Harvest Techniques: Hand-Pulling and Its Potential Impact on the Archaeobotanical Record Vis a Vis Near Eastern Plant Domestication

A cultivation prior to domestication, or a pre-domestication cultivation phase features in many reconstructions of Near Eastern plant domestication. Archaeobotanists who accept this notion search for evidence to support the assumption regarding a wild plant's cultivation phase, which in their view, preceded and eventually led to plant domestication. The presence of non-crop plant remains in the archaeobotanical record interpreted as arable weeds, i.e., weeds of cultivation, is viewed as a strong argument in support of the pre-domestication cultivation phase. Herein, we show that the simple practice of harvest by hand-pulling (uprooting) has the potential to secure an almost weed-free harvest. Indeed, rather clean (weed-free) Neolithic seed caches from a range of relevant sites were documented in archaeobotanical reports. These reports, alongside ethnographic observations suggest that (in certain cases) ancient harvest may have been carried out by selective hand-pulling. Hence, one has no reason to view archaeobotanical assemblages from occupation sites as fully representative of cultivated fields. Therefore, the concept of arable-pre-domestication weeds, its logic, and its potential contribution to the prevailing reconstructions of Near Eastern plant domestication need be reconsidered.

Automated summary

This passage discusses a reconstruction of Near Eastern plant domestication, featuring a pre-domestication cultivation phase, and introduces the method of hand-pulling as a way to achieve a nearly weed-free harvest to support the theory of pre-domestication cultivation. Archaeological records and ethnographic observations suggest that ancient harvesting may have involved selective hand-pulling, as evidenced by relatively clean Neolithic seed caches found at relevant sites.