Editing Cereal (section)

=== Origins ===

{{Further|Neolithic Revolution|Domestication}}

[[File:Trilla del trigo en el Antiguo Egipto.jpg|thumb|Threshing of grain in [[ancient Egypt]] ]]

Wheat, barley, [[rye]], and [[oats]] were gathered and eaten in the [[Fertile Crescent]] during the early [[Neolithic]]. Cereal grains 19,000 years old have been found at the [[Ohalo II]] site in [[Israel]], with charred remnants of wild wheat and barley.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Renfrew |first1=Colin |title=Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice |last2=Bahn |first2=Paul |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-500-28976-1 |edition=6th |page=277}}</ref>

During the same period, farmers in [[China]] began to [[History of rice cultivation|farm rice]] and millet, using human-made floods and [[Slash-and-burn|fires]] as part of their cultivation regimen.<ref name="NatGeo">{{cite magazine |url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |title=The Development of Agriculture |magazine=[[National Geographic]] |access-date=22 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414142437/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |archive-date=14 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Plant evolution and the origin of crop species |page=119 |last=Hancock |first=James F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_O9ZnFRNngC&pg=PA119 |publisher=CABI |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-84593-801-7 |edition=3rd |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223635/https://books.google.com/books?id=j_O9ZnFRNngC&pg=PA119 |url-status=live}}</ref> The use of [[soil conditioner]]s, including [[manure]], fish, [[compost]] and [[wood ash|ashes]], appears to have begun early, and developed independently in areas of the world including [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Nile Valley]], and Eastern Asia.<ref name="FertMan">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPkoOU4BvEsC&pg=PA44 |page=46 |author=UN Industrial Development Organization, [[International Fertilizer Development Center]] |title=The Fertilizer Manual |publisher=[[Springer Science and Business Media LLC]] |year=1998 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-7923-5032-3 |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504221511/https://books.google.com/books?id=qPkoOU4BvEsC&pg=PA44 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Neolithic founder crops|Cereals that became]] modern barley and wheat were [[domesticated]] some 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent.<ref name="Purugganan Fuller 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Purugganan |first1=Michael D. |last2=Fuller |first2=Dorian Q. |title=The nature of selection during plant domestication |journal=Nature |volume=457 |issue=7231 |date=February 1, 2009 |issn=0028-0836 |doi=10.1038/nature07895 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dorian-Fuller/publication/24003450_Purugganan_MD_Fuller_DQ_The_nature_of_selection_during_plant_domestication_Nature_457_843-848/links/0912f508156a26ca22000000/Purugganan-MD-Fuller-DQ-The-nature-of-selection-during-plant-domestication-Nature-457-843-848.pdf<!--NOT redundant to DOI--> |pages=843–848 |pmid=19212403 |bibcode=2009Natur.457..843P |s2cid=205216444 }}</ref> Millets and rice were domesticated in East Asia, while [[sorghum]] and other millets were domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, primarily as feed for livestock.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henry |first1=R.J. |last2=Kettlewell |first2=P.S. |title=Cereal Grain Quality |publisher=[[Chapman & Hall]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-9-4009-1513-8 |page=155}}</ref> [[Maize]] arose from a single domestication in [[Mesoamerica]] about 9,000 years ago.<ref name="Mat">{{cite journal |last1=Matsuoka |first1=Y. |year=2002 |title=A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=99 |pages=6080–4 |doi=10.1073/pnas.052125199 |pmid=11983901 |last2=Vigouroux |first2=Y. |last3=Goodman |first3=M. M. |last4=Sanchez G. |first4=J. |last5=Buckler |first5=E. |last6=Doebley |first6=J. |issue=9 |pmc=122905 |display-authors=3 |bibcode=2002PNAS...99.6080M |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Roman harvester, Trier.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Roman harvesting machine]]

In these agricultural regions, religion was often shaped by the divinity associated with the grain and harvests. In the Mesopotamian creation myth, an era of civilization is inaugurated by the grain goddess [[Ashnan]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |year=2009 |title=An Edible History of Humanity |location=New York |publisher=Walker & Company |pages=27–28 |isbn=978-1782391654}} [http://mrrangel.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/2/2/14228848/edible_history.pdf (pdf)]</ref> The Roman goddess [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] presided over agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood;<ref name="Room 1990">{{cite book |last=Room |first=Adrian |title=Who's Who in Classical Mythology |pages=89–90 |publisher=NTC Publishing |year=1990 |isbn=0-8442-5469-X}}</ref> the term cereal is derived from Latin ''cerealis'', "of grain", originally meaning "of [the goddess] Ceres".<ref>{{cite web |title=cereal (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/cereal |website=Etymonline |access-date=5 February 2024}}</ref> Several gods of antiquity combined agriculture and war: the Hittite [[Sun goddess of Arinna]], the Canaanite [[Lahmu]] and the Roman [[Janus]].<ref name="jhom-bread">{{cite web |title=JHOM - Bread - Hebrew |url=https://www.jhom.com/topics/bread/hebrew.html |website=www.jhom.com |access-date=27 August 2022 |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026063247/https://www.jhom.com/topics/bread/hebrew.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Complex [[civilization]]s arose where cereal agriculture created a surplus, allowing for part of the harvest to be appropriated from farmers, allowing power to be concentrated in cities.<ref name="Mayshar Moav Pascali 2022">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/718372#:~:text=The%20conventional%20theory%20about%20the,elites%20and%2C%20eventually%2C%20states.|doi=10.1086/718372 |title=The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability? |year=2022 |last1=Mayshar |first1=Joram |last2=Moav |first2=Omer |last3=Pascali |first3=Luigi |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=130 |issue=4 |pages=1091–1144 |hdl=10230/57736 |s2cid=244818703 |access-date=17 April 2022 |url-status=live |archive-date=17 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417220207/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/718372#:~:text=The%20conventional%20theory%20about%20the,elites%20and%2C%20eventually%2C%20states|hdl-access=free }}</ref>