6,000 Year Old Israeli Barley Provides Clues to Early Farming
The scientists who worked on the barley study (R-L): Prof. Tzion Fahima, Michal David, Prof. Abraham Korol, Prof. Ehud Weiss, Dr. Sariel Hubner, Dr. Uri Davidovich Image by Haaretz/Uri Davidovich
By Naomi Zeveloff August 4, 2016
The discovery of 6,000 year old barley in a cave in Israel’s Judean desert has led to an important finding about the origins of human agriculture.
A team of German and Israeli scientists sequenced the genome of the barley, and, comparing it to present-day barley discovered that the grain was first domesticated in what is now modern day Israel.
“The places where plants were domesticated are the places where human culture began,” said Tzion Fahima, a professor in evolutionary and environmental biology at the University of Haifa. “Until now they believed that it was started in east Turkey and north Syria in this region, where Abraham came from.”
Fahima said that scientists believed that barley, wheat and certain legumes were first domesticated east of Israel, and that the practice then spread to China with rice, and to America with corn. Now they know that the people once living in what is today Israel were the first barley domesticators about 10,000 years ago.
The Yoram Cave in Masada, where the barley grains were discovered. Image by Uri Davidovich/Haaretz
The scientists published these findings in the journal of Nature Genetics in July.
Archaeologists discovered the barley in a cave in Masada, the Roman-era Jewish fortress, where they believe a family of refugees lived for about a year and a half.
In addition to spikes of barley, the researchers uncovered 100 different kinds of plant remains, such as wheat, leading them to believe that people brought these food items into the cave in haste. They also discovered remains of clothing.
The barley was taken to a laboratory in Germany, where the grains were split in two. Half of the grain was carbon dated and the other half went through genomic testing.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
