Re-analysis of archaeobotanical remains from pre- and early agricultural sites provides no evidence for a narrowing of the wild plant food spectrum during the origins of agriculture in southwest Asia.

Autor: Wallace M; 1Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Minalloy House, 10-16 Regent Street, Sheffield, S1 3NJ UK., Jones G; 1Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Minalloy House, 10-16 Regent Street, Sheffield, S1 3NJ UK., Charles M; 2Department of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PG UK., Forster E; 2Department of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PG UK., Stillman E; 3School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield, S3 7RH UK., Bonhomme V; 3School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield, S3 7RH UK.; 4Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier (ISEM-UMR 5554), Equipe Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Anthropo-écologie, Université de Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 2, France., Livarda A; 5Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK., Osborne CP; 6Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN UK., Rees M; 6Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN UK., Frenck G; 6Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN UK.; 7Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria., Preece C; 6Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN UK.; 8CREAF, Campus de Bellaterra (UAB), Edifici C, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Vegetation history and archaeobotany [Veg Hist Archaeobot] 2019; Vol. 28 (4), pp. 449-463. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Nov 17.
DOI: 10.1007/s00334-018-0702-y
Abstrakt: Archaeobotanical evidence from southwest Asia is often interpreted as showing that the spectrum of wild plant foods narrowed during the origins of agriculture, but it has long been acknowledged that the recognition of wild plants as foods is problematic. Here, we systematically combine compositional and contextual evidence to recognise the wild plants for which there is strong evidence of their deliberate collection as food at pre-agricultural and early agricultural sites across southwest Asia. Through sample-by-sample analysis of archaeobotanical remains, a robust link is established between the archaeological evidence and its interpretation in terms of food use, which permits a re-evaluation of the evidence for the exploitation of a broad spectrum of wild plant foods at pre-agricultural sites, and the extent to which this changed during the development of early agriculture. Our results show that relatively few of the wild taxa found at pre- and early agricultural sites can be confidently recognised as contributing to the human diet, and we found no evidence for a narrowing of the plant food spectrum during the adoption of agriculture. This has implications for how we understand the processes leading to the domestication of crops, and points towards a mutualistic relationship between people and plants as a driving force during the development of agriculture.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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