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Concept
Founder crops
Summary
The founder crops or primary domesticates are a group of flowering plants that were domesticated by early farming communities in Southwest Asia and went on to form the basis of agricultural economies across Eurasia. As originally defined by Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, they consisted of three cereals (emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley), four pulses (lentil, pea, chickpea, and bitter vetch), and flax. Subsequent research has indicated that many other species could be considered founder crops. These species were amongst the first domesticated plants in the world.
In 1996, the Israeli botanist Daniel Zohary formulated his founder crops hypothesis, that eight plant species were domesticated by early Neolithic farming communities in Southwest Asia (Fertile Crescent) and went on to form the basis of agricultural economies across much of Eurasia, including Southwest Asia, South Asia, Europe, and North Africa in a single process. The founder crops consisted of three cereals (emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley), four pulses (lentil, pea, chickpea, and bitter vetch), and flax. They were amongst the first domesticated plants in the world. These founder crops were domesticated in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, between 10,500 and 7,500 years ago.
Different species formed the basis of early agricultural economies in other centres of domestication. For example, rice was first cultivated in the Yangtze River basin of East Asia in the early Neolithic. Sorghum was widely cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa during the early Neolithic, while peanuts, squash, and cassava were domesticated in the Americas.
All of the founder crops are native to Southwest Asia and were domesticated in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, between 10,500 and 7500 years ago.
The staple crops of Neolithic agriculture were cereals, which could be easily cultivated in open fields, have a high nutritional value, and can be stored for long periods of time. The most important were two species of wheat, namely emmer (Triticum turgidum subsp.
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