World Grain - August 2013 - 17

newsreview
Emmer wheat cultivated 9,800 years ago
TÜBINGEN, GERMANY — Discovery of
charred emmer wheat seeds among artifacts
at an architectural dig in eastern end of the
Middle East’s Fertile Crescent indicates man
started farming earlier and at more places
than previously thought.
Three German researchers reported their
findings from the Neolithic tell at Chogha
Golan in the foothills of Iran’s Zagros Mountains in the July 5 issue of Science.
“Around 9,800 calendar years before the
present, domesticated-type emmer appears,”
the archeobotanists wrote. The site itself was
dated from approximately 11,300 years ago
and showed evidence that residents also cultivated wild barley, lentils and peas.
Archeologists suspected they might be
on to something when their dig found an increase in the number of mortars and grinding
tools, things used to process plant materials
for consumption. These artifacts indicated a
permanent settlement rather than the nomadic camps typical of hunter-gather societies.
“The role of Iran as a center of origin for
domesticated cereals has long been debated,” said Simone Riehl, Mohsen Zeidi and
Nicholas Conard of University of Tübingen,
Tübingen, Germany, in their report. They
found a sequence of cultivation of wild
plants ranging over 2,200 years along with
the first appearance of domesticated species.
George Willcox, a researcher with
France’s CNRS, who specializes in Near

Eastern archeobotany, commented in the
same issue of Science on the new findings,
noting, “The origins of agriculture have been
the source of much speculation, but recent
discoveries are enabling archaeologists to
piece together a more accurate picture.”
Since the discovery 50 years ago of an
11,000-year-old farming village in Jericho,

archeologists found a series of similar sites
dated hundreds of years earlier. These locations form an arc extending into northern Iraq.
The news from the Iranian tell provided evidence that wild cereal cultivation took place
over wider areas than previously thought.
Science is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Gavilon buys five grain facilities
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, U.S. — Gavilon
Grain, LLC announced on June 27 that it
has acquired five grain elevators in the Rio
Grande Valley area of South Texas, U.S.,
with combined upright storage capacity of
5.4 million bushels. Gavilon will utilize the
facilities for the storage and handling of yellow corn, sorghum and soybeans purchased
from area farmers.
“We look forward to serving producers from
Willacy, Cameron and Hidalgo counties, and
will work hard to earn their business,” said Cris
Brown, director of South Texas and Mexico,
North American Grain, at Gavilon. “The South
Texas operations will complement Gavilon’s
15 facilities in Texas and Mexico which supply
grain to area feedlots and animal processors.”
The acquisition includes the purchase of
elevators in Harlingen, Raymondville, Sebastian and San Perlita, Texas from Willacy Coop, and one facility in Progreso Lakes, Texas,
that was previously leased by Willacy Co-op.

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World Grain - August 2013

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