Einkorn wheat is one of the first crops to be domesticated, along with emmer wheat. The earliest Einkorn domestication appears at Neolithic sites such as Gobekli Tepe and Catal Hoyuk in Anatolia, today's Turkey.
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Einkorn is the most primitive form of wheat on Earth. It has only 14 chromosomes, whereas modern wheat contains 42. Early grain domestication goes back to c. 11,800 BCE. The Ice Age is ending and the climate's warming up.
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Inhospitable ice-bound places like Northern Europe and Asia become grassland and forest. Their soils are inundated with glacial silt. Lakes and streams of meltwater add to the fertility of the lands.
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Organic matter, clay, calcium, minerals are ground up by slow movement of the glacier. The silt can be carried a long way before deposited by glacial melt or retreat.
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Einkorn wheat (German Einkorn, 'one grain') can refer to the wild species (Triticum) or its domesticated form. It gets its name because each spikelet, sections of the wheat head, contains only one grain.
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Steppes and savannah ripple in the breeze, where desert exists today. Ancient animals populating the lands include the Eurasian Lion, the Aurochs and the saiga antelope. Other animals, like mammoths, giant ground sloths and the American horse go extinct.
In the hill country in the northern Fertile Crescent, Einkorn grows wild. It's farmed in Anatolia and has a wider distribution, into the Balkans and south to Jordan, a major Neolithic agricultural center.
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As a wild wheat Einkorn usually grows less than 70 cm (28 in) tall, and edible seeds are few. The difficulty in gathering grains from wild Einkorn arises because wild seed shells break open and scatter seed on the ground, or the seeds cling to a passing animal.
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In the domestic form, Einkorn has evolved to enclose the grains so they're not cast off the head. The domestic form is known as "petit épeautre" in French, "einkorn" or "littlespelt" in English, "piccolo farro" in Italian, "Einkorn" in German and "escanda menor" in Spanish.
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Cultivating the plant to the point it stops releasing ripe seeds might take as little as 20 or up 200 years. Intact seed heads are easier to gather. Humans can then break apart the seed heads and scatter any kernels not eaten.
Over time, experimentation and selective breeding, the human preference for intact seed heads creates the domestic variety. Domestic Einkorn has larger and contains more edible kernels than the wild variety.
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However it's not a self-reproducing crop, due to the seed enclosure. If a head falls the seeds rot. Survival of the domesticated plant relies on human planting and harvesting.
As usual it all starts with hunter-gatherers. In the Fertile Crescent, archaeological evidence in Syria shows harvesting may have started c. 30,000 years ago. Gathered from the wild for thousands of years, Einkorn wheat is first domesticated approximately c. 7800 BCE.
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Evidence from DNA fingerprinting suggests Einkorn is first domesticated near Karaca Dağ, an inactive shield volcano in southeast Turkey. Its eruptive period is about 100,000 ya, leaving rich volcanic soils and layers of organic mineral stone.
In this area several farming villages are found. The domestication of Einkorn may be subject to intensive agriculture to support nearby Göbekli Tepe cult site. Other places of interest in the area include Çayönü Tepesi, a Neolithic skull and blood sacrifice cult.
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One benefit of Einkorn is the self-pollinating nature of the plants. Desirable traits of Einkorn can be cultivated with low risk of cross-fertilization by wild plants of dubious merit.
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From the northern part of the Fertile Crescent, cultivation of einkorn wheat spreads to the Caucasus, the Balkans, and central Europe. Einkorn wheat is more common in cool climates than emmer, the other domesticated wheat.
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Thus the cultivation of Einkorn in the ancient near East gives way to emmer wheat c. 2000 BCE. In Mediterranean nations like Italy, southern France, and Spain, Einkorn was never greatly cultivated.
Einkorn becomes the staple grain of central north Europe, with a strong spread of use throughout the northern hemisphere. It has benefits but also drawbacks. Einkorn wheat has low yields; however it can survive on marginal soils where other species of wheat will not.
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As people food, Einkorn is eaten boiled, as whole grains or in porridge. Like other ancient types of wheat, Einkorn is classed as "covered wheat" as its kernels don't break free of its seed coat (glume) with threshing. It's harder to separate husk from seed.
It's considered especially nutritious due to high levels of essential phosphorus, potassium, pyridoxine and beta-carotene. Einkorn is commonly eaten in northern Provence (France). It's bulgur grain or animal feed in countries such as India, Italy, Morocco and Turkey.
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Bulgur is a main ingredient in kibbeh, a spiced meat dish Kibbeh is a national dish of Lebanon and Syria, and popular throughout the Levant. Soaked but not cooked, bulgur is an important part of tabouleh salad.
Einkorn is immune to many diseases. It's salt-tolerant, a quality bred into plants such as durum wheat. It's also high in gluten, which triggers adverse food reactions in susceptible people. Otherwise it's healthy and rich in fiber. Gluten exists in wheat, spelt, barley and rye.
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Einkorn doesn't have the D chromosome, which seems to be connected with wheat intolerance in many humans. It's considered the easiest of all wheats to digest. Einkorn is cultivated in northern Europe through the Middle Ages and into the 20th century.
The last meal of Ötzi the Iceman, Europe’s oldest mummy, contains Einkorn. Dating back to 3300 BCE, stomach contents show Ötzi has a repast of meat, an herb, and bread made from Einkorn wheat shortly before his death.
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Ötzi is thought to be killed by an enemy attack. An arrowhead is embedded in his shoulder. It appears Ötzi bled to death. He's mummified through freezing, at an altitude of 3200 m (10,500 ft) above sea level in the Tyrolean Alps.
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