The PATH project explored plant-human interactions at the dawn of agriculture, and specifically how plant domestication transformed established patterns of wild plant exploitation, and affected plant food-related technology and dietary habits of Levantine early agricultural groups. Plants and plant foods have played an invaluable role throughout human (pre)history an so far, little attention was paid in understanding to which extent the long-lasting human-wild plants interactions changed at the dawn of agriculture. Specifically, what still remained unclear is the way and pace in which the introduction of domestic crops transformed consolidated dietary habits related to the processing and consumption of wild plant foods. PATH aimed at addressing these aspects through: a) indirect evidence gathered from the study of ground stone tools, applying a new approach blending qualitative and quantitative methods to gather new information about their use in plant food exploitation; b) direct evidence of plant consumption gathered through the analysis of ancient human dental calculus and the study of plant structures entrapped in its matrix, which are potentially capable of discriminating plant taxa at the family and species level. Ground stone tools are characterised by long lifecycles, which makes them prime evidence for tackling a wide range of archaeological questions about daily subsistence, ancient technology and lifeways. By analysing functional micro-relief modifications through optical light microscopy and confocal scanning microscopy as well as associated residue, PATH provided key information about plant food processing activities at each site. These data have been coupled with the results obtained from the dental calculus analysis. Known also as tartar, dental calculus is a mineralized bio-deposit of plaque adhering to the tooth enamel and the micro-food particles (e.g. starch granules and phytoliths) entrapped within it, allow to unravel novel information about the dietary habits of the first Neolithic farmers of the Levant. Through the analysis of samples from contexts dated from the Natufian to the PPNB periods, the project represented one of the first attempts to combine the study of material culture and human dental calculus for investigating patterns of wild vs domestic plants consumption during the Near East Agricultural Revolution and it proposed as well the first methodological attempt to systematically apply confocal scanning microscopy and surface metrology to the study of ground stone tool use. The project provided a significant methodological advancement in the field of wear-wear analysis, developing a workflow for the systematic application confocal scanning microscopy to study ground stone tool's use. A further contribution of the PATH project derived from its novel approach, based on the combined analysis of material culture and bioarchaeological evidence. This integration allowed to unravel practices related to the processing of plant foods and direct information associated with their actual consumption. By doing so, it was possible to identify similarities or differences in plant processing patterns, evaluating them from a chronological and regional perspective. In this sense, among the results obtained in the project the evidence concerning the exploitation of pulses in Natufian and PPNA and PPNB contexts in Israel and Jordan is particularly significant. Identifying use-related traces and residues on tools and the plant micro remains found in dental calculus underlined the importance of legumes such as chickpeas, peas and lentils and shed new light on the role of pulses in the lifeways of levantine early Neolithic farmers as well as on their importance in the development and spread of agricultural practices during the Neolithic.
