The onset of faba bean farming in the Southern Levant

Abstract

Even though the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is among the most ubiquitously cultivated crops, very little is known about its origins. Here, we report discoveries of charred faba beans from three adjacent Neolithic sites in the lower Galilee region, in the southern Levant, that offer new insights into the early history of this species. Biometric measurements, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon isotope analyses of the archaeological remains, supported by experiments on modern material, date the earliest farming of this crop to ~10,200 cal BP. The large quantity of faba beans found in these adjacent sites indicates intensive production of faba beans in the region that can only have been achieved by planting non-dormant seeds. Selection of mutant-non-dormant stock suggests that the domestication of the crop occurred as early as the 11th millennium cal BP. Plant domestication| Vicia faba L.| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B| radiocarbon dating| Δ13C analysis.

14,000-year-old seeds indicate the Levantine origin of the lost progenitor of faba bean

“…Our discovery of faba beans in a sedentary hunter-gatherers campsite located only a few of kilometers away from the Lower Galilee, the area where the first domesticated faba bean were discovered9, date the earliest evidence of this legume to the 14 th millennium cal BP, almost three thousand years before its domestication. The discovery points to one of the possible areas where the wild progenitor of faba bean grew and offers new insights into the ecological requirements of the wild relative.…”

“…This date is in agreement with the Early Natufian dates of the site. The dating of the EWT faba beans shows that this species was present in the local wild vegetation three millennia before the faba bean was domesticated9.…”

“…This process started around the11 th millennium BP in southwestern Asia, and accounts for the development of ‘domestication-traits’ such as the loss of dispersal mechanisms and reduced seed dormancy in edible plants8. Previous studies of archaeological faba bean, collected in the PPNB sites of Ahihud, Nahal Zippori and Yiftahel, provided insights about the timing of domestication of this crop and the geographic area where the first domestication occurred, but have not solved the enigma regarding the original area of distribution of its wild progenitor91011. Prior to domestication, hunter-gatherers had acquired an intimate knowledge of plants and, at least by the end of the Pleistocene, they had diversified their diet by intensively gathering a wide range of plants, some of which would eventually become domesticated12.…”

Pod Shattering: A Homologous Series of Variation Underlying Domestication and an Avenue for Crop Improvement

“…In addition to early domestications (such as Phaseolus vulgaris, Cicer arietiunum, Pisum sativum, and Glycine max), legumes have continued to be domesticated as agriculture has expanded and intensified, with more recent domestications such as pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and mungbean (Vigna radiata) around 4,000 years ago in South Asia [26,27], alfalfa domesticated in Roman times [28] (Medicago sativa), and narrow-leaved lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) domesticated as a sweet lupin over the past century [29]. For a few legumes, such as fava bean, Vicia faba, the nature of domestication has been obscured by the absence of a known compatible wild relative, although archeological evidence is starting to clarify at the least the chronology of domestication [30,31]. 6 largely unintentional process to rapid and very deliberate one [3].…”

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Faba Bean (Vicia faba) from Turkey

“…Although its wild progenitor is unknown, V. faba seems to have been first domesticated in the Levant where archaeological evidence of its cultivation dates to the 10th millennium BP (Caracuta et al, 2015). Faba bean cultivation spread to Anatolia and then Europe via the Mediterranean coast and to India and China via Mesopotamia (Cubero, 2011).…”