Plant use at the Dawn of Agriculture in Central Anatolia

Direct investigation of plant remains from the ninth-millennium archaeological site of Pinarbasi, the earliest post-glacial occupation site in central Turkey, will clarify the chronology, rate and process of agricultural origins in central Anatolia. Analysis aims to determine the agricultural status of the site, the direction from which first settlement occurred, the timing of crop uptake and if local cultivation/domestication occurred. The project will clarify if central Anatolia should be regarded as part of the Levantine/Anatolian core region of farming development, or, an area into which farming spread after developing elsewhere. Thus, the project has implications for the understanding of regional and global agricultural origins.