ABSTRACT
The dominant view of the initial transition to agriculture within Europe is undoubtedly that the agricultural staples involved (both plants and animals) must have come from outside, presumably from the Near East via Anatolia. Despite various claims that sheep could have survived in the West Mediterranean (e.g. Geddes 1981) as remnants of earlier populations, it now seems most likely that they were reintroduced. It is agreed that the wild ancestors of oats, einkorn and barley (but probably not emmer wheat) were once found in southeast Europe (Dennell 1983:159-61; Barker 1985:71), but again it is generally thought to be more likely that the idea of their cultivation came from outside. With cattle and pigs, however, the situation is rather different, as they were present across the whole of Europe and their local domestication is therefore at least possible in more regions.
