Sowing, harvesting and tilling at the end of the Pleistocene/beginning of the Holocene in northern Syria: a reassessment of cereal and pulse exploitation

More than 10 years have passed since a number of publications presented evidence for the possible cultivation of wild cereals based on charred remains of potential arable weeds and spikelet bases from late Pleistocene/early Holocene sites in northern Syria. Since then, a number of publications concerning the beginnings of cultivation have appeared which used results from the Syrian sites. This paper was inspired by issues raised in these publications, which will be addressed through an empirical approach, first by discussing the possible techniques and methods used for sowing, harvesting and tilling at sites that produced remains of wild cereals and pulses with reference to experimental cultivation and field observations of wild cereal habitats. Secondly, taking into account the range of possible methods of exploitation demonstrates the complexity of distinguishing between the gathering and the cultivation of morphologically wild cereals and the probability that these two modes were practiced intermittently and interchangeably. In addition to this the inadequacy of evidence obtained from charred plant remains, suggests that the concept of “predomestic” cultivation as used for northern Syria needs to be revised. Thirdly, the causes of the varying proportions of shattering and non-shattering spikelets occurring together are examined and found to be multiple, suggesting that selection rates obtained from ratios of charred spikelet bases need to be reconsidered.