dimanche 30 juillet 2017

Wandering wheat

Back in the 1960’s, Jack Harlan, a devoted American agronomist harvested wild wheat in southeastern Turkey as if a gatherer would do 10,000 years ago. He first tried using only his hands; hand-stripping the mature wheat ears, then he tried using a replica of an ancient sickle, a razor-sharp flint blade embedded in a wooden handle. He was quite efficient, though apparently lacking the expertise of the ancient men who lived in the same spot thousands of years ago. 

Dr. Jack Harlan was one of the founders of the modern plant genetic sources and a specialist on the domestication of crops. His Anatolian harvest was one of the earliest examples of experimental archaeology in Turkey, reaping wild wheat as if it would have been done in Neolithic times, both using the hand-stripping method and using ancient tools. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/wandering-wheat-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=115026&NewsCatID=473