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50-401: Emmer or hulled wheat is an awned type of wheat . It is a tetraploid (4 n = 28 chromosomes ). The domesticated types are Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and T. t. conv. durum . The wild plant is called T. t. subsp. dicoccoides . The principal difference between the wild and the domestic forms is that the ripened seed head of the wild plant shatters and scatters the seed onto

100-502: A handmill that was toothed on the inside. This contrasted, Pliny writes, with the rest of Italy, where either a plain pestle or a watermill was used to make it into flour. Today emmer is primarily a relict crop in mountainous areas. Its value lies in its ability to give good yields on poor soils, and its resistance to fungal diseases such as stem rust that are prevalent in wet areas. Emmer is grown in Armenia, Morocco, Spain ( Asturias ),

150-562: A long history of irrigation. Prehistoric seedless figs were discovered at Gilgal I in the Jordan Valley , suggesting that fig trees were being planted some 11,400 years ago. Cereals were already grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago. Small cats ( Felis silvestris ) also were domesticated in this region. Also, legumes including peas , lentils and chickpea were domesticated in this region. Domesticated animals include

200-437: A period of increased humidity during the night, the awns of the spikelet become erect and draw together, and in the process push the grain into the soil. During the daytime the humidity drops and the awns slacken back again; however, fine silica hairs on the awns act as ratchet hooks in the soil and prevent the spikelets from reversing back out again. During the course of alternating stages of daytime and nighttime humidity,

250-641: A result. Technological advances in the region include the development of agriculture and the use of irrigation , of writing , the wheel , and glass , most emerging first in Mesopotamia . The term "Fertile Crescent" was popularized by archaeologist James Henry Breasted in Outlines of European History (1914) and Ancient Times, A History of the Early World (1916). He wrote: It lies like an army facing south, with one wing stretching along

300-571: A significant crop until the end of the Iron Age . References to emmer in Greek and Latin texts are traditionally translated as "spelt", even though spelt was not common in the Classical world until very late in its history. In northeastern Europe , emmer (alongside einkorn and barley) was one of the most important cereal species. This importance can be seen to increase from 3400 BC onward. Pliny

350-412: Is as a human food, though it is also used for animal feed. Ethnographic evidence from Turkey and other emmer-growing areas suggests that emmer makes good bread (judged by the taste and texture standards of traditional bread); it was widely eaten as bread in ancient Egypt. In Armenian cuisine, emmer pilaf is cooked in sunflower oil. The pre-cooked emmer is fried in oil and then sautéed onions are added. In

400-518: Is first attested in 1908 in English as a loanword from German Emmer , variant of Amelkorn , from amel , 'starch', likely from Latin amylum , itself borrowing from Ancient Greek amylon . Like einkorn and spelt , emmer is a hulled wheat, meaning it has strong glumes (husks) that enclose the grains, and a semibrittle rachis . On threshing, a hulled wheat spike breaks up into spikelets that require milling or pounding to release

450-452: Is found in a large number of Neolithic sites scattered around the fertile crescent. From its earliest days of cultivation, emmer was a more prominent crop than its cereal contemporaries and competitors, einkorn wheat and barley . Small quantities of emmer are present during Period 1 at Mehrgharh on the Indian subcontinent, showing that emmer was already cultivated there by 7000–5000 BC. In

500-644: Is grown as a drought- and stress-resistant wheat variety with some work ongoing to improve yields, as a result of increased interest in this variety due to possible value for diabetics. As with all varieties and hybrids of wheat, emmer is unsuitable for people with gluten-related disorders , such as celiac disease , non-celiac gluten sensitivity and people with wheat allergies , among others. Awn (botany) Awns are characteristic of various plant families, including Geraniaceae and many grasses ( Poaceae ). Among grasses with awns are those commonly known as foxtails , which tend to stick to animals passing by

550-450: Is well established and even expanding. In the mountainous Garfagnana area of Tuscany emmer (one of three grains known as farro ) is grown by farmers as an IGP ( Indicazione Geografica Protetta ) product, with its geographic identity protected by law. The demand for Italian farro has led to competition from non-certified farro, grown in lowland areas and often consisting of a different wheat species, spelt ( T. spelta ). Emmer's main use

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600-538: The Basques and Canary Islanders of the same time period, as the studies demonstrate those ancient peoples to be "clearly associated with modern Europeans". Additionally, no evidence from the studies demonstrates Cro-Magnon influence, contrary to former suggestions. The studies further suggest a diffusion of this diverse population away from the Fertile Crescent, with the early migrants moving away from

650-522: The Bronze Age , the region's natural fertility has been greatly extended by irrigation works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been salination —gradual concentration of salt and other minerals in soils with

700-695: The Jordan River . The inner boundary is delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south. Around the outer boundary are the Anatolian and Armenian highlands to the north, the Sahara Desert to the west, Sudan to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east. As crucial as rivers and marshlands were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, they were not

750-593: The Middle East , spanning modern-day Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Lebanon , Palestine , and Syria , together with northern Kuwait , south-eastern Turkey , and western Iran . Some authors also include Cyprus and northern Egypt . The Fertile Crescent is believed to be the first region where settled farming emerged as people started the process of clearance and modification of natural vegetation to grow newly domesticated plants as crops . Early human civilizations such as Sumer in Mesopotamia flourished as

800-525: The Near East —westward into Europe and North Africa , northward to Crimea , and northeastward to Mongolia . They took their agricultural practices with them and interbred with the hunter-gatherers whom they subsequently came in contact with while perpetuating their farming practices. This supports prior genetic and archaeological studies which have all arrived at the same conclusion. Consequently, contemporary in situ peoples absorbed

850-1028: The Tigris–Euphrates river basin , including Sumer , Akkad , Babylonia , Assyria , and the Abbasid Caliphate . It is in this region where the first libraries appeared about 4,500 years ago. The oldest known libraries are found in Nippur (in Sumer) and Ebla (in Syria), both from c.  2500 BCE . Both the Tigris and Euphrates start in the Taurus Mountains of what is modern-day Turkey . Farmers in southern Mesopotamia had to protect their fields from flooding each year. Northern Mesopotamia had sufficient rain to make some farming possible. To protect against flooding they made levees. Since

900-474: The cattle , sheep , goat , domestic pig , cat , and domestic goose . Mesopotamia Egypt Iran Anatolia The Levant Arabia Cosmology Modern analyses comparing 24 craniofacial measurements reveal a relatively diverse population within the pre- Neolithic , Neolithic and Bronze Age Fertile Crescent, supporting the view that several populations occupied this region during these time periods. Similar arguments do not hold true for

950-520: The Austrian botanist Kotschy collected specimens of the same wild emmer, without stating where he had collected them. Although cultivated in ancient Egypt, wild emmer has not been grown for human consumption in recent history, perhaps owing to the difficulty with which the chaff is separated from the seed kernels, formerly requiring the spikes to be pounded with mortar and pestle. Wild emmer is distinguished from common wheat by its tougher ear rachis and

1000-514: The Carpathian mountains on the border of Czechia and Slovakia, Albania, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Italy. It is grown in the U.S. as a specialty product. A traditional food plant in Ethiopia, this relatively little-known grain has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare. In Italy , uniquely, emmer cultivation

1050-608: The Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B include Tell Aswad , Çayönü , Cafer Höyük , Aşıklı Höyük , Kissonerga-Mylouthkia  [ de ] and Shillourokambos . Definitive evidence for the full domestication of emmer wheat is not found until the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10,200 to 9,500 BP), at sites such as Beidha , Tell Ghoraifé , Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) , Abu Hureyra , Tell Halula , Tell Aswad and Cafer Höyük. Emmer

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1100-517: The Elder notes that although emmer was called far in his time, it had formerly been called adoreum (or 'glory'), providing an etymology explaining that emmer had been held in glory. He mentions its use in sacrifices , stating that it had to be purified by roasting in order to be suitable. He states that in Etruria emmer was first roasted, then crushed either with an iron-capped pestle, or using

1150-643: The Middle East, growing in the grass and woodland of hill country from modern-day Israel to Iran . The origin of wild emmer has been suggested, without universal agreement among scholars, to be the Karaca Dağ mountain region of southeastern Turkey. In 1906, Aaron Aaronsohn 's discovery of wild emmer wheat growing in Rosh Pinna (Israel) created a stir in the botanical world. Emmer wheat has been found in archaeological excavations and ancient tombs. Emmer

1200-522: The Near East, in southern Mesopotamia in particular, cultivation of emmer wheat began to decline in the Early Bronze Age , from about 3000 BC, and barley became the standard cereal crop. This has been related to increased salinization of irrigated alluvial soils, of which barley is more tolerant, although this study has been challenged. Emmer had a special place in ancient Egypt , where it

1250-432: The agricultural way of life of those early migrants who ventured out of the Fertile Crescent. This is contrary to the suggestion that the spread of agriculture disseminated out of the Fertile Crescent by way of sharing of knowledge. Instead, the view now supported by a preponderance of evidence is that it occurred by actual migration out of the region, coupled with subsequent interbreeding with indigenous local populations whom

1300-400: The awns act as hooks in the soil and prevent the spikelets from backing out. During the course of alternating stages of daytime drying and nighttime humidity, the awns' pumping movements, which resemble a swimming frog kick , will drill the spikelet 25 millimetres (1 inch) or more into the soil. Strong similarities in morphology and genetics show that wild emmer ( T. dicoccoides Koern. ) is

1350-482: The awns' pumping movements, which resemble swimming frog kick , drill the spikelet as much as an inch into the soil. When awns occur in the Geraniaceae, they form the distal (rostral) points of the five carpels , lying parallel in the style above the ovary. Depending on the species, such awns have various seed-dispersal functions, either dispersing the seed by flinging it out (seed ejection); flinging away

1400-476: The beards releasing the grains easily, by their ear rachis becoming brittle when ripe and their firmly fitting beards. Wild emmer grows to a height of 50–70 cm (20–28 in), and bears an elongated spike measuring 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in), with long, protruding awns extending upwards. Avni et al. , 2017 provides a complete emmer genome . Wild emmer is native to the Fertile Crescent of

1450-551: The eastern shore of the Mediterranean and the other reaching out to the Persian Gulf, while the center has its back against the northern mountains. The end of the western wing is Palestine; Assyria makes up a large part of the center; while the end of the eastern wing is Babylonia. [...] This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the Fertile Crescent. There is no single term for this region in antiquity. At

1500-403: The entire carpel so that it snaps off (carpel projection); entangling the awn or bristles on passing animals ( zoochory ); or possibly burying the seed by twisting as it lies on soft soil. This plant morphology article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent ( Arabic : الهلال الخصيب ) is a crescent-shaped region in

1550-491: The evolution of many "r" type annual plants , which produce more edible seeds than "K" type perennial plants . The region's dramatic variety in elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, the Fertile Crescent was home to the eight Neolithic founder crops important in early agriculture (i.e., wild progenitors to emmer wheat , einkorn , barley , flax , chick pea , pea , lentil , bitter vetch ), and four of

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1600-456: The first millennium BC. Emmer wheat may be one of the five species of grain which have a special status in Judaism . One of these species, referred to as kusmin ( Aramaic ) or kūsmīn ( Hebrew : כוסמין ), may be either emmer or spelt (emmer and spelt are easily confused with each other). However, it is fairly certain that spelt did not grow in ancient Israel, and emmer was probably

1650-460: The five most important species of domesticated animals— cows , goats , sheep , and pigs ; the fifth species, the horse , lived nearby. The Fertile Crescent flora comprises a high percentage of plants that can self-pollinate , but may also be cross-pollinated . These plants, called " selfers ", were one of the geographical advantages of the area because they did not depend on other plants for reproduction. As well as possessing many sites with

1700-409: The grains from the glumes. Wild emmer spikelets effectively self-cultivate by propelling themselves mechanically into soils with their awns . During a period of increased humidity during the night, the awns of the spikelet become erect and draw together, and in the process push the grain into the soil. During the daytime, the humidity drops and the awns slacken back again; however, fine silica hairs on

1750-530: The greater prevalence of emmer wheat in the diet of ancient Egypt may simply reflect a marked culinary or cultural preference, or may reflect growing conditions having changed after the Third Dynasty. Emmer and barley were the primary ingredients in ancient Egyptian bread and beer . Emmer recovered from the Phoenician settlement at Volubilis (in present-day Morocco ) has been dated to the middle of

1800-458: The ground, while in the domesticated emmer, the seed head remains intact, thus making it easier for people to harvest the grain. Along with einkorn , emmer was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East . It was widely cultivated in the ancient world, but is now a relict crop in mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. Emmer is one of the three grains called farro in Italy. Emmer

1850-491: The latter lays more emphasis on genetic similarities. Wild emmer still grows wild in the Near East. It is a tetraploid wheat formed by the hybridization of two diploid wild grasses, wild red einkorn ( Triticum urartu ), and the goatgrass Aegilops speltoides . The botanists Friedrich August Körnicke and Aaron Aaronsohn in the late 19th-century were the first to describe the wild emmer ( Triticum dicoccoides ) native to Palestine and adjacent countries. Earlier, in 1864,

1900-455: The migrants came in contact with. The studies show also that not all present day Europeans share strong genetic affinities to the Neolithic and Bronze Age inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent; the closest ties to the Fertile Crescent rest with Southern Europeans. The same study further demonstrates all present-day Europeans to be closely related. Linguistically, the Fertile Crescent

1950-565: The only factor. The area is geographically important as the "bridge" between North Africa and Eurasia , which has allowed it to retain a greater amount of biodiversity than either Europe or North Africa , where climate changes during the Ice Age led to repeated extinction events when ecosystems became squeezed against the waters of the Mediterranean Sea . The Saharan pump theory posits that this Middle Eastern land bridge

2000-587: The plant. In grasses, awns typically extend from the lemmas of the florets . This often makes the hairy appearance of the grass synflorescence . Awns may be long (several centimeters) or short, straight or curved, single or multiple per floret. Some biological genera are named after their awns, such as the three-awns ( Aristida ). In some species , the awns can contribute significantly to photosynthesis , as, for example, in barley . The awns of wild emmer -wheat spikelets effectively self-cultivate by propelling themselves mechanically into soils . During

2050-473: The rivers Tigris and Euphrates , lies in the east of the Fertile Crescent), also saw the emergence of early complex societies during the succeeding Bronze Age . There is also early evidence from the region for writing and the formation of hierarchical state level societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The cradle of civilization ". From ancient times empires arose and fell in

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2100-947: The second version, boiled water and emmer are added to the sautéed onion and then cooked until tender. In Armenia, emmer porridge with lamb called "kashovi" is widespread in the Shirak region , while lean kashovi is known in all regions of Armenia. Chopped lamb is added to cold water then boiled for 10 minutes, emmer and sautéed onion are added and cooked over a low heat until tender. In Italy, whole emmer grains can be found in most supermarkets and groceries, emmer bread ( pane di farro ) can be found in bakeries in some areas, while in Tuscany emmer has traditionally been consumed as whole grains in soup. Emmer has been used in beer production. In parts of India, emmer wheat (in Maharashtra called खपली गहू, transcription "khapalī gahū", meaning "crusty wheat")

2150-819: The skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early modern humans (e.g., at Tabun and Es Skhul caves), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers , and Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the Natufians ); the Fertile Crescent is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture . The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic farming settlements (referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)), which date to around 9,000 BCE and includes very ancient sites such as Göbekli Tepe , Chogha Golan , and Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) . This region, alongside Mesopotamia (Greek for "between rivers", between

2200-591: The time that Breasted was writing, it roughly corresponded with the territories of the Ottoman Empire ceded to Britain and France in the Sykes–Picot Agreement . Historian Thomas Scheffler has noted that Breasted was following a trend in Western geography to "overwrite the classical geographical distinctions between continents, countries and landscapes with large, abstract spaces", drawing parallels with

2250-414: The wild ancestor and a crop wild relative of domesticated emmer. Because wild and domesticated emmer are interfertile with other tetraploid wheats, some taxonomists consider all tetraploid wheats to belong to one species, T. turgidum . Under this scheme, the two forms are recognized at subspecies level, thus T. t. subsp. dicoccoides and T. t. subsp. dicoccum . Either naming system is equally valid;

2300-504: The work of Halford Mackinder , who conceptualised Eurasia as a 'pivot area' surrounded by an 'inner crescent', Alfred Thayer Mahan's Middle East , and Friedrich Naumann's Mitteleuropa . In current usage, the Fertile Crescent includes Israel , Palestine , Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Egypt , and Jordan , as well as the surrounding portions of Turkey and Iran . In addition to the Tigris and Euphrates , riverwater sources include

2350-882: Was a region of great diversity. Historically, Semitic languages generally prevailed in the modern regions of Iraq , Syria , Jordan , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Sinai and the fringes of southeast Turkey and northwest Iran , as well as the Sumerian (a language isolate ) in Iraq, whilst in the mountainous areas to the east and north a number of generally unrelated language isolates were found, including; Elamite , Gutian and Kassite in Iran , and Hattic , Kaskian and Hurro-Urartian in Turkey. The precise affiliation of these, and their date of arrival, remain topics of scholarly discussion. However, given lack of textual evidence for

2400-547: Was collected from the wild and eaten by hunter gatherers for thousands of years before its domestication. Grains of wild emmer discovered at Ohalo II had a radiocarbon dating of 17,000 BC and at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Netiv Hagdud are 10,000–9,400 years old. The location of the earliest site of emmer domestication is still unclear and under debate. Some of the earliest sites with possible indirect evidence for emmer domestication during

2450-496: Was extremely important to the modern distribution of Old World flora and fauna , including the spread of humanity . The area has borne the brunt of the tectonic divergence between the African and Arabian plates and the converging Arabian and Eurasian plates, which has made the region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains. The Fertile Crescent had many diverse climates , and major climatic changes encouraged

2500-613: Was the main wheat cultivated in Pharaonic times, although cultivated einkorn wheat was grown in great abundance during the Third Dynasty , and large quantities of it were found preserved, along with cultivated emmer wheat and barleys, in the subterranean chambers beneath the Step Pyramid at Saqqara . Neighbouring countries also cultivated einkorn, durum and common wheat. In the absence of any obvious functional explanation,

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