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Plant use in three Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of the northern and eastern Fertile Crescent: a preliminary report

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Abstract

The beginnings of agriculture throughout the Fertile Crescent are still not completely understood, particularly at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent in the area of modern Iran. Archaeobotanical samples from Epipalaeolithic/PPNA Körtik Tepe in southeastern Turkey and from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of Chogha Golan and East Chia Sabz in south western Iran were studied in order to define the status of cultivation at these sites. Preliminary results show the presence of abundant wild progenitor species of crops at the Iranian sites before 10600 cal. b.p., and very few wild progenitor species at Körtik Tepe dated to 11700–11250 cal. b.p. The Iranian sites also indicate size increase of wild barley grain across a sequence of 400 years through either cultivation or changing moisture conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding the archaeobotanical analyses from Körtik Tepe, Chogha Golan and East Chia Sabz and the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology (HEP) for providing the infrastructure. We also thank the reviewers, above all Mark Nesbitt and George Willcox for valuable comments on the previous version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie and Senckenberg Center of Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Simone Riehl

  2. Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, University of Freiburg, Platz der Universität 3, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Marion Benz

  3. Institut für ältere Urgeschichte and Senckenberg Center of Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Burgsteige 11, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Nicholas J. Conard & Mohsen Zeidi-Kulehparcheh

  4. Institute of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Teheran, Iran

    Hojjat Darabi & Hassan Fazeli Nashli

  5. Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Katleen Deckers

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  1. Simone Riehl
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  2. Marion Benz
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  3. Nicholas J. Conard
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  4. Hojjat Darabi
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  6. Hassan Fazeli Nashli
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  7. Mohsen Zeidi-Kulehparcheh
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Correspondence to Simone Riehl.

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Communicated by G. Willcox.

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Riehl, S., Benz, M., Conard, N.J. et al. Plant use in three Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of the northern and eastern Fertile Crescent: a preliminary report. Veget Hist Archaeobot 21, 95–106 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-011-0318-y

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