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New evidence for the processing of wild cereal grains at Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old campsite on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Dani Nadel ,
Dolores R. Piperno ,
Irene Holst ,
Ainit Snir  and
Ehud Weiss
Dani Nadel
Affiliation:
The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, The University of Haifa, 31905 Mt. Carmel, Israel (Email: dnadel@research.haifa.ac.il)
Dolores R. Piperno
Affiliation:
Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 37012 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA (Email: pipernod@si.edu) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama (Email: holsti@si.edu)
Irene Holst
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama (Email: holsti@si.edu)
Ainit Snir
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel (Email: snira@netvision.net.il; eweiss@biu.ac.il)
Ehud Weiss
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel (Email: snira@netvision.net.il; eweiss@biu.ac.il)
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Extract

Traces of starch found on a large flat stone discovered in the hunter-fisher-gatherer site of Ohalo II famously represent the first identification of Upper Palaeolithic grinding of grasses. Given the importance of this discovery for the use of edible grain, further analyses have now been undertaken. Meticulous sampling combined with good preservation allow the authors to demonstrate that the Ohalo II stone was certainly used for the routine processing of wild cereals, wheat, barley and now oats among them, around 23 000 years ago.

Keywords

IsraelOhalo IISea of GalileeUpper Palaeolithiccereal processingwheatbarleyoats
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 334 , December 2012 , pp. 990 - 1003
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012

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