas that have

yielded early evidence of domesticated cattle. earliest

The

evidence of domesticated sorghum (Sorghum

bicolor) consists

Pearl millet.

of a single impression of a grain in

a piece of pottery from the site of Adrar Bous, dating to about

4000

The

varieties of this

distinctive panicle, or seed head, of

a meter in length, while those of

10 centimeters long.

b.p.

109

some

important African crop plant are more than its

wild ancestor are only

— p

t

e

i

I

admittedly meager at present, the information we do have would seem to indicate that mixed farming economies emerged in different parts of the Sahara between 5000 and 3000 years ago, as is

the herding of domesticated animals was

first

in-

troduced into the region, and local seed crops were later

domesticated.

A number of timing

of

initial

sorghum was desert,

researchers have suggested that the

which

domestication

tied to the

of

millet

and

southward expansion of the

intensified about

4000

years ago, dis-

placing people south and forcing innovations and

experimentation that led to plant cultivation. AlThese pot sherds from the Niemilane

site in the

Dhar

ternatively,

Tichitt

region, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, contain grain im-

pressions of domesticated millet.

They document the

ologists will

initial

theory and

Ninety-nine percent of the impressions

recovered by

Munson from

sites

that millet and

sorghum were do-

now

indicates,

during a period of abundant wild resources rather than a period of climatic stress. The climatic stress

years ago.

in pottery.

possible that in the future archae-

show

mesticated earlier than the evidence

cultivation of this crop in the southern Sahara by about ->()()()

it is

its

stress-free

alternatives,

similar to

those proposed as leading to plant domestication in

dating between

the Levantine corridor, are both worthy of further

3500 and 3000 b.p. were of a single wild plant "kram-kram" (Cenchrus biflorus), which is widely col-

consideration.

lected in the region even today.

2900 makes an

searching for evidence of early African agriculture

Tichitt economy, as

has been tracing the early history of millet and

61 percent of the 121 grain impressions from this

period exhibit definite characteristics of this do-

sorghum by studying present-day types of these two crops and their wild relatives. Harlan, profes-

mesticated crop plant.

sor emeritus at the University of Illinois

At 3000

however, domesticated pearl millet

B.P.,

abrupt appearance

Clearly in the

in the

Dhar

Dhar

At the same time that archaeologists have been

to

in ancient settlements of the Sahara,

Jack Harlan

and the

Tichitt region cattle and goat

leading authority on the evolutionary history of

herding economies had been established by 3500 B.i\, and the cultivation of pearl millet was begun

African crop plants, has traveled extensively across Africa and studied herbarium collections around

about 3000 years ago. The result was a mixed econ-

the world in order to

omy

that

Simi-

bution of different varieties of millet, sorghum, and

larly,

in

the central Sahara, at Adrar Bous, cattle

other crop plants and to reconstruct their history

was uniquely African

were being herded by 5000

in character.

B.P.,

and the cultiva-

of

sorghum seems to have begun by 4000 years Although the archaeological evidence tor the

emergence and

the present-day distri-

development.

tion of

ago.

map

1

larlan has identified three distinctive

and long-

established crop complexes that form a broad band

early history ol agri( nit ure in Africa

Stretching across Africa between 5 and

I

in

15 degrees

E

u

l

A

o p

A

n J

i

r

north latitude. The Forest Margin complex, at the

recording information about the morphology of the

western end of this band, and the Ethiopian com-

plant's large

plex, at in

its

was not limited

eastern end, cover relatively small areas

comparison with the Savannah complex, which

stretches across Africa to the

from the Atlantic coast

also studied in

east

or history of the Forest agricultures,

complex

—

and

African

it

is

is

known

and

heads.

Margin and the Ethiopian

Based on differences in the morphology of the

the crops of this Savannah

seed heads they studied, Harlan identified five ba-

rice, millet,

is

collections across Africa

Europe. During the course of their field and

sorghum seed

of the antiquity

and sorghum

—

that

sic

grown

vannah complex zone, across

a

far

beyond

this Sa-

ical

Harlan and

colleagues visited most of the areas where

it is

distribution

at the

geograph-

of these five different types of

sorghum, and the extent

broad expanse of sub-

Saharan Africa. In their research on this most important of African crop plants,

types or races of sorghum: bicolor, guinea, kafir,

caudatum, and durra. By looking

have been a main focus of Harlan's research.

Today sorghum

to living plants, however, for they

museum

herbarium research they analyzed more than 10,000

upper Nile, along the dry southern edge of

the Sahara desert. Little

and distinctive seed head. Their work

to

which each was

differ-

ent from wild sorghum, Harlan was able to trace the evolution of this African cereal back through

his

now

time to

under cultivation, collecting plant specimens and

seed

its initial

domestication.

He

found that the

heads of four of the five modern races of

Ripening seed heads of sorghum.

Ill

C

sorghum were highly evolved and very from those

oi their

b a p

e

t

i

land

different

wild ancestor, and that each

West

Africa,

Africa, durra in Ethiopia,

in

South

ago

and caudatum

in

Chad

tended

and the Sudan.

The

fifth

in contrast,

race of domesticated

sorghum,

cultivated today, but rarely was

where sorghum it

far

moving

ever abundant.

enough north

was much

it

modern remnant

As

it.

the case

is

Africa, then, the archae-

sorghum

about the time the desert started

at

south.

somewhere along

closer in ap-

modern plant populawas domesticated

almost continent-wide band

this

of the southern Sahara that was once savannah but is

of

West

tions suggests that this crop plant

caudatum. race,

1000 years

to

In the case of pearl millet, too, archaeological

pearance to wild sorghum than to durra, guinea,

This bicolor

rice in

to include

excavation and research on

be quite primitive compared to the other four cul-

—

7000

culti-

savannah heartland could well have ex-

savannah zone

is

seed head of the bicolor race was also found to

tivated types of sorghum

sorghum

ot

being domesticated within the southern Sahara-

very different pattern of regional

a

color type in almost every area

kafir, or

in the climate of

verticilliflorum

Adrar Bous, which

ological and biological evidence points to

distribution and abundance. Harlan found this bi-

The

this

with African

modern

had

and

vation,

predominates

k.ifir

Sorghum

of

close to the site of

has yielded the earliest evidence

The guinea type dominates

ticular region of Africa.

domestical ion

of

comes very

of

these specialized races was largely limited to a par-

fields in

I'

Harlan concluded, was the

now

desert.

The Dhar

Tichitt region has produced

the only early evidence of domesticated pearl mil-

an early primitive form of do-

let, at

3000

b.r, but the present-day distribution of

mesticated sorghum that had spread widely and

both wild and cultivated forms suggests that the

rapidly across Africa from

plant could have been domesticated in any one of a

its

heartland of domesti-

cation thousands of years ago. After

becoming

number

es-

tablished in different regions of Africa, bicolor de-

The wild

veloped into the four distinct sorghum races of today, while also surviving as a

minor constituent

violaceum),

of cultivated fields.

Where was

less

the heartland of domestication of

this primitive bicolor type?

sorghum was domesticated

Chad-Sudan

Today

this

to the

sa-

Sorghum

ot

the bicolor race. Here, in the tall-grass savannah

whose 10-centimeter-long grain heads

are

percent as long as those of some domesis

a

drought-resistant plant that

upper Nile. The major band

this desert-savannah

While

verticilliflorum, the primary wild ancestor

of

5

of cultivation

of

domesticated varieties of pearl millet also follows

the region of greatest abundance

is

than

ancestor of pearl millet (Pennisetum

ticated varieties,

vannah region, along the southern margin of the Sahara.

within the southern Sahara

grows across the southern desert from the Atlantic

Harlan believes that

in the

of other areas

zone.

tions

boundary across

Africa.

research on present-day plant popula-

indicates

the

environmental

general

zone

landscape that stretches, pristine and largely undis-

within which the three major African cereals were

turbed, across hundreds of kilometers, the wild an-

domesticated, and these indications agree with the

cestor of

sorghum, growing

and remarkably productive,

enormous

to a height of 4 meters is still

limited archaeological information,

to clarify the timing, location,

quantities.

Interestingly,

I

larlan's

it

is

clear that

additional excavation ot early settlements

present today in

proposed savannah heart-

ot

I

I

I

agricultural

development

is

needed

and cultural context

in the region.

What

is

E

known

at present

u

O

I

|1

L>

A

n

regarding the settlements and sub-

(1

A

f

r

i

around the edges of these

lakes, close to village set-

The

may have been

plantings

sistence patterns of the societies that lived in the

tlements.

southern and central savannah zone some 5000 to

chronized with the regular seasonal fluctuation of

3000 tial

years ago, however, does provide at least a par-

picture of

how

period scribe

Settlements were located along the margins of lakes that

would have enlarged

The

stock,

and

lakes provided water for people

along lake margins soon after the water begins to

in size

fish

and

and other wild species living

The French term decrue, meaning "the when the floodwaters recede," is used to dea method of cultivation that is today prac-

ticed widely in sub-Saharan Africa: seeds are planted

recede at the beginning of the dry season, and the

during the rainy season and shrunk during the dry season.

crops

live-

grow

to maturity solely

available in the soil. This

in or

employed by hunter-gatherers

plants of the lake margin and savannah, including

of wild

African

rice, millet,

and sorghum were probably im-

that the decrue

of scholars, including Jack Harlan

to

is

expand the yields

and sorghum, leading to It is

method has

culti-

interesting to note

parallels

groundwater cultivation used

portant in the diet of these pastoral societies.

A number

rice, millet,

vation and domestication.

were also harvested, and of these, wild

on the water that

method could have been

along the lakes were important sources of food. Wild

grasses,

syn-

lake levels.

plant domestication might have

taken place.

permanent

first

both to the

in the initial

tication of cereals in the Levantine corridor

domesand to

and Patrick Munson, have suggested that domesti-

the initial cultivation of rice in East Asia, a crop and

cation of these plants could well have taken place

region to which

113

we now

turn.

EAST ASIA

jjjjMUDrtfcKi^'iintMaitr"

Lowland wet rice agriculture, Lombok Island, Indonesia. setting much like this, and with the help of tools such as 6400-year-old spades shown on the facing page, rice was cultivated along the Yangtze River years ago.

in

-'

$>t*

n£*

ji

>v

i

t»

H

v

1

St.

t£

A

'i

ffi'

H

§

f j

-

X

r.m to race

of

com

in size,

Jitter

widely

man

selection.

righi corner

the Kit

gante,

1

«

152

mm

the result of thousands of \ears of liu-

of

i

S

I

shape, and color,

is

The

ear in the lower

U.S. Corn Belt dent,

the world's most productive corn.

BliT

In 3 i

Modern ens

worlds

Cuzco

.i

it

is

.in

ear of

To

Cuzco Gi-

Peruvian race with the largest kernels.

ear

is

the tin)

Above the

Lady Finger Pop.

or Argentine popcorn, thought to be

pn

sent da)

relic

Tehuacan maize.

i

ol

the earl)

.i

Soul

M

Teosinte

Annual

spike

teosinte

Present-day maize, with a

its

single

main

its

| a^ 10 it

».L§ts

Vesas

Real Alto"

!asma Valley /f ortugasj Las Haldas,)Huaynuma, v kmpa'de'las Llama's-Moxek'e

Lake Junin basin. PanaulauciC^ _ UV^~ '' Pachamachay. UchumachaTT^Sj^cucno Valley, Ties Ventan'a*

.

Ayamacha\ Puenfc ,

Asana, Quelcantahj^rahiripa

Lake Titicaca basiiMQiJ^iipa

>

PACIFIC

OCEAN

The proposed heartland of quinua domestication and the geographical range of

ATLANTIC

OCEAN Monte Verde

its

wild ancestor, C. bircinum.

Also shown are the archaeological regions and sites of the south-central

Andes that have provided evidence of early agriculture

and of the domestica-

tion ol quinua, potatoes, llamas, al-

pacas, in

and guinea pigs,

as well as sites

Ecuador that have provided

dence

in

evi-

support of the phytolith

chronology of early dispersal of maize into South America.

173

e

n

.1

p t e r

S e v




I.

l

i

g

k

I

9

\

(wild)

Ii

•

•

berlandieri

(

•

(wild)

# _ O •

C.

missouriense

(wild)

^O

O O

°

_ O

berlandieri subsp nuttalliae

C.

qO

O

cv. "chia" (domesticated)

0°

s o° O O Ol O

C?

O O

O ° O O^ O O ° O O

„

Russell

Cave

This remarkably preserved 2000-year-old woven bag, from the Edens Bluff shelter in the Arkansas O/arks,

is

likeh to

'

be similar to the one from Marble Bluff shelter found to

X

contain 3000-year-old domesticated Chenopodium berlandieri

8

seeds.

8 o ^.0 oz.

small seeds apparently originally stored in a woven

„

1

1

1

1

1

bag,

1 1

( >

20

10

40

30

60

50

of

which

a

few small fragments were also (bund.

70 In the

Testa thickness (microns)

mid-1980s,

Storage in

etteville, the seeds Seed coai thickness

in

wild and domesticated Chenopodium.

Unlike present daj wild


()()()

50 meters or

tor

moment

From

challenge of

the

Sometimes exposed

B.P.

meter or more thick,

had existed

that

keep these plants alive and grow-

to

used on early farming sites dating between

and Southwest, Na-

years.

in

ing until they produced

1

more along arroyo banks and ranging up

southwestern

.is

Native American societies intensified their use of maize, they had to solve

g h

i

and 2000

ivated.

interesting, however, thai

is

I

river

with the use of

sided arroyos

In the process of

down through

c

mountain sheep, mule

utting steep

the alluvial deposits

lope. In

who

Santa Cruz rivers and their tributaries have exposed

did

deeply buried archaeological deposits, which provide

a

Tucson

tecord

ol

the-

long

area. Sine e the

University

of

1

human occupation

of

930s archaeologists from

sine e the-

1

WXOs

deer,

and pronghorn ante-

there was not

much life of

lived here earlier. Importantly,

make

tor a

more

stable

lite.

of a

change

the people

though, maize

By cultivating corn

near river valley base camps, the people of these

farming communities could remain

the

ments

the

for

longer periods

of

the year.

in their settle-

Judging from

the remarkable continuity in their settlements and

Arizona have been investigating these

ancient settlements, and

many ways

from the hunting-and-gathering

ol

Pedro, Tanque Verde, and

these valleys, the San

cultivation

wild plants and animals,

including mesquite, cacti, grasses, agave, pinyon,

valleys

into the Tue son basin from the surrounding

mountain ranges.

combined

life

a variety of

land-use patterns over the thousand years that fol-

interest has

104

Eastern

X

o

t

t

h

A m

e r

1

c a

I

I,

Southwest

they supplemented

and

lowed their decision to supplement their foraging

regions

and hunting with the cultivation of crops, maize

quite successful broad-spectrum hunting and gath-

formation of a sus-

ering economies. Crops could be cultivated without

provided a key element

in the

tainable, stable adaptation to the

Thus

much

Tucson region.

nomies has important in

parallels

tion of risk, by offering a dependable

with the origins of

the Levantine corridor.

source of food.

Although

vests,

one region and introduced in the other,

in

And

in

and storable

both regions, those

first

har-

modest though they surely were, held the

promise of the dramatically larger yields that

major cereal crops were independently domesticated in

modification of age-old lifeways, but they did

provide an important measure of security, a reduc-

the introduction of crop plants to these

people's long-established hunting-and-gathering eco-

agriculture

long-established

in the

intervening years have changed the face of the earth.

both

205

EPILOGUE

THE SEARCH FOR EXPLANATIONS

Ah. .he emergence of agriculture marks a major turnhuman history, so it is no wonder that

ing point in

scholars have long sought to understand it.

Most

interested

biologists

and explain

and archaeologists

have focused their research on particular domesti-

world

cates or certain

areas: these scientists

identified the wild ancestors of domesticates

have

and the

and

to identify the underlying causes of the

emer-

gence of agriculture. Whatever the nature of the

had to contend with the

theories, they have all

ever- accumulating

mass of information regarding

plant and animal domestication.

of knowledge ened,

As

this

foundation

constantly added to and strength-

is

places constraints on the kinds of causal ex-

it

can support. Those theories that

evidence for their domestication; they have found

planations that

when domestication took place; and they have learned how hunter-gatherers actually

are not firmly connected to this foundation will be easily

transformed wild species into domesticates. Each of

searcher, then,

these individual discoveries does not in itself pro-

knowledge—the what, when,

out where and

vide an overall account of agricultural origins. discoveries do, however, represent

thought of

as the

building blocks of a solid foun-

dation from which such an explanation structed.

But

is

The

what could be

may be

the foundation alone enough?

knocked down. The challenge

up from

it

might be

this

plain

is

it

why human

necessary to

societies

made

—

go further

to ex-

the transition from

hunting and gathering to an agricultural way of life?

Over the

years, a variety of theories

posed that attempt to pinpoint

have been pro-

human motivations

re-

to the basic foundation of

—while

where, and

how

of

also perhaps building

Before considering what kind of causal explanations

standing that

planation, or

add

any

can withstand the test of time.

how

emerged provide an adequate ex-

to

for

a firm anchored causal explanation that

our growing understanding of where, when, and agriculture

is

agricultural origins

con-

Does

it

built

now

foundation

on the foundation of under-

exists, let's first briefly look at

itself,

considered

by many

re-

searchers to be the core of any proposed explanation.

After

all,

explanations that attempt to get at ulti-

mate causes and human motivations

are often rather

speculative, flimsy affairs, only partially supported

by available evidence and

all

too prone to collapse.

I

I

I

CI

I'

In contrast

.

e\ iden( e of

how. where, and when plants

and animals were domesticated dependable, as

is

how

J.

M.

J.

landmark research of Jack

de Wet: they not only detailed

plants as they art transformed from wild to

AMS

domes-

to

methods

when and where

what can

— knowing

plant and animal species were do-

markers of domestication evident logical record,

barley and wheat

and the

in

the archaeo-

specific categories of

human

behavior that led to domestication, such as the de-

were domesticated, they nonetheless have impressively

is

mesticated, the identity of their wild ancestors, the

Even though Hillman, Harlan, and de Wet

why

societies first created particular domesticates.

standing the emergence of agriculture

brittle rachises

and how long the transformation would

to explain

enables archaeologists

be thought of as the basic foundation for under-

into a field of domesticated plants having tough

do not attempt

now

This assemblage of knowledge, then,

are necessary to trans-

wheat having

with greater accuracy where various

radiocarbon dating

human

Gordon Hillman has identified which

a field of wild

take.

I'erpmann,

answer with accuracy the key question of when

actions that produced those changes.

specific harvesting

rachises,

Hans-Peter

like

species were first domesticated. In addition, direct

ticated forms, but they have also identified the spe-

form

archaeologists

to pinpoint

the morphological changes that take place in seed

Similarly,

the analysis of plant and

Brian Hesse, and Carol Nordstrom have been able

Take, for example, the

human

Through

identification of distinctive markers of domestication,

domesticates.

cific

6

animal remains from ancient settlements and the

hunter-

gatherers transformed wild plants and animals into

Harlan and

II

this foundation.

more- solid and

explanations of

art-

g

liberate planting of stored seed stock.

illuminated the pathway that leads from

To the

schol-

ars constructing the theories of ultimate causes, this

wild to domesticated.

foundation represents the necessary but preliminary

Consider, too, the success of John Doebley, of

research that allows

them

to address the

key ques-

Paul Gepts, and of Deena Decker- Walters and her

tion of

colleagues: they have identified the wild ancestors

mesticated plants and animals and developed a farm-

of maize, beans, and squash and have determined

ing

way of While

the likely areas of the Americas in which these plants

the important attributes that predispose species to

and

this

has led to a clear understanding of

in a

knowledge

why

Such

profiles

go

cal

research

on

many ways,

present-day

populations has provided

which

a

firm

and

focus on finding the

are proposed to explain

Some

focus on a single cause, while oth-

Some

propose several.

see the causes of agricul-

ture as originating outside of

human

society

nature, while others propose that agriculture

then, biologi-

plant

number of ways. Some

plication. ers

plaining the roster of domesticates in different re-

gions of the world. In

all

of the world, while others are universal in their ap-

certain

long way toward ex-

a

life.

these theories

the emergence of agriculture in a particular region

plants and animals were domesticated and others weren't.

societies first do-

causes of agriculture, they differ from one another

were domesticated. Researchers have also recognized

starring roles as domesticates,

why hunting-and-gathering

animal

its

foundation on

origins to cultural changes within hunter-gatherer

societies.

Did human

societies first domesticate

plants and animals as An adaptive response to

to construct theories that consider the causes

of agricultural origins.

in

owes

external pressure

like

some

population growth or

cli-

mate change, or did domestication take place

Archaeological research, too, has contributed to

208

in

The

the absence of outside stress, as

changes

in the organization

t
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Moyne de

Morgues). Reprinted in Stefan Lorant

ell,

CHAPTER

1591 (made

21,

York:

Du-

Page

197:

Van Buchet/Photo Re-

searchers.

Pearce, 1946.

8

Page 198: Squier and Davis, 1848, Pages 185, 186, and 187: Bruce D.

Page 182: (background photo

Wolfe

Inc.; (hoe blades)

of

com) Art

plate 21.

Smith.

From James A. and

Page 188:

Adapted from Bruce

Pages 199 and 200: Adapted from

the

evolution of exchange relations at the

D. Smith, Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North

Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern

beginning of the Mississippian pe-

America. Washington, D.C.: Smith-

North

Bruce D. Smith

The

sonian Institution Press, 1992; (right)

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Brown,

Richard

A.

Kerber,

Howard D. Winters, "Trade and

riod." In

(ed.),

(left)

Washington

The University Museum, University

and London: Smithsonian Institution

of Arkansas. Catalog no. 32-3-391.

Press, 1990, p. 266, Fig. 85.

Slide no.

Mississippian

Emergence.

88133.

223

Bruce D. Smith, Rivers of Change:

America.

Washington,

Page 202: Wirt Wills.

D.C.:

1

INDEX

Abu Gosh

55, 61, 62, 64,

site,

Abu Hureyra,

66

53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 64, 69,

Andrews, Ebenezer, 185

Bar-Yosef, Ofer, 3, 74, 76, 77, 78

Aquaculture, 125, 135

Bat Cave, 148, 157, 159, 201, 202

70,71,72,74,77,130

Arlit site, 106,

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Arrowroot, 14

(AMS)

Radiocarbon dating)

(see

Asana

108

Beadle, George, 45, 151

Beans, 82, 93, 147, 149, 150,

160-163, 167, 203, 208

177, 181

site,

Asch, David, 190

Beidhasite, 55, 58, 71, 81

Adams, Karen, 203

Asch, Nancy, 190

Beisamoun

Adrar Bous

Belfer-Cohen, A., 78

Agave, 17

Ash Cave, 185, 186, 187, 200 Ashkalon site, 66

Agriculture

Asiabsite, 54, 58, 61, 63

Benz, Bruce, 152

Assoud

Acorns, 127, 137, 197

site,

106, 108, 109, 112

decrue method landscapes

in, 4,

origin theories

'Ain Ghazal

of,

site,

113

16

of,

208—214

31, 55, 62, 66, 69,

Aldenderfer, Mark, 177, 181, 213 Ali

Kosh

site,

30, 56, 63, 69, 71,

72, 84-85, 86, 87, 130 All

Union

Institute of Plant

Strait,

Bezoar

(see

Aswad

Binford, Lewis,

site,

69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76,

Biriman valley,

98

Bolivia, 13

Cattle)

Avocados, 167

Bone pathologies, 31

Awatovi Pueblo, 36, 37

Bos primigenius

Valley, 177, 178,

Ayamachay Aztecs, 147

213

177

site,

67

Anatolia, 92, 100

Ancestors, wild

geographical range

of,

6-8,9

using genetic analysis to identify,

44-47, 93 Andaryan, Philippines, 123

Anderson

site,

(see

(see

Cattle)

Cattle)

Bottle gourd, 125 site,

56, 57, 64, 69, 71

Braidwood, Robert, 8-10, 36, 53,

Radiocarbon dating)

site,

Bos taurus

Bouqras

Amaranth, 160 (see

87

Black earth, 196

Black Pond, 44

(see

Almonds, 76

Amug

209

village,

Aurochs

Alpaca, 148, 170, 175-177, 213

AMS

Goats)

Australian Aborigines, 17, 20

Ayacucho

Industry, 5

146

Bering

77

66

Ben-shuh, Chao, 138

Asteroids, 15

Aude River

71, 130

56, 57, 61, 62, 64, 81

site,

55, 64,

site,

192

Anderson, Edgar, 20, 194

Andes, 13, 170-181, 212, 213

Babylon, 49

63, 149

135—136

Balkans, 92

Bristlegrass, green,

Balsas River, 47, 154, 157, 159,

Breadfruit, 141

213 Bamboo, 124

Bubalus bubalis

Bananas, 14, 142

Buffalo River,

Ban Chiang, 122, 123

Burning of landscapes, 17, 20

Brown, Walter, 40 (see

Water

buffalo)

194-195

Barley, 9, 12, 50, 51, 67, 70,

71-72, 83, 87, 88, 97, 99,

Cafer

100, 107, 210

Cane, 44

little,

198

site,

53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 64, 81

Capra aegagrus

225

(see

Goats)

a

Capra

ibex

aprines, 5

(

asma

(

.cutM

(

179

Cucurbita Cutler,

Cuy

luyuk, 67

(

attle, 9,

1

1-'.

52,

Hugh C,

106

Dalmation

37,

19.

1

16S

66

100

coast,

Erbabain

29

es-Sinn

6