Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK.
J Exp Bot. 2012 Jan;63(2):617-33. doi: 10.1093/jxb/err307. Epub 2011 Nov 4.
The origins of agriculture in the Near East has been associated with a 'core area', located in south-eastern Turkey, in which all major crops were brought into domestication within the same local domestication system operated by a single cultural group. Such an origin leads to a scenario of rapid invention of agriculture by a select cultural group and typically monophyletic origins for most crops. Surprisingly, support for a core area has never been directly tested with archaeological evidence. Over the past decade a large amount of new archaeological and genetic evidence has been discovered which brings new light on the origins of agriculture. In this review, this new evidence was brought together in order to evaluate whether a core region of origin is supported. Evidence shows that origins began earlier than previously assumed, and included 'false starts' and dead ends that involved many more species than the typical eight founder crops associated with the core area. The rates at which domestication syndrome traits became fixed were generally slow, rather than rapid, and occurred over a geographically wide range that included the North and South Levant as well as the core area. Finally, a survey of the estimated ages of archaeological sites and the onset of domestication indicates that the domestication process was ongoing in parallel outside of the core area earlier than within it. Overall, evidence suggests a scenario in which crops were domesticated slowly in different locations around the Near East rather than emanating from a core area.
农业起源于近东地区的一个“核心区域”，位于土耳其东南部，所有主要作物都在同一当地驯化系统中被单一文化群体驯化。这种起源导致了一个由特定文化群体快速发明农业的场景，并且大多数作物通常具有单系起源。令人惊讶的是，核心区域的假设从未得到过考古证据的直接检验。在过去的十年中，大量新的考古学和遗传学证据被发现，为农业起源提供了新的线索。在这篇综述中，将这些新的证据结合起来，以评估是否存在一个核心的起源区域。证据表明，起源的时间比之前假设的更早，并且包括许多比与核心区域相关的典型的 8 种创始作物更多的“假启动”和死胡同。驯化综合征特征固定的速度通常较慢，而不是较快，并且发生在地理范围广泛的地区，包括北黎凡特和南黎凡特以及核心区域。最后，对考古遗址的估计年龄和驯化开始的调查表明，在核心区域之外，驯化过程比在核心区域内更早地平行进行。总的来说，证据表明，作物是在近东地区的不同地点缓慢驯化的，而不是从一个核心区域起源的。
