Leaning on to rise up: From high to low cutting at the origins of cereal agriculture in the near East

Abstract

Harvesting low, transporting the crops in sheaves, threshing them and using the straw for different activities is a well-documented technical process in traditional agriculture. However, when did this procedure start? We have used confocal microscopy and texture analysis of cereal harvesting gloss in experimental tools to identify textural parameters allowing discriminating tools used to reap near the ground (low) from those used to cut near the ear (high). The classificatory algorithm was applied to an ensemble of 260 sickle elements recovered in different occupation levels of 11 archaeological sites dating from the Natufian, PPNA, PPNB and Pottery Neolithic periods, from 11,000 to 6000 cal BC. We aim to know whether cereals were harvested near the ear or near the ground during the origins of agriculture and how this harvesting behaviour evolved. Our study shows that the transition from high to low harvesting was a long process that took place during the origins of cereal agriculture, from the 11th to the 7th-millennium cal BC. This shift in harvesting techniques was related to the increasing use of straw as a building material, for basketry, for feeding or as a bed for livestock. During the Natufian period, wild cereals in natural stands were reaped in an unripe state near the ear. During the PPNA, wild cereals started to be cultivated, though wild cereals in natural stands were occasionally harvested. High cutting was still dominant during this period, though sometimes cultivated cereals were reaped cutting near the ground. During the PPNB, when the transition from wild to domestic cereals occurred, harvesting was carried out dominantly near the ground, indicating a growing need to use straw. Finally, during the Pottery Neolithic, low cutting was the standard method to harvest cereals. The reaped crops were probably grouped in sheaves and transported to the threshing area, a technical procedure that has persisted up to very recently in the Mediterranean area.