Emmer wheat (hulled wheat) is one of the first grain crops, along with einkorn wheat. Initially domesticated in the near East, emmer still grows in the wild. Due to its hardy nature emmer wheat is a subject of agriculture experiments at the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution.
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Emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and T. t. conv. durum) is among the first and most popular cultivated crops of the ancient world. It still grows wild in the mountains of Asia, Middle East and Europe.
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A type of awned wheat, emmer produces bristles or awns to protect its seeds. Other awned crop plants include barley and rice. The current common domestic wheat (Triticum aestivum) is awnless. One aspect of cultivation involves dissuading hungry birds and pests.
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In the wild, the emmer plant head bursts open when ripe and scatters seeds to the ground. As emmer undergoes cultivation and selective seeding, the ripe seed head of the domestic emmer evolves to stay closed, making it easier to harvest the wheat grain.
Agricultural domestication of emmer wheat goes back to Paleolithic times c.12,800 BCE in the Levant. People Israel, Jordan and Lebanon are farmers and growers. The Ice Age ends c. 10,000 BCE.
Global temperatures increase by about 6°C. This leads to development of agriculture, domestication of animals, growth of ancient cities and civilizations. Emmer wheat is among the seven ancient foods of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:8 of the Hebrew Bible).
Moses names the seven foods as wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olive, and date. These plants provide nourishment to the people over the course of the year. Their first fruits are the only acceptable offerings at the temple.
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Humans learn the nature of agriculture and plant cultivation over thousands of years. In Jordan, people cultivate figs (Ficus carica) by c.11,300 BCE. At the same time, rice is grown in the Yangtze River Basin.
The pre-Neolithic Revolution enters a phase of agriculture experiments. Knowledge of seasons and growing cycles is essential. By 10,000 BCE crop cultivation is successful throughout the Fertile Crescent. Younger generations bring new ideas to farming.
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Between 9000 and 5000 BCE peas, lentils, and olive trees are introduced into active agriculture. The Mediterranean is a paradise for crops, prey animals goat domestication, seafood, settlement and trade. By 6000 BCE, people start to gain a tolerance for lactose.
Beginning c. 5500-4500 BCE The Egyptians cultivate emmer. The Chalcolithic Age begins c. 4300 BCE. Copper is popular in knives, utensils, and tools such as the sickle. Stone sickles, first used in Israel, date to the Epipaleolithic era (c. 18,000 - 8000 BCE).
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Sickles at archaeological sites are generally signs of agriculture. Either grasses or reeds are cut for stalks, fuel or in building; or harvested as domesticated cereals. To process the wheat, after cutting, the grain is threshed, or loosened from stalks by beating vigorously.
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A method of threshing or shelling the wheat is develops in Egypt. Farmers spread the loosened sheaves on a round enclosure of hard ground. They drive oxen, sheep and other animals over it to trample out the grain.
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This enclosure is on elevated land. When the stalks are removed the wind blows away the chaff and leaves the grain. A contemporary practice in some places is to spread the grain on a country road so it's be threshed by vehicle wheels.
Use of flails for threshing is a common practice. Different flail types develop for the various grains. Made of two pieces of wood joined by a rope or chain, flails have characteristics of Japanese nunchaku.
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They are among the weapons used by both eastern and western farmers in battle. Other farm tools such as the staff and sickle also take their places among weapons of ancients. The flail is one of the symbols of the Egyptian Pharaoh, often depicted in art.
In later times animal-powered threshing machines are developed. Below is one from France, 1881 CE. Hit the image to see the bigger picture.
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Beating stalks with sticks eventually evolves to creation of the flail, common in Egyptian art and still used today in some places. After this comes the winnowing, separation of wheat from chaff. The simplest method is to throw it all in the air and let the wind do the work.
Ancient Egyptians and others use tools such as winnowing forks and combs. Shovels are also used to toss up the wheat. In ancient Greece, the winnowing fan or cradle is sometimes used to hold babies. Infant Zeus is put in a golden one when Rhea hides him from Saturn.
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The grains might also be put through a woven sieve to separate smaller, unwanted particles. Once the grain is cleaned this way it's ready for grinding into flour. In the Neolithic era, humans use stone tools to grind grains into flour.
The flour they produce is coarser than today's familiar refinery flour, due to the effort needed to hand-mill the grains and other labor-intensive processes such as threshing. Wheat is sent to refineries and processed into the fine white flour on the shelves today.
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Already during the Stone Age milling by hand is done on a significant scale. The oldest evidence of bread-making is 11,800 BCE in the NE Jordan desert. Flour, ground local tubers and water, mixed into dough and baked on hot stones, is a recipe for bread.
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