Mordechai E. Kislev

• Bar Ilan University

Background/Objectives: The archaeobotanical taxon “Triticum parvicoccum” was first described in 1980 as a small-grained, naked, free-threshing, and dense ear tetraploid wheat species (2n = 4x = 28) identified from archaeological remains. This primitive tetraploid, cultivated in the Levant approximately 9000 years ago and subsequently dispersed thro...

Can archaeobotanical material be treated as a nomenclatural type of a fossil taxon? Here we show that archaeobotanical taxa should be named according to the rules for non‐fossil taxa. Examples of archaeobotanical taxa are summarized and discussed. A best‐practice guide for the correct treatment of archaeological plant remains as the type of a new n...

Experimental archaeology at a Natufian site in the Southern Levant documents for the first time the use of 12,500-year-old rock-cut mortars for producing wild barley flour, some 2,000 to 3,000 years before cereal cultivation. Our reconstruction involved processing wild barley on the prehistoric threshing floor, followed by use of the conical mortar...

Large quantities of charred seeds of field crops were found in a granary at early Iron Age (end of the eleventh century BCE) Tel Hadar, located at the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. They include mainly local naked wheat (Triticum parvicoccum), as well as bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) seeds. While the whea...

A characteristic group of obligatory weeds was found in the well of the submerged Pre-Pottery Neolithic C site of Atlit-Yam, Israel. Identifying these finds to species level was crucial for defining them as obligatory weeds. We deal here with the earliest and largest assemblage of obligatory and facultative weeds in the southwest Asian Neolithic. A...

We describe two events of water plant extinction in the Hula Valley, northern Israel: the ancient, natural extinction of 3 out of 14 extinct species at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, which occurred some 800-700 k.yr., and an anthropogenic, near contemporary extinction of seven species in the artificial drainage of the Hula Lake in the 1950s. We conclude tha...

For thousands of years, flax was a winter crop of major importance in the ancient Levant, second only to wheat and barley. It was cultivated from the beginning of the early Neolithic period through to Roman times and it is still grown there today. Flax seeds (linseed) contain high concentrations of two essential polyunsaturated fatty acids—linoleic...

Remains of fruit stones of Celtis australis were found at Iron Age Tel Rehov, Israel. Also, wood fragments from Iron Age Tel Rehov and Tel Jezreel are recorded. The fruits are edible, the wood is useful for house building and tool production, and the tree is an important element in local folklore and ethnography. The archaeobotanical finds strength...

Ohalo II is a submerged, late Upper Paleolithic (locally termed Early Epipalaeolithic) site, radiocarbon dated to ca 22,500–23,500 BP. (Kislev et al. 1992). The site is located on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), Rift Valley, Israel (Figure 1). This hunter-*

This paper presents new evidence, together with previous findings, for the appearance of charred seeds of Lathyrus sativus (grass pea)/Lathyrus cicera. This grain legume was a food staple in ancient times, principally in the Aegean region, but also appeared sporadically and in a limited way in the archaeological record of the southern Levant. It is...

Home Is Where the Hearth Is One aspect of human intelligence is the ability to organize our living and working spaces. It was generally thought that this capability arose with modern humans in the past 100,000 years or so. However, Alperson-Afil et al. (p. 1677 ) found evidence of domestic organization 800,000 years ago at a Pleistocene hominin cam...

Salvage excavations and surveys at Neve-Yam, a submerged Pottery-Neolithic (PN) Wadi Rabah settlement (second half of the 8th millennium cal. BP) off the Carmel coast revealed unique stone-built graves. They were concentrated in a specific and separate section of the site devoted to burial and associated activities. There were no dwellings in this...

many carbonized archaeobotanical finds were discovered during excavations in area X at tel aphek. these finds were retrieved by m. e. Kislev during the 5th, 6th and 7th excavation seasons. all were recovered from strata X12-X8, dated to the Late Bronze and early iron ages. in most instances botanical finds were retrieved by flotation and then taken...

Caches of seeds from Areas N and S are discussed in this chapter. They include both edible grains (wheat and barley) and flax, which could have served both for oil and for textile production.

We identified hundreds of Viciaperegrina (rambling vetch) seeds from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site of Netiv Hagdud, an uncommon archaeobotanical find. The hilum, radicle and the depression under the lens (chalaza) are seen in several of the charred seeds lacking a testa. The rambling vetch and lentil are the prevailing legume seeds found at the...

While a division of domestic space into separate sectors dedicated to different activities has been suggested for a number of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer sites, it has never been demonstrated based on plant remains from this period. Moreover, due to the usual scarcity of plant macrofossils in archaeological deposits, only animal food preparat...

An ancient date seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) excavated from Masada and radiocarbon-dated to the first century Common Era was germinated. Climatic conditions at the Dead Sea may have contributed to the longevity of this oldest, directly dated, viable seed. Growth and development of the seedling over 26 months was compatible with normal date seedlin...

We describe here the initial steps Of Cultivation of wild emmer in the Levant, i.e., the western part of the Fertile Crescent, as well as genetic changes caused by spontaneous mutations, leading to its domestication and to the development of free-threshing tetraploid wheat, Triticum turgidum. Review of archaeological findings from the Pre-Pottery N...

In this review paper, we give a brief introduction to the field of archaeobotany, with special attention to the role of Israeli archaeobotany as part of archaeological research during the last 30 years. Our approach toward archaeobotany sees this field as a major tool in present-day archaeology, which utilizes plant remains to reconstruct past envi...

We suggest that parthenocarpic or fertile fig branches were planted along with staples like wild barley in the early Neolithic villages of Gilgal and Netiv Hagdud. In contrast to the repeated sowing of wild barley, we argue that planting branches of selected fig trees constitutes a form of domestication. The simplicity of fig tree propagation likel...

Early Near Eastern crop cultivation was a trial-and-error process. Some crops continued until full domestication, while others were abandoned and later adopted independently by distant societies.

It is generally accepted that the fig tree was domesticated in the Near East some 6500 years ago. Here we report the discovery of nine carbonized fig fruits and hundreds of drupelets stored in Gilgal I, an early Neolithic village, located in the Lower Jordan Valley, which dates to 11,400 to 11,200 years ago. We suggest that these edible fruits were...

This paper reconstructs the vegetal diet of the Middle Paleolithic humans in Kebara cave (Mt. Carmel, Israel) on the basis of a large collection of charred seeds and other vegetal food remains uncovered during the excavations. The human choices of mainly legumes reflects the gathering activities during springtime when often the common hunted specie...

English abstract of Hebrew article

More than 16 000 grains of small-grained grasses were retrieved at Ohalo II, a submerged 23 000-year-old site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. The grains were part of a very large archaeobotanical assemblage, unique for its period and region, as well as its exceptionally good preservation. This paper proposes that these grains were a sta...

More than 16 000 grains of small-grained grasses were retrieved at Ohalo II, a submerged 23 000-year-old site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. The grains were part of a very large archaeobotanical assemblage, unique for its period and region, as well as its exceptionally good preservation. This paper proposes that these grains were a sta...

The archaeobotanical assemblage excavated from a well in a submerged settlement provided the basis for reconstructing the climate that prevailed on the coast of Israel towards the end of the PPNC period (around 7500 BP, uncalibrated). Six wild plant species were recovered from Atlit-Yam that no longer grow in the region today, but do remain in some...

The presence of burned seeds, wood, and flint at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya`aqov in Israel is suggestive of the control of fire by humans nearly 790,000 years ago. The distribution of the site's small burned flint fragments suggests that burning occurred in specific spots, possibly indicating hearth locations. Wood of six taxa was burned...

The earliest archaeological remains of dwelling huts built by Homo sapiens were found in various European Upper Paleolithic open-air camps. Although floors of huts were found in a small number of cases, modern organization of the home space that includes defined resting areas and bedding remains was not discovered. We report here the earliest in si...

The Agricultural Revolution in Western Asia, which took place some 11,000 years ago, was a turning point in human history [Childe, V. G. (1952) New Light on the Most Ancient East (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London)]. In investigating the cultural processes that could have led from gathering to intentional cultivation, various authors have discussed an...

The Philistine city of Ashkelon, situated on Israel's southern shoreline, was destroyed by the troops of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 604 BCE. The plant remains collected systematically during the current excavations provide for the first time insights into the economic activities of this port town. Staple food, cereals, pulses, and fruits...

The aim of this paper is to provide a high-resolution environmental reconstruction of the Sea of Galilee basin during a very short spell of time at the end of the Upper Pleistocene. We present a multidisciplinary study of sediments and archaeological remains exposed at the submerged and well-preserved Ohalo II prehistoric site. The Ohalo II camp in...

The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (Israel) has revealed a unique association of edible nuts with pitted hammers and anvils. Located in the Dead Sea rift, on the boundary between the Arabian and African plates, the site dates to the Early-Middle Pleistocene, oxygen isotope stage 19. In a series of strata, seven species of nuts, most of whic...

The emergence of agriculture, which occurred some 10,000 years ago, was a long process that included profound changes in human habits, as well as significant evolutionary changes in plants. It is suggested that the evolution from wild to domesticated crops had actually occurred in the cultivated fields. The agro-evolution suggested here means the e...

Presentation and interpretation of the charred botanical material (seeds and fruits) that was found in an intact, large V-shaped bowl, standing in situ in a Chalcolithic funerary chamber

The Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in the Dead Sea Rift of Israel documents hominin movements and technological development on a corridor between Africa and Eurasia. New age data place the site at 780,000 years ago (oxygen isotope stage 19), considerably older than previous estimates. The archaeological data from the site portray strong aff...

According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to graft two different kinds of plants. Melon and watermelon are rather remote from pumpkin. All three have wide variability in fruit morphology, but each genus can produce fruits that appear similar to those produced by the other two genera. This has lead to their identification as a single kind in folk tax...

La conservation de tissus en fibres vegetales remontant au Paleolithique est tres rare. C'est pourquoi cet article traitant de restes de tissus a partir de fibres torsadees presente un interet particulier, d'autant plus que l'etude des vegetaux de cette region d'Israel demontre d'une maniere formelle qu'il ne peut s'agir de vegetaux naturels mais b...

The discovery of L. clymenum at the Middle Bronze IIA settlement at Tel Nami, Israel is reported. Archaeobotanical evidence is presented in order to show the Aegean origin and demonstrate the peculiarities of this exotic food crop. The archaeological context of the discovery and its implications indicate that maritime contacts existed between the A...

Atlit- Yam, a settlement 400 m off the Israeli shore, is the largest (60,000 sq m) and most deeply submerged (8–12 m bsl) prehistoric settlement ever uncovered along the Mediterranean coast. The architecture of the dwellings, the lithic tool assemblages, and radiocarbon dating indicate habitation during the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period)...

Charred plant remains, 19,000 years old, were uncovered at Ohalo II on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. The wild barley and other edible grasses and fruits found suggest, by their ripening seasons, that the site was occupied at least during spring and autumn. The species found provide insights into the subsistence strategy of the earliest k...

Ten species of edible fruits, cultivated and wild, as well as emmer wheat, barley and horse bean were found in Abi'or Cave, near Jericho. They were dated to the end of the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Romans in 135 CE. The ripening seasons of the fruit ensemble indicate that the rebels occupied the cave in September–October. Balanites aegyptiaca,...

The Gesher Benot Ya'aqov archaeological site in the northern Dead Sea Rift of Israel contains Acheulian artifacts and middle Pleistocene fossils. Initial results of a new interdisciplinary study have shown that fluviolacustrine sediments of the Benot Ya'aqov Formation, which contains several archaeological occupations, were deposited in an embaymen...

The spread of thalassemia among prehistoric populations of the Mediterranean Basin has been linked to the increased risk to early agriculturalists posed by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The diagnosis of the disease in human skeletal remains, however, has usually been based on a single pathological criterion, porotic hyperostosis. This paper r...

Netiv Hagdud is an Early Neolithic village site in the Lower Jordan Valley. Systematic excavations exposed a 500-sqm surface, which included several oval and circular houses. Carbonized plant remains, animal bones, and a wealth of lithic assemblages were the primary materials recovered from the houses and the fill. The seeds indicate that barley cu...

Most of the early and rich archaeobotanical finds ofLathyrus sect.Cicercula, particularly those of the most ancient periods, came from the Balkan peninsula. It has been found that cultivation ofL. sativus began there in the early Neolithic period, around 6000 b.c.e., as a result of the expansion of Near Eastern agriculture of annuals into the regio...