Evidence suggests agriculture evolved independently throughout the world

Domestication of plants in agriculture was developed at least 10,000 years ago, according to a new study. It was when ancient humans decided to take control of their food production by introducing farming. However the exact origin of farming is still unknown especially because the transition to farming in the hunting societies took place when there was no writing.

Many historians and archaeologists believe that farming started in one place and then expanded to other regions of Earth. However, they disagree as to where it started first, debating whether agriculture has one or multiple origins.

Even though most of them agree that it started in the region between the Mediterranean and Iran and expanded from there, there are a few supporting the belief that farming started simultaneously in many different places on Earth, and now latest evidence supports this theory. Until now, the oldest farming evidence was found in Palestine, Syria and Turkey, dating back to 10,000 BC. However excavations conducted recently at a remote farming village of Ghogha Golan in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in western Iran at a height of 485 meters, have revealed evidence of plants processing dating back to 12,000 years ago.

The research has found more than 21,000 plant remains including large amounts of wild barley, wheat, lentils and grass peas. Simone Riehl of the University of Tubingen in Germany suggested that the people of the village cultivated wheat, lentils and barley independently of other regions of the world.

The wheat farms found at Ghogha Golan are a few hundred years younger that the earliest known domesticated species showing that separate evolution may have been possible in many different parts of the world.

By John Black

Report: Emergence of Agriculture in the Foothills of the Zargos Mountains of Iran by Simone Riehl, Mohsen Zeidi, Nichola J. Conard.