# Canonical recap data for Wheat & Barley Domestication Begins (9600)
# Source: https://recap.at/9600/grain-domestication
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: grain-domestication
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9600/grain-domestication"
title: Wheat & Barley Domestication Begins
aliases:
- Neolithic Revolution
- Agricultural Revolution
- Wheat domestication
- Fertile Crescent agriculture
subtitle: The successful cultivation of wild cereals in the Levant created the caloric surplus that enabled civilization to emerge from nomadic life.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9600-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9600
decade: 9600
summaryShort: Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. As cereals, they are cultivated for their grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown common wheat, spelt, durum, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan or Kamut. The archaeological rec
summaryLong: Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. As cereals, they are cultivated for their grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown common wheat, spelt, durum, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan or Kamut. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC.
lede: Around 9600 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, humans began deliberately planting and harvesting wild wheat and barley instead of just gathering them. This shift from hunting-gathering to farming meant people could stay in one place, grow more food, and support larger populations—ultimately reshaping how civilization itself developed.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg/1280px-Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Wheat"
importance: 88
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Primary location
  value: Fertile Crescent (modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, and Turkey)
- label: Approximate date
  value: 9600 BCE
- label: Wild ancestor of bread wheat
  value: Triticum boeoticum (einkorn)
- label: Wild ancestor of barley
  value: Hordeum vulgare spontaneum
- label: Earliest evidence sites
  value: Tell Abu Hureyra (Syria), Jericho (Palestine), Çatalhöyük (Turkey)
- label: Time to establishment as dominant subsistence
  value: ~1,000-2,000 years
- label: Caloric output vs. hunting-gathering
  value: 3-10x more food per acre
timeline:
- date: 7000-01-01
  title: Secondary domestication of other crops begins
  description: Wheat and barley cultivation enables surplus that supports domestication of lentils, peas, and pulses; animal domestication accelerates.
- date: 8000-01-01
  title: Permanent villages establish around grain cultivation
  description: Jericho and similar sites reach populations of 500+ people, sustained primarily by stored grain; early forms of social organization emerge.
- date: 8500-01-01
  title: Agriculture spreads through the Fertile Crescent
  description: Farming communities proliferate across the region; evidence from multiple sites shows wheat and barley now central to subsistence strategies.
- date: 9000-01-01
  title: Domesticated traits become fixed
  description: "Wheat and barley show genetic changes typical of domestication: larger seeds, loss of seed dispersal mechanisms, and reduced dormancy, making them dependent on human cultivation."
- date: 9500-01-01
  title: Early agricultural settlements emerge
  description: Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria and other sites show evidence of semi-permanent communities dependent on cultivated grains alongside hunting.
- date: 9600-01-01
  title: Wheat and barley domestication begins
  description: In the Fertile Crescent, people begin selectively planting and harvesting wild einkorn wheat and barley, marking the shift from nomadic foraging to deliberate cultivation.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat"
  title: Wheat
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The domestication of wheat and barley fundamentally altered human society. Within a few millennia, this single behavioral change enabled permanent settlements, population growth, social hierarchy, and the rise of the first cities—making it arguably the most consequential development in human history.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
- discovery
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: accidental
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: When wheat and barley domestication began in the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE, reshaping human civilization.
wikidataQid: Q15645384
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260601105426/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-01
  label: Wheat
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat"
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The Fertile Crescent Chronicle
  publisherSlug: fertile-crescent-chronicle
  headline: "Villagers Master Wild Grain: Wheat Cultivation Begins in Mesopotamia"
  publishedAt: 9600-09-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archaeological record confirms
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Settlements near the Tigris and Euphrates have begun deliberately planting and harvesting wild wheat grasses, marking a radical shift from pure foraging. Experts suggest this could reshape how communities organize labor and settle land.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: Mesopotamia
- publisher: Levantine Gazette
  publisherSlug: levantine-gazette
  headline: "Grain Revolution: Domesticated Barley Joins Wheat in Agricultural Arsenal"
  publishedAt: 9600-10-02
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archaeological record confirms
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - In the Levantine highlands, both wheat and barley are now under human management, with early farmers reporting reliable harvests. The twin domestication promises food security previously unknown to nomadic tribes.
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: Levant
- publisher: Anatolian Quarterly Review
  publisherSlug: anatolian-quarterly-review
  headline: "The Grain Gamble: Will Domestication Transform Settlement Patterns?"
  publishedAt: 9600-11-20
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archaeological record confirms
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Scholars debate whether cultivating wheat and barley will anchor communities to fixed territories or remain a supplementary food source. Early signs suggest permanent villages may emerge within generations.
  significance: 72
  type: magazine
  region: Anatolia
peoplesVoice:
- source: Unnamed Natufian settlement elder, Levantine region
  voiceType: expert
  context: Spoken during early experiments with deliberately harvesting and replanting wild grain stands around 9600 BCE
  excerpt: When we gather the seed heads with care and scatter them near our camps, more grain returns to us the next season. The grasses seem to answer our attention.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from archaeological oral tradition reconstructions and settlement pattern analysis
  publishedAt: 9600-01-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Proto-Semitic hunter-gatherer community spokesperson
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Reaction as semi-sedentary groups begin to depend on cultivated grain plots rather than pure foraging
  excerpt: We no longer follow the herds as our fathers did. Our children know one place - where the tall grasses grow thick. It binds us here, for better and worse.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from settlement archaeology and paleobotanical records of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
  publishedAt: 9600-06-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Unnamed Fertile Crescent agricultural innovator
  voiceType: developer
  context: Early proponent of selective harvesting techniques that would accelerate grain domestication
  excerpt: The wild emmer resists our hand, but some plants shed their seeds more readily. We save seed from those generous ones. Each year, they grow easier to harvest.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from proto-agricultural practice records and archaeobotanical evidence from Tell Abu Hureyra
  publishedAt: 9600-03-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Nomadic pastoralist observer, Syrian steppe region
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Commentary from mobile herding populations watching sedentary grain cultivators emerge
  excerpt: These people plant themselves like their grains do. We remain free under the sky while they tend fields dawn to dusk. Which of us truly prospers?
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 65
  attribution: Synthesized from pastoral-agrarian conflict narratives and settlement marginalization patterns
  publishedAt: 9600-09-01
  originalLanguage: en
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg/1280px-Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg/800px-Vehn%C3%A4pelto_6.jpg"
  caption: Wheat
  credit: Wikipedia · "Wheat"
  width: 330
  height: 220
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Wheat_close-up.JPG/1280px-Wheat_close-up.JPG"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Wheat_close-up.JPG/800px-Wheat_close-up.JPG"
  caption: Wheat close-up
  credit: "User:Bluemoose"
  width: 2592
  height: 1944
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Unload_wheat_by_the_combine_Claas_Lexion_584.jpg/1280px-Unload_wheat_by_the_combine_Claas_Lexion_584.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Unload_wheat_by_the_combine_Claas_Lexion_584.jpg/800px-Unload_wheat_by_the_combine_Claas_Lexion_584.jpg"
  caption: Unload wheat by the combine Claas Lexion 584
  credit: Michael Gäbler
  width: 2450
  height: 1082
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/The_combine_Claas_Lexion_584_in_the_wheat_harvest.jpg/1280px-The_combine_Claas_Lexion_584_in_the_wheat_harvest.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/The_combine_Claas_Lexion_584_in_the_wheat_harvest.jpg/800px-The_combine_Claas_Lexion_584_in_the_wheat_harvest.jpg"
  caption: The combine Claas Lexion 584 in the wheat harvest
  credit: Michael Gäbler
  width: 2729
  height: 1784
