Ancient DNA from 8400 Year-Old Catalhoyuk Wheat: Implications for the Origin of Neolithic Agriculture.

ABSTRACT: Human history was transformed with the advent of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent with wheat as one of the founding crops. Although the Fertile Crescent is renowned as the center of wheat domestication, archaeological studies have shown the crucial involvement of Çatalhöyük in this process. This site first gained attention during the 1961-65 excavations due to the recovery of primitive hexaploid wheat. However, despite the seeds being well preserved, a detailed archaeobotanical description of the samples is missing. In this article, we report on the DNA isolation, amplification and sequencing of ancient DNA of charred wheat grains from Çatalhöyük and other Turkish archaeological sites and the comparison of these wheat grains with contemporary wheat species including T. monococcum, T. di

SUBMITTER: Bilgic H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4801371 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature