Tom Barber wrote:

 >I do find it a bit of a stretch that humans 50,000 years ago (about the time
>early man was reaching Australia) were unaware of grains. I find it more
>likely that some grains might have been eaten in season, although probably
>very little compared to agricultural folk.

Grains require tools to process to make them edible. Threshing and
grinding. No evidence of these have been found earlier then about 17,000
years ago in the Near East. Since they didn't start farming until about
11,000 years ago, that means there were about 6,000 years of gathering in
the Near East.

Don.