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Reconstructing the domestication process of cereals is a basic requirement for the understanding of the Early Neolithic in the Near East and how agriculture emerged. Although there is general agreement on the criteria of differentiating wild from domesticated cereals, their application to material from aceramic Neolithic sites is problematic for reasons of preservation and diversity of early transitional chaff remains. In the present study we established an identification key for the distinction of wild and domestic emmer wheat ( Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccoides / dicoccum ). General morphological analyses as well as experimental charring and measurements on wild and domestic emmer from the Fertile Crescent were conducted to track the main features that distinguish the two forms. Wild emmer can be differentiated from domestic emmer using longitudinal sections through rachises. The scar morphology of wild emmer specimens with a rough upper abscission scar is distinct from domestic emmer. In addition, two of the measuring tracks distinguish between domestic emmer and its progenitor. These results were applied to archaeological specimens from the aceramic Neolithic site of Chogha Golan (Ilam Province, Iran), which was excavated in 2009 and 2010 by a team of the Tübingen Iranian Stone Age Research Project. The carbonized emmer remains dating to about 9800 BP comprise domestic-type and wild-type rachises, which is typical for cereal assemblages from aceramic Neolithic deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The analysis of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) in crop plant remains from seven Bronze Age sites in northern Mesopotamia and the Levant shows clear differences in water availability between the different geographic areas and throughout the different periods (3000–1200 BC). Amongst the different moisture variables modelled precipitation minus evaporation (P-E—using a macrophysical climate model (MCM)) results in very high correlation (0.74) with Δ13C values in barley, supporting the significance of climate parameters (effective moisture) in carbon fixation in this species. The comparison of Δ13C values of different crops in different periods confirms increased aridity during the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1600 BC), compared to the later Early Bronze Age (2700–2000 BC) particularly in the north-eastern Syrian territory with generally lower Δ13C values during the Middle Bronze Age, as has been documented in palaeoclimate proxies, and in agreement with the MCM. Standard deviation in Δ13C values from grains or seeds of one species originating from different samples of an individual site may be understood as variability in moisture conditions during the grain-filling period around the considered location. Large standard deviations occur preferably in sites with low mean annual precipitation (e.g. at Emar) and suggest that in these sites, at least some of the crops were irrigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]