Mireille Perrin, C Rambeau, Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard, Valérie Andrieu-Ponel, Cahit Helvaci, Amélie Vialet, Hülya Alçiçek, Nicolas Boulbes, Henri Michaud, Serdar Mayda, Anne-Marie Moigne, Mehmet Cihat Alçiçek, Didier Bourlès, Pierre Rochette, François Demory, Belinda Gambin, Sébastien Nomade, Philippe Ponel, Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Pamukkale University, Department of Geology, Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Dokuz Eylül University Department of Geology, Ege University, Department of Biology, Conservatoire Botanique National Méditerranéen de Porquerolles, Conservatoire National Botanique, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Paléocéanographie (PALEOCEAN), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Laboratoire Image, Ville, Environnement (LIVE), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Malta [Malta], TUBITAK-CNRS bilateral cooperation114Y723ECCOREV (CNRS (ACIGoL project))LABEX OT-MED (Bilat project)French National Research Agency (ANR)ALKM Company, ANR-17-MRS5-0012,ACIGOL,On the road of the first Hominins in Eurasia : biodiversity, Climate and environmental changes over the last 3 Ma(2017), ANR-20-MRS1-0002,MRSEI-HoTMiX,MRSEI - Haute température, microstructure et rayons X(2020), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Cereals are a central resource for the human diet and are traditionally assumed to have evolved from wild grasses at the onset of the Neolithic under the pressure of agriculture. Here we demonstrate that cereals may have a significantly longer and more diverse lineage, based on the study of a 0-2.3 Ma, 601 m long sedimentary core from Lake Acgol (South-West Anatolia). Pollen characteristic of cereals is abundant throughout the sedimentary sequence. The presence of large lakes within this arid bioclimatic zone led to the concentration of large herbivore herds, as indicated by the continuous occurrence of coprophilous fungi spores in the record. Our hypothesis is that the effects of overgrazing on soils and herbaceous stratum, during this long period, led to genetic modifications of the Poaceae taxa and to the appearance of proto-cereals. The simultaneous presence of hominins is attested as early as about 1.4 Ma in the lake vicinity, and 1.8 Ma in Georgia and Levant. These ancient hominins probably benefited from the availability of these proto-cereals, rich in nutrients, as well as various other edible plants, opening the way, in this region of the Middle East, to a process of domestication, which reached its full development during the Neolithic., TUBITAK-CNRS bilateral cooperation [114Y723]; ECCOREV (CNRS (ACIGoL project)); LABEX OT-MED (Bilat project); ANR (MRSEI, ACIGoL project); ALKM Company, This research was conducted as part of the TUBITAK-CNRS bilateral cooperation with the grant number of 114Y723 during 2015-2017. The researches were further funded by ECCOREV (CNRS (ACIGoL project), the LABEX OT-MED (Bilat project) and by the ANR (MRSEI, ACIGoL project). The long coring of Acgol (core 3) was funded by ALKM Company due to the Acgol Drilling Project signed between Cahit Helvac (DEU) and the ALKM and SODAS Companies. We are grateful to the companies of ALKM and SODAS, particularly to the courtesy of their respective owner and Mr Cihat Kora who permitted us to access and work on the Acgol Core-3. Moreover, Mr Huseyin unlu, the general director of ALKM Company during the coring, Mr. unal Ark director of ALKM and Mr. Mahmut Eser, the correspondent of the core is greatly appreciated as well as Mr. Serdar Salanc, the general director, and Mr. Necati Demirer the director of SODAS Cardak Plant. We thank Dahvya Belkacem for having extracted the pollen from the series of Acgol and Kocaba. We thank Michelle Leydet for storing our pollen data in EPD. We thank Alain Tonetto and the Platform for Analytical Technological and Imaging Research (PRATIM), from Aix Marseille University, for the confocal photographies of the pollen. Finally, we would like to thank Dr Chenglong Deng (Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports) and the reviewer, Dr Li Quan, for very pertinent remarks, which helped to improve the manuscript significantly.