Pathways to plant domestication in Southeast Anatolia based on new data from aceramic Neolithic Gusir Höyük

Abstract

Southeast Anatolia is home to some of the earliest and most spectacular Neolithic sites associated with the beginning of cultivation and herding in the Old World. In this article we present new archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data from Gusir Höyük, an aceramic Neolithic habitation dating to the 12th-late 11th millennia cal BP. Our results show selective use of legume crop progenitors and nuts during the earlier part of this period, followed by the management of cereal and legume crop progenitors from the mid-11th millennium cal BP. This contrasts with data available from other Anatolian habitations indicating broad spectrum plant use with low crop progenitor inputs. Early aceramic Neolithic Anatolian plant and animal exploitation strategies were site-specific, reflecting distinctive identities and culinary choices rather than environmental constraints. A multivariate evaluation of wheat grain metrics alongside botanical and radiometric data indicate that early wheat domestication in southeast Anatolia occurred at a faster pace than predicted by current hypotheses for a protracted transition to farming in Southwest Asia. We argue that this phenomenon is best explained as a corollary of the increasing importance of cereals in feasting at southeast Anatolian sites characterised by increasing architectural complexity and elaboration during the 11th millennium cal BP.

Figure 1

Satellite maps showing location of the archaeological sites mentioned in the text. (A) PPN sites in southeast Anatolia and northwestern Iraq; (B) PPN sites in the vicinity of Gusir Höyük. Maps created using QGIS 3.10 (free and open software) with tilesets available from Mapbox (CC BY).

Figure 2

Top left: aerial view of the Gusir Höyük excavation grid (grid squares sampled for archaeobotanical remains highlighted in yellow). (1) Close-up views of square 23-M showing the location of the sampled mid-11th millennium cal BP contexts that yielded charred Triticum macro-remains; (2) close-up view of square 20-H with stone-paved oval structure (open at one end) and adjacent square 20-I with the late 11th millennium cal BP fire pits (photos from the Gusir Höyük project archive).

Figure 3

Characteristic examples of Gusir Höyük architecture (photos from the Gusir Höyük project archive).

Figure 4

Charred plant macroremains from Gusir Höyük. (A) Prunus subg. Amygdalus nutshell; (B) Pistacia nutshell; (C) Vicia ervilia seed; (D) Aegilops chaff; (E) Medicago radiata; (F) Solanum sp.; (G) Stipa awn; (H) Neslia sp.; (I) Cyperaceae (photos by Ceren Kabukcu).

Figure 5

Gusir Höyük lentil specimens. (A,B) Well-preserved Lens specimens from PPNA contexts; (C–E) seeds showing soaking/cooking-related distortions of their cotyledons and testa (photos by Ceren Kabukcu).

Figure 6

Betula (birch) charred wood from Gusir Höyük. (A) TS plane showing annual growth increments with boreholes; (B) RLS plane showing characteristic scalariform perforation plates (arrows to the right) and ray cell walls affected by fungal degradation (arrow to the left) (photos by Eleni Asouti).

Figure 7

Charred Triticum spp. grain and chaff remains from square 23-M at Gusir Höyük. (A) T. boeoticum wild-type spikelet fork; (B) T. boeoticum wild-type spikelet fork (front & back view and close-up of front view showing partially preserved dehiscent scar; (C) T. turgidum dicoccoides spikelet fork (front, back and top views); (D) tetraploid wheat terminal spikelet; (E) partial grain of T. turgidum dicoccoides (apical end—left to right: ventral, lateral, dorsal & cross-section views); (F) partial grain of T. boeoticum (apical end—left to right: ventral, lateral & cross-section views); (G) T. boeoticum complete grain (left to right: ventral, lateral, dorsal views); (H) T. boeoticum complete grain (left to right: ventral, lateral & dorsal views) displaying testa lifting/splitting on the lateral and dorsal views, likely due to pounding damage (photos by Ceren Kabukcu).

Figure 8

Principal component analysis of measurements on modern Triticum spp. accessions and archaeological charred grain. (A) PCA biplot of modern accession measurements; (B) PCA biplot of archaeological Triticum charred grain measurements (CAY = Çayönü; GSR = Gusir).