Tracing the Epipalaeolithic origins of plant management in southwest Asia

Projektinformationen

PalaeOrigins

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101039060

DOI

10.3030/101039060

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 23 Juli 2022

Startdatum 1 September 2023

Enddatum 31 August 2028

Finanziert unter

• European Research Council (ERC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 1 499 150,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 499 150,00

Koordiniert durch

UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/ EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PalaeOrigins (Tracing the Epipalaeolithic origins of plant management in southwest Asia)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-09-01 bis 2026-02-28

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

PalaeOrigins is an interdisciplinary project that investigates one of the most transformative processes in human history: the transition from foraging to farming. While research in Southwest Asia has shown that agriculture was firmly established around 10,000 years ago, the earliest steps in this process remain poorly understood. How did hunter-gatherers first begin to interact with plants in new ways? Were they driven mainly by environmental pressures such as climate change, or did cultural factors, such as the search for particular foods or food traditions, play an equally important role?
To address these questions, PalaeOrigins focuses on the Epipalaeolithic period (23,000–11,000 years ago), when the first experiments with plant use and management may have begun. The project combines traditional archaeobotany with advanced scientific methods, including stable isotope analysis, computational modelling, and the study of food remains, while also engaging with broader theoretical debates about human–environment interactions. Its main objectives are to reconstruct the availability of plant resources during major environmental shifts, to assess how hunter-gatherers procured and possibly managed these resources, and to define their food cultures by studying plant selection, processing, and consumption practices.
By moving beyond traditional Neolithic-centred perspectives, PalaeOrigins seeks to transform our understanding of how agriculture began. It aims to show not only how people adapted to changing environments, but also how their cultural choices and culinary traditions paved the way for farming, a shift that permanently altered the course of human history.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

During its initial phase, PalaeOrigins has focused on collecting, cataloguing, and sorting more than 500 samples from across the entire Epipalaeolithic sequence. Analytical work has first concentrated on Natufian (Late Epipalaeolithic) sites in eastern Jordan, notably Shubayqa 1, 3, and 6, yielding over 40,000 botanical remains, including seeds, fruits, wood charcoal, and charred food residues, fully analysed.
The results are shedding new light on both environments and food practices. Analyses of seeds and wood charcoal indicate that wetlands and steppe/desert zones coexisted around Shubayqa for several millennia, providing a stable ecological setting. Stable isotope results further suggest that the wetlands were highly fertile, with water and nutrient availability comparable to intensively productive ecosystems. Ecological niche modelling has generated the first spatially explicit reconstructions of 82 plant species relevant to early farming, showing substantial shifts in their ranges between the terminal Pleistocene and the early Holocene.
Equally important are the insights into diet. More than 30,000 seeds and 1,000 amorphous food remains reveal that Early Natufian communities relied heavily on root foods such as club-rush tubers, while later groups shifted towards grasses and nutlets. This change does not appear to reflect climate fluctuations but rather cultural choices, suggesting that culinary traditions and preferences were already key drivers of subsistence. The long-term use of club-rush tubers, spanning more than 4,000 years, challenges traditional models of a broad-spectrum revolution and points instead to continuity and specialisation in plant use.
The project has also placed strong emphasis on community-building. In 2023, PalaeOrigins organised the first meeting of the IWGP Research Group on Plant Management and Domestication in San Sebastián, gathering more than 40 specialists. The event fostered dialogue on shared definitions and methodologies, paving the way for joint publications and long-term collaboration. In addition, together with 20 archaeobotanists from around the world, the team contributed to launching the first global survey on ethics in archaeobotany. This collaborative initiative addresses issues such as material access, authorship, and intellectual property, establishing a framework for more transparent, inclusive, and ethical archaeobotanical practice.
These activities, combined with publications under review and outreach through exhibitions, documentaries, and media interviews, demonstrate the project’s capacity to produce both scientific and public-facing impact.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

Although still at its mid-point, PalaeOrigins has already demonstrated its potential to advance the state of the art. Its results challenge long-standing assumptions about how and when plant food production began, highlighting the role of roots and wetland plants alongside cereals. If confirmed, these findings could redefine the origins of agriculture, shifting attention from a narrow set of “founder crops” to a wider and more diverse range of plant resources.
The project’s methodological innovations, such as protocols for analysing amorphous charred remains and the use of high-resolution ecological modelling, also have the potential to set new standards in archaeobotanical research. Beyond academia, the results offer perspectives on food diversity, human adaptation, and resilience that resonate with current discussions on sustainable agriculture and climate change.
To fully realise these impacts, several steps are essential: expanding analyses to additional hunter-gatherer sites, integrating complementary methods such as organic residue analysis, and strengthening international collaboration to harmonise data and approaches. Building on the project’s outreach successes, further public engagement through exhibitions, education initiatives, and dialogue with heritage institutions will ensure that the findings reach audiences beyond the scientific community.
Through these pathways, PalaeOrigins has the potential not only to reshape archaeological narratives but also to provide meaningful insights into the long-term relationship between people, plants, and environments.