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Cited by 268Archaeology and ancient environmental studiesLanguage and cultural evolutionPleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Cultivation and domestication had multiple origins: arguments against the core area hypothesis for the origins of agriculture in the Near East

Fuller, Dorian Q, Willcox, George, Allaby, Robin G.·2011·World Archaeology
DOI 10.1080/00438243.2011.624747
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Abstract

This paper debates claims that plant domestication occurred rapidly in a single restricted sub-section of the Near Eastern Fertile Crescent. Instead we argue for numerous parallel processes of domestication across the region in the Early Holocene. While a previous generation of genetic results seemed to support a single ‘core area’, the accumulation of genetic evidence and refinements in methods undermine this, pointing increasingly towards multiple geographical origins. We stress that it is important to recognize that modern germplasm collections are an imperfect sample of the diversity of wild and cultivated populations of the past, which included some extinct lineages. We briefly synthesize the accumulated data from archaeobotany, defending the reliability of archaeological science to inform us about the past plant populations used by people. These data indicate an extended period of pre-domestication cultivation of at least a millennium and the slow evolution of morphological domestication adaptations in crop plants. The appearance of early cultivars and domesticates was spread piecemeal around the Near East, and a whole crop package is not evident. The ‘core area’ claimed by some authors has no better claim for primacy or completeness in comparison to other parts of the Near East. Evidence from zooarchaeology similarly points towards a diffuse appearance of various domesticated animals. The ‘non-centric’ appearance of domesticates from the Near East is therefore similar to the emerging evidence from many other regions of the world where plants were domesticated. We develop a hypothesis of why this should be expected given that anatomically modern human ancestors shared practices of vegetation management and planting, the necessary background knowledge for cultivation. Cultivation then was not a rare discovery but was a strategic and systematic shift in economies. The question then becomes why it was developed in the particular regions and periods where it appeared.

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  • The Neolithic transition began in the Fertile Crescent approximately 11,000 years BP.

    “This transition began in the Fertile Crescent ~11,000 years BP (48), and its consequences on the distribution of NE ancestry have been weakly explored thus far (16).”

    From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [48]

  • These processing techniques may have boosted nutritional returns on foraging efforts for small seeds and tubers to levels that made them worth exploiting at high levels for the first time, potentially setting them on course to later domestication.

    “These techniques may have boosted the nutritional returns on foraging efforts for small seeds and tubers to levels that made them worth exploiting at high levels for the first time (59), thereby potentially setting them on course to later domestication (60).”

    From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [60]

  • Some agricultural systems developed at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, including Southwest Asia, South America, and North China, whereas others took place closer to 6,000-7,000 y ago, such as Yangtze China and perhaps central America.

    “Some developed at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, including Southwest Asia (60, 64), South America (65, 66), and North China (67), whereas others took place closer to 6,000–7,000 y ago, such as Yangtze China (68) and perhaps central America (cf. 69).”

    From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [60]

  • Agricultural systems emerged across most continents by the early to mid-Holocene by a variety of different pathways in as many as 24 plausibly independent centers of early domestication, with later spread to adjacent regions.

    “Agricultural systems emerged across most continents by early to mid-Holocene by a variety of different pathways in as many as 24 plausibly independent centers of early domestication, with later spread to adjacent regions (60, 63).”

    From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [60]

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Authors
Fuller, D. Q., Willcox, G., & Allaby, R. G.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • University of Warwick (GB)
ORCID
Venue
World Archaeology
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2011-12
Volume
43
Issue
4
Pages
628-652
ISSN
  • 0043-8243 (ISSN-L)
  • 1470-1375
DOI
10.1080/00438243.2011.624747
OpenAlex
W2093699462
Cited by
268
References
142
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 4
FWCI
8.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • World Archaeology (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G005540/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Keywords
origins of agriculture, plant domestication, Fertile Crescent, Early Holocene, crop domestication, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, domestic animals, germplasm collection, vegetation management, Near East

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