Revisiting the concept of the ‘Neolithic Founder Crops’ in southwest Asia
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Level 5 by design analogy (narrative/critical review and conceptual synthesis, not clinical CEBM)
OpenAlex W4362721821 · doi:10.1007/s00334-023-00917-1
What was done
The authors conducted a critical review of archaeobotanical evidence published over the past 40 years to re-evaluate the concept of the eight traditional 'Neolithic founder crops' (einkorn, emmer, barley, lentil, pea, bitter vetch, chickpea, and flax) and their relative contribution to plant-based subsistence across different periods of the southwest Asian Neolithic.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative values or statistical comparisons. Qualitatively, the authors determined that a single static group of eight founder crops does not adequately capture Neolithic plant use. Instead, multiple distinct groups of 'founder' species can be identified depending on whether definition is based on the most heavily exploited species, the earliest cultivated and domesticated taxa, or the crops that eventually spread to Europe.
Why it matters
This review challenges a foundational four-decade-old paradigm in archaeology, encouraging researchers to look beyond the classic eight-crop model to understand the broader and more complex evolutionary trajectories of early agricultural plant subsistence.
Limits
The abstract provides no quantitative data, search strategy, or explicit inclusion criteria, and does not report the number of archaeological sites or assemblages evaluated. Archaeobotanical syntheses are also inherently constrained by taphonomic preservation biases and uneven regional sampling across southwest Asia.
Cited by
- contradicts Millet was the first husbanded crop in the Fertile Crescent.