Discovery in Uzbekistan Reveals Early Steps Toward Agriculture 9,200 Years Ago
An international team of archaeologists has uncovered evidence that hunter-gatherer communities in southern Uzbekistan were harvesting wild barley as far back as 9,200 years ago, reshaping current understanding of how agriculture first emerged. Until now, scholars largely believed that the domestication of crops such as barley and wheat began in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago, particularly among the Natufian people. But new findings from Uzbekistan’s Surkandarya Valley indicate that the cultural practices leading to farming extended much further afield. Researchers argue this challenges long-held assumptions that agriculture arose only once, in response to climate change or population pressures, in a single geographic cradle. Excavations at Toda Cave The discovery was made at Toda Cave, excavated under the direction of Xinying Zhou of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, with oversight from Farhad Maksudov, director of the Institute of Archaeology in Samarkand. From the cave’s oldest layers, the team recovered stone tools, charcoal, and plant remains. Archaeobotanical analysis by Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology confirmed the presence of wild barley, along with pistachio shells and apple seeds, suggesting a diverse diet. Stone blades and flakes, mostly made from limestone, showed clear use-wear patterns consistent with cutting grasses and plants. These tools closely resemble those found at early farming sites elsewhere. Rethinking the Origins of Agriculture “This discovery should change the way scientists think about the transition from foraging to farming,” Zhou said. Spengler added that repeated harvesting of wild plants may have led to unintentional domestication, with early foragers gradually shaping the plants they relied on. The researchers suggest that the behaviors seen in Toda Cave could represent either an independent experiment in cultivation or evidence of an earlier-than-assumed eastward spread of farming traditions from the Fertile Crescent. Either way, the findings highlight the role of Central Asia in the global story of agriculture. Next Steps The team plans to expand excavations in the region to determine whether similar practices existed among other communities. “These ancient hunters and foragers were already tied into the cultural practices that would lead to the origins of agriculture,” Spengler noted. The discovery underscores that Central Asia, long overlooked in studies of agricultural origins, may have played a crucial role in humanity’s shift from foraging to farming.
