Ancient Barley Was Highly Domesticated

News July 18, 2016

(Nature - M Mascher et al.)
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Ancient barley grains
(Nature - M Mascher et al.)

SEELAND, GERMANY—A new genetic analysis of barley grains dating back 6,000 years finds that they were extremely similar to modern-day varieties, according to a report by BBC News. Barley was among the earliest farm crops, having been domesticated around 10,000 years ago when hunter-gatherers first began farming. Starting with wild plants, these early farmers tried to eliminate undesirable traits, similar to modern-day selective breeding. Finding intact ancient grains suitable for a genetic study is highly unusual. In this case, the grains were excavated from a cave in an ancient fortress near the Dead Sea in Israel, where they were preserved by extremely dry conditions. DNA analysis of the ancient barley found that the 6,000-year-old grains were surprisingly similar to present-day crops in the same area, suggesting that by the time they were grown, barley had already undergone extensive domestication. “These 6,000 year-old grains are time capsules, you have a genetic state that was frozen 6,000 years ago,” says Nils Stein of the IPK Plant Genetics institute in Germany. “This tells us barley 6,000 years ago was already a very advanced crop and clearly different from the wild barley.” For more, go to “The Neolithic Toolkit.”

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