Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (2008) 922e929 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Experimental harvesting of wild peas in Israel: implications for the origins of Near East farming Shahal Abbo a, Inbar Zezak a, Efrat Schwartz a, Simcha Lev-Yadun b, Avi Gopher c,* a RH Smith Institute of Plant Science and Genetics in Agriculture, The Levi Eshkol School of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel b Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Science Education, University of Haifa-Oranim, Tivon 36006, Israel c Sonia and Marco Nadler, Institute of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel Received 25 March 2007; received in revised form 23 June 2007; accepted 27 June 2007 Abstract Previous evaluations of the potential advantage of farming over foraging have been based on experimental harvesting of wild cereals in Near Eastern ecosystems. The highly successful combination of cereals and legumes, ‘‘the Near Eastern crops assemblage’’, is considered a natural choice due to the complementary nutritional value of the two crop types. Yet, legumes were rarely referred to in models describing early farming and the transition from foraging to farming. Wild legumes differ from wild cereals in several attributes pertaining to domestication, including population density (patchy vs. dense), growth habit (indeterminate vs. determinate), dispersal units (camouflaged seeds vs. awned spikelets), seed dormancy (90e80% vs. 50%), and year to year establishment (erratic vs. regular). We have analyzed the yield potential of three wild pea species (Pisum elatius, P. humile, and P. fulvum) in several ecosystems in Israel. All three pea species have patchy distribution patterns and the yield potential of the wild populations is highly variable. A harvest rate of 0.6e610 grams (calculated per collector) of clean dry grain per hour of harvest time was estimated. Among the three species studied the one adopted for domestication appears to be the least productive. This suggests that the potential productivity of wild peas was not the only or even the major consideration for domestication. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Neolithic Revolution; Israel; Wild pea harvest; Pea domestication 1. Introduction 2000; Rindos, 1984; Zohary, 2004). Therefore, it should be possible to test some of the hypotheses that were put forward Understanding the processes leadingtotheNeolithicRev- to account for the plant biology aspects of the Agricultural olution in the Near East and plant domestication could Revolution (e.g., Abbo et al., 2005; Harlan and Zohary, benefit from systematic harvesting exercises of the wild 1966; Kislev et al., 2004, 2006). taxa that were adopted as crop plants and their close relatives Most attempts to evaluate the potential advantage of in natural ecosystems. Population structure and the potential farming over foraging were based on collection exercises yield of wild stands is highly relevant here because from the of wild cereals in Near Eastern ecosystems. The literature very first intensification attempts that eventually led to true on the subject is based mostly on two studies, namely, the domestication, plant-human interaction was largely depen- seminal wild wheat harvest of Harlan (1967) in eastern Tur- dent upon the biological characteristics of the species in- key and Ladizinsky’s (1975) wild cereals collection in the volved (e.g., Ladizinsky, 1979, 1987; Lev-Yadun et al., Jordan Valley. The work of Kislev et al. (2004) who col- lected wild barley and wheat in Israel is too recent to have made a paradigm shift. Indeed, this does not come as * Corresponding author. a surprise, since the vast majority of botanical (Harlan and E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Gopher). Zohary, 1966), evolutionary (Harlan et al., 1973), genetic 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.06.016 S. Abbo et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (2008) 922e929 923 (Salamini et al., 2002), archaeological (Hillman et al., 2001), To that end we report herein the results of wild pea (Pisum and economic-botanical (Ladizinsky, 1975; Weiss et al., sp.) harvest in several ecosystems in Israel and discuss the im- 2004) studies on agriculture origins (and numerous refer- plications of the results on the ongoing discussion regarding ences therein) have focused on cereals. the origin of grain legume farming. All three pea taxa native Unlike cereals, grain legumes have attracted relatively little to Israel were studied, Pisum elatius M. Bieb., P. humile Boiss. research attention (e.g., Abbo et al., 2003; Bouby and Le´a, & Noe¨, and P. fulvum Sibth & Sm. The first two species are 2006; Butler, 1992; Fuller and Harvey, 2006; Kerem et al., closely related to domesticated pea, while the latter represents 2007; Kislev and Bar-Yosef, 1988; Ladizinsky, 1987, 1989b, a wild pea species which most probably was not domesticated 1993; Zohary and Hopf, 1973). Moreover, none of the above (Ben-Ze’ev and Zohary, 1973). studies reported harvest of wild legumes, the reason being, probably, their patchy population structure and erratic year to year establishment. Consequently, collection of wild le- 2. Materials and methods gumes was rarely discussed in the context of prehistoric econ- omy including the Neolithic Revolution (Ladizinsky, 1993; 2.1. Wild pea harvest Lev et al., 2005). To our knowledge no data about Near East- ern wild legume grain yield per time unit of collection are Wild peas were harvested in several sites across the available. As to the wild lentil collection exercises conducted Mediterranean zone of Israel (Table 1). A preliminary popula- by the late C. Sperling in Turkey, apparently the results were tion survey was conducted based on the records of the herbar- disappointing (in terms of the grain yield) and were not pub- ium of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Giva’t-Ram, lished. Moreover, unlike wild cereals, which can be gathered Jerusalem) and our field experience. The chosen sites and their in appreciable amounts from the ground (Kislev et al., physical characteristics are listed in Table 1. These sites repre- 2004), no comparable quantities of wild pea or lentil seeds sent the typical plant formations in which the three Pisum can be collected upon maturity, because their pods shatter, species occur. Special efforts were made to select sites and the camouflaged seeds are scattered on the ground and/ free from over-grazing and protected from human interference or fall into rocky crevices. as much as possible. Activity within nature reserves was The differences between wild legumes and wild cereals bi- conducted under a special license from the Israeli Park & Nature ology are far reaching. These include differences in population Reserve Authority. density (patchy vs. dense), growth habit (indeterminate vs. de- Collectors were assigned to a certain area in each site. Each terminate), dispersal units (camouflaged seeds vs. awned collector was equipped with paper bags and a stopper watch to spikelets), seed dormancy (90e80% vs. 50%), and year to monitor harvest time. In most sites each collector conducted 2e year establishment (erratic vs. regular) between wild legumes 3runs,10e30 min each, placing the collected material of each and cereals, respectively (Harlan et al., 1973; Ladizinsky, run into a separate marked bag. The collectors picked ripe pods 1987, 1989a,b; Kislev et al., 2004). Therefore, in our view, and/or pulled whole plants, according to their personal prefer- the discussion on the origin of agriculture must take into ac- ence, and placed the harvested material in the marked bags. Fol- count the unique features of wild (and domesticated) legume lowing the harvest, paper bags were placed in an oven at 48 Cfor biology. 3e4 days to dry. The plant material in each bag was carefully Table 1 Location and physical characteristics of the wild pea harvest sites in Israel Site Longitude Latitude Geographic region Average annual Altitude Soil type Lithology (E) (N) rainfall (mm) (m) Latrun 034590 31500 Judean Mts. 520 380 Brown rendzina Carbonate Conglomerate Machsiya 035010 31440 Judean Mts. 526 581 Terra rossa Limestone or Dolomite Zanoach 035000 31420 Judean Mts. 445 460 Terra rossa Limestone or Dolomite Lachish 034520 31330 Shfela 348 254 Browm rendzina Nari on Chalk Etziyona J. 035000 31410 Judean foothills 445 350 Brown rendzina Carbonate conglomerate Etziyona e Mata’ Rd. 035000 31420 Judean foothills 445 420 Terra rossa Dolomite or Limestone Elyakim 035050 32380 Carmel Mt. 518 143 Grey rendzina Chalk Mt. Ravid 035280 32510 Lower Galilee 467 22 Basaltic vertisol Basalt Wadi Amud 035300 32520 Lower Galilee 451 145 Terra rossa Limestone Sursuk A (wheat) 035110 33000 Western Galilee 706 200 Alluvial vertisol Irrelevant Sursuk B (orchard) 035110 33000 Western Galilee 706 200 Terra rossa Dolomite or limestone Kziv creek 035110 33020 Western Galilee 700 115 Terra rossa Limestone or Dolomite Ikrit 035160 33040 Upper Galilee 802 545 Terra rossa Limestone or Dolomite Avital Mt. 035470 33070 Golan 850 1050 Brown basaltic soil Coarse Scoria Bental Rd. 035460 33070 Golan 850 980 Brown basaltic soil Coarse Scoria Bental & Avital 035470 33070 Golan 850 950 Brown basaltic soil Coarse Scoria Bab el Hawa 035460 33080 Golan 850 1010 Brown basaltic soil Basalt Massade Forest 035440 33100 Golan 850 890 Brown basaltic soil Basalt Baron Mt. 035460 33090 Golan 850 1056 Brown basaltic soil Coarse Scoria 924 S. Abbo et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (2008) 922e929 separated over trays in the laboratory, each pod was opened, and first type includes man-made habitats, fallow fields, field all the seeds recovered from each bag were weighed. edges, abandoned orchards and road sides, all within or in very close proximity to farmland where pea cultivation was 2.2. Wild pea seed increase or is still being practiced. These sites occur from the northern Negev, near Gaza and Beer-Sheva, through the Judean Moun- A small plot planted with P.
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