Re: First Farmers in Turkey

From: John Croft
Message: 2609
Date: 2000-06-04

Christopher Gwinn wrote:
> Does anyone have any thoughts on the following article, which
appeared on
> Discovering Archaeology on June 1st 2000?

Thanks Christopher. This seems to relate to what I have been
understanding too in the archaeological literature. The long
equation
of the Natufians as the first farmers seems to be being replaced by a
view that they adopted their technology from the North, coming out of
the region of Turkey. First obsidian trade routes, then grain
genetics, now chick peas... the evidence is accumulating for an
origin
of farming amongst peoples whose languages are now extinct
(Hurro-Urartuan? Hattic? perhaps).

Regards

John

> ______________________________________
>
> The Cradle of Agriculture?
> New Evidence Moves the World's
> First Farmers into Turkey
> by Reagan Duplisea
>
> While it is widely believed that agriculture began in the Levant,
the region
> spanning the eastern tip of the Mediterranean, new research may have
> narrowed down the location - and moved it northward.
> In what is known as the Fertile Crescent - the region nurtured by
the Jordan
> River on the west and the Tigris and Euphrates in the east - the
oldest
> civilizations flourished. And here, in an epic advance that made
these
> ancient civilizations possible, plants were domesticated and
agriculture was
> born.
> The cradle of agriculture generally has been placed in the Jordan
Valley of
> the southern Levant (today's Israel and Jordan). But work by Simcha
> Lev-Yadun of Israel's Agricultural Research Organization and
colleagues
> suggest the first farms may have been farther north, between the
Tigris and
> Euphrates rivers in what is today northeastern Turkey and northern
Syria.
> Wild progenitors of the main Neolithic founder crops (einkorn
wheat,
emmer
> wheat, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch, and flax) are
found
> together only in this small core area of the Fertile Crescent.
> Lev-Yadun reports that wild chickpea especially is extremely rare,
yet it
> was a staple crop of Neolithic life 10,000 years ago. Agriculture,
> therefore, probably began in an area where chickpea is native.
> Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest known farming
settlements of
> the Fertile Crescent were in this core area.
> Also, the limited genetic variability of these crops implies that
they were
> domesticated only once - rather than by several different cultures
at
> roughly the same time. Evidence of domesticated crops in the core
area dates
> to about 10,000 years ago, while the earliest signs of farming
elsewhere are
> about 9,300 years ago.
> Neolithic sites discovered in the core area indicate that a society
with
> plenty of food thrived there. In sites such as Cayonu, Novali Cori,
and
> Gobekli Tepe, impressive architecture, images, and artifacts have
been
> found. Settlement sites are also larger in this area than many
others of the
> same time in other parts of the Fertile Crescent.
> Lev-Yadun and colleagues Avi Gopher of Tel Aviv University and
Shahal Abbo
> of Hebrew University reported their research in Friday's (June 2)
edition of
> the journal Science.
>
>
>
> REAGAN DUPLISEA is a writer for Scientific American Discovering
Archaeology.