On Mon, 26 Mar 2001 21:41:34 -0500, Don Wiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Rapid transition? I wrote they started gathering them 17,000 years ago.

You mentioned that 17k years ago was the first *evidence* of gathered cereal
grains (you know of). That doesn't mean that this was when they *started*
gathering them. In fact it's miraculous that plant remains preserved so
long.

If 60 species of african wild grains were gathered as known by current
gatherhunters, how could we assume that hominids didn't gather them
already 1 million years ago? There is no special technology required to
start gathering them.

I recall at least one more evidence of gathered cereals as well as legumes
from a mesolithic cave in greek. Older than 17k years, some 30k years as far
as I recall.

> And
>it is commonly written that farming started 10-11,000 years ago.

Farming started, round the globe at several independent places, with the
onset of the present thermal 11k years ago.
From that on the predecessors of einkorn, emmer, barley slowly developped to
bigger traits, better suited to agriculture.
Older varieties found could have been planted or gathered. They just can't
be distinguished from the wild gathered variety.

The first farmers were hunters too.
In the near east there are mass killing buildings (large V-formed walls) for
gazelles. Until the gazelle herds first changed their route and then
perished.
I suppose that was necessary to equal out the omega-3 low fat from cereals
with the PUFA and omega-3 fat of the wild game.
Before the discovery of flax.
Flax indeed came with the first spreading  neolithic settlements.

>That's
>6,000 years.

Or it may be millions of years.

Amadeus