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

Title
Title
The title of the publication or report
Title:		 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
Series
Series
The series the publication or report is included in
Series:		 Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume
Volume
Volume number and part
Volume:		 27
Biblio Note
Biblio Note
This is a Bibliographic record only.
Biblio Note		 Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database. The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
Publication Type
Publication Type
The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book
Publication Type:		 Journal
Abstract
Abstract
The abstract describing the content of the publication or report
Abstract:		 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.
Author
Author
The authors of this publication or report
Author:		 Mark Rees
Alexandra Livarda ORCID icon
Michael Wallace ORCID icon
Emily Forster ORCID icon
Eleanor Stillman
Vincent Bonhomme
Colin P Osborne
George Frenck
Catherine Preece
Glynis Jones
Michael Charles
Publisher
Publisher
The publisher of the publication or report
Publisher:		 Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Year of Publication
Year of Publication
The year the book, article or report was published
Year of Publication:		 2018
Source
Source
Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in.
Source:
Source icon
ADS Library (ADS Library)
Relations
Relations
Other resources which are relevant to this publication or report
Relations:
Project archive: https://doi.org/10.5284/1046750
Created Date
Created Date
The date the record of the pubication was first entered
Created Date:		 20 Nov 2018