Supplemental information

Near Eastern Plant Domestication: A History of Thought

Shahal Abbo1 and Avi Gopher2

1The Levi Eshkol school of agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot

7610001, Israel

2The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat

Aviv 6997801, Israel

Correspondence: shahal.abbo@mail.huji.ac.il (S. Abbo)

Supplement A

‘Cultivation’ and ‘Pre-Domestication Cultivation’ as Intellectual Constructs

Cultivation is justly considered by students of the Agricultural Revolution and plant

domestication to be a significant cultural marker of a change, reflecting new

perceptions in the relationship between man, plants, and land and new behavioral

patterns (e.g., [S1, S2], and [S3] pp. 201-202). It is also usually viewed as a major

stage in the process of plant domestication and the rise of agriculture. Some

consider cultivation a necessary condition or a prerequisite for plant domestication

because it is thought to have provided the arena for the gradual unconscious

emergence of the domesticated genotypes (e.g., [S4] p. 121, and [S5,S7]), coining

the term Pre-Domestication Cultivation. However, Harris [S3] who ascribed great

importance to the exact definition of the various terms as an integral part of his

(four stages) model for the beginning of agriculture opposed a

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progressive/diachronic view. He thus viewed these terms not as a representation of

a prehistoric sequence but rather as an ‘evolutionary continuum’ that is neither

unidirectional nor deterministic (see below).

The term cultivation as introduced by Helbaek [S8] in the context of the Agricultural

Revolution in the Near East was comprehensively defined only a decade later ([S9]

p. 194). Cultivation, says Helbaek, is:

“A complex of measures by which ecology is influenced in order to further the

growth and output of one or more plant species. Natural vegetation is suppressed or

removed; the microbiology of the topsoil is changed by hoeing or ploughing: seeds

of the desired species are dispersed with a suitable density, or seedlings planted …

in certain conditions water is drained off the terrain, in others it is supplied

artificially. During the vegetational season weeds are suppressed and predatory

animals warded off.”

As for the relation to domestication, he says:

“Cultivation is a matter of governing the ecology while domestication depends on

some physiological inefficacy in plants of which man takes advantage … Cultivated

plants need not be domesticated – indeed, cannot by any means be so from the

outset – whereas on the other hand, a domesticated plant can exist only as a

cultivated plant.”

The term pre-domestication cultivation (PDC) was coined by Hillman [S10] while

attempting to better understand cultivation. Hillman and Davies [S11, S12] defined

this term, as well as the term ‘non-domestication cultivation’, quite rigorously in the

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framework of their study in which they conclude that the domestication of einkorn

could have been achieved within a time frame spanning anywhere from twenty

years [S11,S13] to two centuries. This catchy term has since evolved into a concept

implicitly indicating yet another stage in the sequence of human-plant relationship,

and eventually domestication, carrying a broad range of new meanings. Tied in with

experimentation (see [S14]), or lost crops ([S15], but see [S16]), the term PDC had

become rather confusing.

Hillman was the leader of some rigorous attempts to construct a systematic

framework that would allow for the identification of cultivated wild species, that is

PDC while studying the most important archaeobotanical assemblages of Tell Abu

Hureyra, Syria (e.g. [S11S13,S17]). Four aspects determined useful by Hillman

[S18] and Hillman et al. [S19] as they proposed PDC in the Natufian layer 1 (ca.

13,000 years BP) of Tell Abu Hureyra are: The presence of seeds of the so-called

weeds of cultivation; The displacement of particular food plants; Shifts in wear

patterns on flint sickle blades (see [S20]); and A change in the size of grains. We will

not discuss these aspects here in detail; however, we argue that the evidence

provided to support these aspects seems to be circumstantial and it is combined

with assumptions and hypotheses that remain, at best, controversial (see Key Table

in text). It therefore seems to us that neither the archaeological nor the

archaeobotanical records are at present unequivocally indicative of cultivation in

pre-Neolithic (Natufian) or early Neolithic (PPNA) Levantine sites. Where

archaeobotanical finds are well preserved and solid, the presence of supposedly

pre-domesticated cultivated wild taxa and weeds of cultivation has yet to be

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exclusively explained by cultivation and a parsimonious explanation for their co-

appearance is still in want [and even more so in light of a recent publication [S21]

on the presence of ‘proto-weeds’ and cultivation at the site of Ohalo II, dated to

some 23,000 years BP]. Hence, cultivation, as emerging in archaeological literature,

remains, more than anything, archaeologically invisible and should therefore be

considered with caution, as is the case with any intellectual construct (see detailed

discussion in [S22,S23].

It might be useful to have another, deeper look at a most important contribution to

the modeling of plant domestication (and important suggestions vis a vis

cultivation) by D. Harris who combined insights gained through decades of

fieldwork and a wide corpus of literature encompassing anthropological, ecological,

socioeconomic, botanical, and evolutionary aspects of the process. Harris’ [S3]

classical multi-staged model is structured as an evolutionary continuum of

interactions between people and plants, which gradually gave rise to plant

domestication. The deep roots of this idea go back to Merril ([S24] p. 328) or even

earlier, to Darwin himself ([S25], see main text). The model (and its variations)

comprise four stages: [S1] foraging, or wild food gathering and hunting, [S2]

cultivation of wild plants or PDC, [S3] systematic cultivation of wild plants, and

eventually, [S4] agriculture based on domesticated forms (sensu S5, and see [S26]).

Implicit in Harris’ [S3] model is that the commencement of stage 4 is mediated by

the selective propagation of domesticated genotypic and phenotypic variants

occurring in stage 3 ([S3] Fig. 1.1 therein) – i.e., plant domestication is placed on the

border of cultivation and agriculture. Harris himself emphasized his ‘evolutionary

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continuum’ and the fact he meant neither a unidirectional, nor a sequential or a

deterministic scenario. At the same time, cultivation was considered – and still is –

by others, both explicitly and implicitly as an early stage of a linear, unidirectional

process leading plants through a protracted, unconscious genetic selection process

into domestication. This is echoed by the term pre-domestication cultivation (see

above). While Harris expanded his model to encompass fauna and not only flora and

fine-tuned it over the years (e.g., [S27S30]), this basic evolutionary continuum

remained unchanged ([S31] Fig. 2.1 therein).

Republishing the Harris [S3] model in [S32], Denham [S33] refined (practically,

‘adapted’, or ‘recruited’) and simplified the model pointing out Harris’ growing

emphasis on ‘transitional’ life ways (between hunting-gathering and agriculture)

and their flexibility – to either develop into agriculture, or not. Another aspect

mentioned is Harris’ decoupling (full or partial) of agriculture from domestication

and the blurring of the conceptual boundary between these two terms.

At the same year, Harris himself revised his 1989 model and depicted three (rather

than four) modes of food procurement and production ([S31] Fig. 2.1 therein): (a)

wild-(plant) food procurement (foraging), (b) wild food production (pre-

domestication cultivation), and (c) agriculture (based mainly on domesticated

crops). In this revision, Harris [S31] stressed that this clear cut distinction between

the noted three modes of subsistence serves analytic purposes only, while reality

comprises mixed subsistence systems characterized by the gradual decrease in

dependence on wild foods and the simultaneous gradual increase in dependence on

domesticated crops (ibid: legend to Fig. 2.1).

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Harris [S3] stressed the importance of accurately defining the terms researchers use

in describing the people-plant liaison including cultivation, domestication,

agriculture, and food production. This is a view we wholeheartedly support and we

fully agree with him that “the meaning attributed to such general concepts can and

do directly affect research design and the interpretation of evidence” [S3]. However,

over time, Harris himself joined the growing tendency to see the interaction

between man and plants (domestication included) as a fluid, indistinct (blurred),

continuum of transitional situations, slowly distorting the sharpness and accuracy

provided by his own terminology, thereby inevitably losing resolution and losing

direct contact with the archaeological data. The result was a growing reliance on

(diverse) ethnographic and ethnohistoric data (see [S34], based mainly on

ethnographic data, S35 and references therein) as is the case for others students of

plant domestication (e.g., [S36, S37]).

Exemplifying this freedom is the modified variation of Harris’ model used by Asouti

and Fuller ([S38], Fig. 2 therein). These authors added to Harris’ scheme details of

archaeological indicators of the different stages of the model’s continuum as well as

quantitative trends reflected in archaeobotanical plant remains, and in particular,

the rise in alleged weeds, non-shattering types, and grain sizes. Additional

interpretative aspects were added to the scheme in a quasi-quantitative manner,

stating an increased dependence on cultivated plants, an increasing input of human

labor (but see experimental results of Tzarfati et al. [S39] showing the contrary for

threshing), and trends of rising and decreasing yield per area unit of managed land –

all of which are depicted along a time axis.

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As we see it, and as we have stated in the past [S22], the term agriculture refers to

the fully-fledged economic system based on domesticated species. We use the term

domestication as a biological term, referring to major genetically-based phenotypic

features that enabled people to gain domination over the chosen species and use

them in new, man-made ecological settings, such as non-brittle rachis, free

germination, changes in bio-rhythms, and the likes. As such, domestication reflects a

human initiative. In cultural terms, domestication is the event following the decision

(and execution) of that human initiative during which humans had consciously

chosen certain species and selected particular stocks among species for growing.

Thus, domestication is the act of obtaining distinct phenotypes of desirable plants

through educated, knowledge-based human action.

The term cultivation, as we use it follows Helbaek’s [S9] definition and relates to the

mechanism, the set of activities by which the active person is treating the land and

the plants, including stocking seed corn, sowing, tending, harvesting, selecting,

cleaning-sorting etc. Cultivation is thus a chain of husbandry operations in an

agronomic arena reflecting any human intervention in the life of wild or

domesticated plants. As such, it seems likely to represent a behavior that is

embedded in a new human perception of land and plants. Cultivation is therefore

not a mere (gradual) amplification or improvement of the foraging subsistence

strategy but rather a manipulation of plants in a new setting that attests to a new

state of mind; a change in the relations between man (culture) and plants (nature),

expressed mainly by the fact that plants are sown and harvested and the land is

managed. In effect, cultivation in this new setting defines the agronomic arena, so to

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speak, in which an intentional (conscious and deliberate) selection takes place in

favor of morpho-physiological feature preferred by the cultivator. Those features

are our present-day biological markers of plant domestication.

Readers should bear in mind that this discussion about cultivation might be relevant

only for cereals because no economically viable option of PDC exists for Levantine

grain legumes [S40, S41]. Hence, upon accepting the above legumes model, and

following the fact that the same people domesticated both cereals and legumes, the

discussion would have been decided long ago making the notion of pre-

domestication cultivation redundant altogether.

Supplement B

Climatic Change and The Possible Role of The Younger Dryas in PD and The

Agricultural Revolution in The Near East

This supplement is by no means an attempt to summarize the Younger Dryas (YD)

issue; it is rather oriented towards commenting on the YD and the beginning of

agriculture (plant domestication included) in the Near Eastern context, based on

data and studies available from the region.

Climate change is a favorite topic and was discussed as a prime mover for the

Agricultural Revolution in primary domestication centers worldwide (e.g., [S1]).

Climate change is being emphasized in the Near East because it is a marginal (semi-

arid) zone on the border of the global desert belt.

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The YD is generally described as a global climatic event, a cool (decline in annual

average temperature) and dry stadial in the European (or northern hemisphere)

glacial sequence that started some 13,000 calendar years ago or somewhat later

(some say 12,900 or even a little later), continuing for over a millennium up to ca.

11,700 years ago (or somewhat later 11,600 calBP), and followed by the warmer

Holocene.

For the NE the attributed effects of the YD include drought (viewed by some as a

climatic crisis) that resulted in (plant and wildlife as a whole) resource depletion.

This reconstruction based on various scientific lines of evidence is, in not a few

cases, linked to the beginning of agriculture in the region.

Climate reconstructions based on stable isotopes analyses from the southern Levant

(e.g., [S42S45]) seem to indicate that the YD shows a certain decrease in

precipitation (with short-term fluctuations within the period) and a certain drop in

annual mean temperature. The combined result of these two climatic elements is

hard to assume especially since the effects of the YD were complex and are

practically quite localized and specific to the conditions of the various sub-regions.

In a review called “Setting the environmental background for the evolution of

human civilization”, Robinson et al. [S46] conclude that the YD “… was extremely

arid and, most likely, cold compared to the Bolling-Allerod and Holocene” (pp.

1536). This was based on quotes on the sedimentary records of Lake Lissan [S47]

and the coastal plain of Israel [S48], on pollen analysis by Rossignol-Strick [S49]

[but note that Rosignol-Strick’s [S49] palynological evidence was collected in the

Adriatic and may be irrelevant to the eastern Mediterranean Levant for many

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reasons [S50], and to a certain degree on speleothem's stable isotopes record [S44].

“The marine record of the YD is less conclusive” (pp. 1536) they say. The change in

vegetation is generally mentioned as “an increase in C4 vegetation”. In their

summarizing point no. 2 they say “However, the records do not always agree as to

the severity of some events such as the Younger Dryas” (pp. 1537) and relate this to

either sample resolution in marine proxies or to possible “real phenomena” (pp.

1537) concerning the responsiveness of the different proxies and environments.

The botanical remains in parts of the Near East relevant to the Agricultural

Revolution and plant domestication do not show significant change in nature and

composition throughout the period as seen mainly in pollen analyses (e.g., [S45,

S51S55]) and anthraecological studies (see also [S50, S56]). Regarding the above

conclusion, it is of note that the vegetation reconstructed for the YD by Langot [S45]

is richer than that existing for the last 6,000 years in the same regions. A similar

statement can be made on the fauna of the Near East as reflected in faunal remains

retrieved from relevant archaeological sites.

The possible role of the YD as a prime mover of the Agricultural Revolution in the

Near East was highlighted by archaeologists and was often presented as a direct and

immediate trigger. A scenario repeatedly stated in the archaeological literature has

considered the YD as a climatic crisis in the Near East (e.g., [S1, S2, S18, S57S64 and

more). The articulation of cultural developments, settlement patterns and climate,

including the YD have been, and remained part and parcel of archaeological

reconstructions in this part of the world (e.g., [S65]) and in discussions on the

Agricultural Revolution (but see [S66]). This also relates to the question whether

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the innovative cultural and socio-economic moves of this revolution have taken

place under environmental stress or in a time of plenty (e.g., as suggested in [S67]).

Archaeologically, this has been translated for example, into statements arguing that

the YD ‘forced’ late Natufian population that has settled down in sedentary base

camps around 15,000 years calBP to revert back to a more nomadic (non-sedentary)

mobility pattern.

If we turn to the northern Levant, again the archaeological, palynological and faunal

records as well as other proxies, show little effect (if any) of the YD in these regions

(e.g., [S51S54, S68, S69] and [S70] p. 209, [S71, S72], and see [S67]).

One disciplinary aspect of major importance to our discussions in this paper is

archaeobotany. Particularly important for this paper is how archaeobotanists and

other professionals studying plant domestication relate to climatic change, and

especially to the YD. Willcox, for example, developed a series of arguments not only

on the minor (or the overemphasized) effect of the YD on cereal availability but also

negating the articulation of the YD and the domestication of plants [S73, 74].

Interestingly, in a later paper on pre-domestication cultivation, Willcox et al. [S75]

refer to the YD as an important factor and to environmental stress too. And yet

again, the YD was presented by Willcox ([S75] p. 32) as having no effect on the

Agricultural Revolution and this holds for his later publications too [S76S80) where

climatic arguments are basically absent altogether.

It is of note that, on the other hand, archaeobtanists such as G. Hillman articulated

the beginning of cultivation and plant domestication (rye) with the YD and

suggested it was a direct reaction to the changes in the environment it caused [S18,

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S19]. Other students of plant domestication in the Near East seem to have negated

the major role assigned to the YD vis a vis plant domestication or ignored it

altogether.

Recent studies on the YD and its impact in the NE still reflect the complexity of the

matter although in general, claims in support of a major climatic crisis are dwindling

down while an element of regionality (sub-regionality) is emerging.

For example, studies by Stein [S81], or [S82] and references therein) provide

evidence, based on various proxies, that the YD in the Jordan Valley region was not

as arid as thought and basically they reconstruct an annual rainfall similar to that

measured in the area at present. Grosman et al. [S83], in their discussion, make a

very general statement that: “Despite solid evidence for the YD in diverse climatic

datasets from northern latitudes [our emphasis], the scale of its impact in the Levant

has been debated”; and they summarize, in a more local spirit, by saying that “it

seems that with the exception of cooling in the Mediterranean zone, the impact of

the YD in the Natufian ‘core area’ especially the Jordan Valley, was not as extreme as

originally believed.” [S83]. In other words, the southern Levant as a whole not only

did not lose precipitation during the YD (compared to the present), but it was

cooler, i.e., there was a gain in available water resources.

Another example reflecting the complexity of the matter is a recent anthraecological

study of charcoals (wood remains) from the long sequence of the Natufian site of el-

Wad Terrace (Mt. Carmel) by Caracuta et al. [S84]. The study indicates a local

predominance of an oak forest and a high rainfall between 14,600 and 13,700 calBP

(i.e., Early Natufian), while later, between 13,700 and 12,000 calBP (including the

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YD and Late Natufian) a decrease in rainfall was observed. This, they claim was

expressed in an increase in trees tolerant to drier conditions (e.g., Amygdalus sp.,

Olea europaea, Ceratonia siliqua, Pistacia palaestina) which they state “dominate the

modern landscape … established in the Holocene”, that is to say, similar conditions

to those known post YD-post Pleistocene.

Additional arguments raised by Grosman et al. [S83] to support climate stability in

the Jordan Valley during the YD [and we add: possibly even an amelioration) are

based on data of gazelles presence [faunal remains from archaeological sites) in the

Mediterranean zone of the Galilee region. These data analyzed by Hartman et al.

[S85] suggest that no change in rainfall amount occurred during the YD while

temperatures cooled, that is to say, again, better climatic conditions and extra water

availability because of lower evaporative demand compared to the present day.

Regarding fauna, it is interesting to mention an additional study by Brown and

Belmaker [S86] using micromammal remains from the Mediterranean region of the

NE dating from 20-10 ka calBP concluding that the climate during the YD was colder

and wetter than at present and the habitat was more arboreal.

As for the impact of the YD on cultural aspects (settlement nature and settlement

patterns), a recent statement was made based on the archaeological evidence from

the late Natufian site of Nahal Ein Gev II in the Jordan valley that was occupied for a

couple of centuries during the middle of the YD. The report [S83] claims that the

“site does not conform to current perceptions of the Late Natufians as a largely

mobile population coping with reduced resource productivity caused by the

Younger Dryas. Instead, the faunal and architectural data suggest that the sedentary

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populations of the Early Natufian did not revert back to a nomadic way of life in the

Late Natufian in the Jordan Valley.” Yet, they do not go the whole way in turning

down the reconstruction that late Natufians returned to a more mobile settlement

pattern. This reconstruction (of reversion to more nomadic life way) is quite

strongly embedded and widely accepted by archaeologists of the Near East (the

southern Levant included). Even when new archaeological and faunal (and in some

cases botanical too) evidence do not fully accord with it, as in the case of the site of

Nahal Ein Gev II (reminder: dated to the middle part of the YD), these new data are

embedded into the general picture as local manifestations and smoothly find their

place in the generally depicted rout leading to the Agricultural Revolution, plant

domestication included.

All in all then, viewing the YD as a crisis in the Near East seems unjustified. Judging

by the records available, no major floral or faunal shifts are indicated and no change

in the climatic regime is recorded. It seems that the estimated drop in annual

temperature may have compensated for at least part of the loss in precipitation (see

S77, S88 for a similar argument) if a precipitation loss has taken place at all.

Furthermore, had the YD had any major impact, it postdated major cultural changes

such as the beginning of the Natufian (ca. 15,000 calBP) or the transition from Early

to Late Natufian (ca. 13,200 calBP) [following the Valla [S87, S88] subdivision]. The

YD ended over a millennium before the time plant domestication is usually assigned

to. Thus, no articulation between climate or climatic change and the cultural process

can be made. We may say that there is a current trend to see things locally rather

than on a large geographical scale, and get away from the radical reconstructions of

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a climatic (resources) crisis in the NE and especially the Levant. Climatic changes if

even detectable are not clear-cut to one direction and even for those accepting the

influence of the YD – it is not so crucial and dramatic as previously thought and has

no major influence on the biota in many regions. The flourishing of the 23,000 years

old site of Ohalo II in the Late Glacial Maximum in the Jordan valley may be viewed

as supporting this view on the YD.

We would like to end this supplement with general comments on the motivations

behind the Agricultural Revolution and how they relate to climatic change. Arguing

for a major economic transformation in front of a climatic change has drawbacks in

itself. One cannot foresee how his life and works will bear with such a change. A

major deficiency in the attempts to explain the origins of agriculture and plant

domestication by climatic changes and environmental degradation is the difficulty

to identify slow trends concealed in noisy fluctuations, the so called “creeping

normalcy” (see elegant discussion in [S89] pp. 423-426). Moreover, sustainable food

production (agriculture) requires a certain degree of climatic stability and therefore

a fluctuating climate cannot provide a suitable background for the embarkation on

grain production [S90]. Had there been a slow climatic change related to the YD

(and not a dramatic one) it is unlikely to have induced major cultural (socio-

economic) changes. Likewise, had a dramatic prominent environmental change

taken place, it is also unlikely to have provided the right background for plant

domestication and the origins of agriculture since the concerned communities

would be mostly interested in stability and there is no way to foresee when will the

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environment stabilize to allow sustainable farming operations while natural plant

stands are being impoverished.

While the new trends in investigating the YD distance themselves from a rigid

generalized view of a climatic crisis in the Near East and attempt a more nuanced

view, the climatic ‘pillar’ remains central. The archaeological and archaeobotanical

data on plant domestication, even if unanimously accepted, remain fragmented and

partial and is likely never to furnish the full picture. Opting for responsive (‘push’)

scenarios (such as climatic change) would always be easier than endorsing

scenarios that emphasize human agents’ initiative and (internal) cultural factors

and choices.

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