ABSTRACT
Barley has been associated with the earliest beginnings of agriculture. Reviews of the origin of barley have been made by several authors [1–8]. The most likely origin of cultivated barley is from a wild progenitor growing in the fertile crescent 35,000–40,000 years ago [6]. Probably this progenitor was a two-rowed type from which evolved the present wild-type weed barley Hordeum vulgare sp. spontaneum and the Hordeum vulgare cultivated two- and six-rowed types [4]. The present distribution of the H. vulgare sp. spontaneum is shown in Figure 1, with additional sites found in northwestern India and Morocco. The archeological sites containing the oldest samples of barley are 9,000–10,000 years old [8] in the Near East (Fig. 2). From this area barley culture spread to Europe, western Asia, and the Nile Valley (Fig. 3) [8]. Distribution of <italic>Hordeum spontaneum</italic>. Each dot represents a collection site that has been verified by J. R. Harlan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429116605/8be1c27f-c9f7-4526-974c-28647bef5908/content/fig3_1.tif"/> (From Ref. 4.) Crop assemblage in the early Neolithic farming villages in the Near East (before 6000 <sc>b.c</sc>.). A short whisker indicates that the crop is relatively rare, a long whisker that it is relatively common among the excavated plant remains. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429116605/8be1c27f-c9f7-4526-974c-28647bef5908/content/fig3_2.tif"/> (From Ref. 8.) The spread of barley to Europe, western Asia, and the Nile Valley. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429116605/8be1c27f-c9f7-4526-974c-28647bef5908/content/fig3_3.tif"/> (For details of numbered sites, see Ref. 8.)
