First Farmers in the Levant Grew Legumes Not Grain

Angela

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See:
http://www.archaeology.org/news/3903-151123oldest-domesticated-legumes

First Farmers in the Galilee Grew Beans

"Seeds from fava beans, lentils, peas, and chickpeas have been unearthed at Neolithic sites in the Galilee. “This is an important discovery, enabling a deeper understanding of the agricultural revolution in the southern Near East,” researchers from the Weizmann Institute and the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a press release. The large number of fava beans unearthed at the site of Ahihud, where seeds of a uniform size were found husked and placed in storage pits, suggests that they were the preferred crop as many as 10,000 years ago. These beans could have been used for food and for future crops. “Despite the importance of cereals in nutrition that continues to this day, it seems that in the region we examined (west of the Jordan River), it was the legumes, full of flavor and protein, which were actually the first species to be domesticated,” they explained."

I believe this supports a point made by Bicicleur a little while ago that grains were the first crop in the western Near East, and legumes in the Levant, or, as these scientists maintain, west of the Jordan.

I always find it interesting seeing when certain foods became widespread. I personally use these legumes in my cooking a couple of times a week at least, in soups, stews and salads. Obviously, I also consume grain products. Another big source of now common foods, many more than people realize, is the "New World".
 
natufians were mainly cereal gatherers before younger dryas, and after (11.5 ka) they started domestication of cereals in places like Jericho (Levant) and Mureybet (middle Eurphrates)

pulses (beans and other) were collected in Halan Cemi northeast Anatolia 12.5 ka ; they were not Natufians ; the same people domesticated the pig and allready had semi-domesticated goat ; IMO same people build Göbekli Tepe temple

13 ka pulses of Anatolian origin arrived in Franchthi cave, Greece, probably through trade with fishermen from Anatolia ; at the same time obsidian from the Aegean island Melos arrived at Franchthi cave

besides cereals and pulses, SW Asia neolithic also grew flax and fruit trees (figs)
but cereals were the main crops, they chose the location of their settlements in areas suited for cereal
it was not Galilee, that was to moist for cereals, it was rather in steppe or semi-desert area like the Jordan valley

I'm curious about the exact location of this finding
 
natufians were mainly cereal gatherers before younger dryas, and after (11.5 ka) they started domestication of cereals in places like Jericho (Levant) and Mureybet (middle Eurphrates)

pulses (beans and other) were collected in Halan Cemi northeast Anatolia 12.5 ka ; they were not Natufians ; the same people domesticated the pig and allready had semi-domesticated goat ; IMO same people build Göbekli Tepe temple

13 ka pulses of Anatolian origin arrived in Franchthi cave, Greece, probably through trade with fishermen from Anatolia ; at the same time obsidian from the Aegean island Melos arrived at Franchthi cave

besides cereals and pulses, SW Asia neolithic also grew flax and fruit trees (figs)
but cereals were the main crops, they chose the location of their settlements in areas suited for cereal
it was not Galilee, that was to moist for cereals, it was rather in steppe or semi-desert area like the Jordan valley

I'm curious about the exact location of this finding

Interesting information, Bicicleur, so it's more complicated than my thread title would indicate. This is another article on the paper. The area is Ahihud in the Galilee.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...rmers-grew-fava-beans-before-they-grew-grains

srep14370-f1.jpg


beans.jpg


Personally, I like my fava beans best raw with pecorino cheese and yes, a dry Chianti. :)
 
Interesting find. That farmers grew what was growing best in their area is nothing knew, but that this variety of crops struck so close to Natufian cereal farmers backyard is. I wonder if perhaps they discovered one of their crop that was just in season? Instead of having just one crop cereal and legumes, they could have had both or even more.
 
This is what the scientists have to say:

"Farming, mostly of grains, had already taken hold around the region by this time. "In the Jordanian plateau and in Syria, we see that cereals were domesticated long before," says Dr. Kobi Vardi of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversaw the excavations analyzed in the new study."

That would be before 10,000 BC

However:

"But Vardi and his colleagues say the fava discovery indicates that the Neolithic people of these settlements between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee may have preferred beans. "What we know now is that in the Galilee, pulses were domesticated long before wheat and barley."

It may just be an adaptation to a micro climate? The authors talk about how much higher beans and pulses are in protein, but how could they have known that?
 
This is what the scientists have to say:

"Farming, mostly of grains, had already taken hold around the region by this time. "In the Jordanian plateau and in Syria, we see that cereals were domesticated long before," says Dr. Kobi Vardi of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversaw the excavations analyzed in the new study."

That would be before 10,000 BC
That'w what I gathered by description of Natufian sites.

However:

"But Vardi and his colleagues say the fava discovery indicates that the Neolithic people of these settlements between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee may have preferred beans. "What we know now is that in the Galilee, pulses were domesticated long before wheat and barley."

It may just be an adaptation to a micro climate? The authors talk about how much higher beans and pulses are in protein, but how could they have known that?
Could be by natural selection. The ones who had a taste for them survived and their offspring too, end so on.
Other explanation could be that all people like them, and always ate them, but wiled. These folks just followed the logic of domesticated wheat and started cultivating them, because it grew nicely there.
Same way American Natives domesticated wiled corn. They already ate the wild variety.
I think, once people understood how to grow first crop, the proceeded same way (used same cultivation system) with rest of food they liked. Thus, developed variety in their gardens.
 
That'w what I gathered by description of Natufian sites.

Could be by natural selection. The ones who had a taste for them survived and their offspring too, end so on.
Other explanation could be that all people like them, and always ate them, but wiled. These folks just followed the logic of domesticated wheat and started cultivating them, because it grew nicely there.
Same way American Natives domesticated wiled corn. They already ate the wild variety.
I think, once people understood how to grow first crop, the proceeded same way (used same cultivation system) with rest of food they liked. Thus, developed variety in their gardens.

maybe cereal farming proved more efficient and so it became more important in SW Asia neolithic, allthough this must have been depending on local climate and soil
 
this beans in Gallilee, it may be the connection between Natufians and later Cardium Ware people
 
maybe cereal farming proved more efficient and so it became more important in SW Asia neolithic, allthough this must have been depending on local climate and soil
And local variety of plants.


this beans in Gallilee, it may be the connection between Natufians and later Cardium Ware people
A little too soon for this. This is pre pottery time.
 

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