Editing Wheat (section)

== History ==

[[File:wheatareal.PNG|thumb|upright=2<!--for legibility of map-->|Origin and 21st century production areas of wheat]]

=== Domestication ===

{{further|Domestication}}

[[Hunter-gatherer]]s in West Asia harvested wild wheats for thousands of years before they were [[domesticated]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richter |first1=Tobias |last2=Maher |first2=Lisa A. |date=2013 |title=Terminology, process and change: reflections on the Epipalaeolithic of South-west Asia |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/0075891413Z.00000000020 |journal=Levant |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=121–132 |doi=10.1179/0075891413Z.00000000020 |s2cid=161961145}}</ref> perhaps as early as 21,000&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Piperno |first1=Dolores R. |last2=Weiss |first2=Ehud |last3=Holst |first3=Irene |last4=Nadel |first4=Dani |date=August 2004 |title=Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02734 |journal=Nature |volume=430 |issue=7000 |pages=670–673 |doi=10.1038/nature02734 |pmid=15295598 |bibcode=2004Natur.430..670P |s2cid=4431395}}</ref> but they formed a minor component of their diets.<ref name="Arranz-Otaegui-2018">{{cite journal |last1=Arranz-Otaegui |first1=Amaia |last2=González Carretero |first2=Lara |last3=Roe |first3=Joe |last4=Richter |first4=Tobias |date=2018 |title="Founder crops" v. wild plants: Assessing the plant-based diet of the last hunter-gatherers in southwest Asia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379117306145 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=186 |pages=263–283 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.02.011 |bibcode=2018QSRv..186..263A}}</ref> In this phase of pre-domestication cultivation, early cultivars were spread around the region and slowly developed the traits that came to characterise their domesticated forms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Dorian Q. |last2=Willcox |first2=George |last3=Allaby |first3=Robin G. |date=2011 |title=Cultivation and domestication had multiple origins: arguments against the core area hypothesis for the origins of agriculture in the Near East |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2011.624747 |journal=World Archaeology |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=628–652 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2011.624747 |s2cid=56437102}}</ref>

Repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of [[Grass|wild grasses]] led to the creation of domestic strains, as mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were more amenable to cultivation. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the [[spikelet]]s) remain attached to the ear by a toughened [[rachis]] during harvesting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=N. |last2=Oliveira |first2=H.R. |last3=Fradgley |first3=N. |last4=Corke |first4=F. |last5=Cockram |first5=J. |last6=Doonan |first6=J.H. |last7=Nibau |first7=C. |title=μCT trait analysis reveals morphometric differences between domesticated temperate small grain cereals and their wild relatives |journal=[[The Plant Journal]] |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=98–111 |date=14 March 2019 |doi=10.1111/tpj.14312 |pmid=30868647 |pmc=6618119 }}</ref> In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to [[shattering (agriculture)|shatter]] easily, dispersing the spikelets.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tanno |first1=K. |last2=Willcox |first2=G. |year=2006 |title=How fast was wild wheat domesticated? |journal= [[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=311 |issue=5769 |page=1886 |doi=10.1126/science.1124635 |pmid=16574859 |s2cid=5738581 }}</ref> Selection for larger grains and non-shattering heads by farmers might not have been deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these traits made gathering the seeds easier; nevertheless such 'incidental' selection was an important part of crop [[domestication]]. As the traits that improve wheat as a food source involve the loss of the plant's natural [[seed dispersal]] mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild.<ref name="Purugganan-2009">{{cite journal |last1=Purugganan |first1=Michael D. |last2=Fuller |first2=Dorian Q. |title=The nature of selection during plant domestication |journal=Nature |publisher=Springer |volume=457 |issue=7231 |date=1 February 2009 |doi=10.1038/nature07895 |pages=843–848|pmid=19212403 |bibcode=2009Natur.457..843P |s2cid=205216444 }}</ref>

Wild [[einkorn wheat]] (''T. monococcum'' subsp. ''boeoticum'') grows across Southwest Asia in open [[Forest steppe|parkland]] and [[steppe]] environments.<ref name="Zohary-2012">{{cite book |last1=Zohary |first1=Daniel |author1-link=Daniel Zohary |last2=Hopf |first2=Maria |last3=Weiss |first3=Ehud |date=2012 |chapter=Cereals |title=Domestication of Plants in the Old World |edition=4 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199549061.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-954906-1 }}</ref> It comprises three distinct [[Race (biology)|races]], only one of which, native to [[Southeast Anatolia]], was domesticated.<ref name="Ozkan-2002">{{cite journal |last1=Ozkan |first1=H. |last2=Brandolini |first2=A. |last3=Schäfer-Pregl |first3=R. |last4=Salamini |first4=F. |date=2002 |title=AFLP analysis of a collection of tetraploid wheats indicates the origin of emmer and hard wheat domestication in southeast Turkey |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=19 |issue=10 |pages=1797–1801 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004002 |pmid=12270906 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The main feature that distinguishes domestic einkorn from wild is that its ears do not [[Shattering (agriculture)|shatter]] without pressure, making it dependent on humans for dispersal and reproduction.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> It also tends to have wider grains.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> Wild einkorn was collected at sites such as [[Tell Abu Hureyra]] ({{circa|10,700–9000&nbsp;BC}}) and [[Mureybet]] ({{circa|9800–9300&nbsp;BC}}), but the earliest archaeological evidence for the domestic form comes after {{circa| 8800 BC}} in southern Turkey, at [[Çayönü]], [[Cafer Höyük]], and possibly [[Nevalı Çori]].<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> Genetic evidence indicates that it was domesticated in multiple places independently.<ref name="Ozkan-2002"/>

Wild [[emmer wheat]] (''T. turgidum'' subsp. ''dicoccoides'') is less widespread than einkorn, favouring the rocky [[basalt]]ic and [[limestone]] soils found in the [[Hilly Flanks|hilly flanks]] of the Fertile Crescent.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> It is more diverse, with domesticated varieties falling into two major groups: hulled or non-shattering, in which threshing separates the whole [[spikelet]]; and free-threshing, where the individual grains are separated. Both varieties probably existed in prehistory, but over time free-threshing cultivars became more common.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> Wild emmer was first cultivated in the southern [[Levant]], as early as 9600&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Moshe |last2=Kislev |first2=Mordechai E. |date=2007 |title=''Domestication of emmer wheat and evolution of free-threshing tetraploid wheat'' in "A Century of Wheat Research-From Wild Emmer Discovery to Genome Analysis", Published Online: 3 November 2008 |url=http://www.sciencefromisrael.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,2,14;journal,9,41;linkingpublicationresults,1:300170,1 |url-status=dead |journal=Israel Journal of Plant Sciences |volume=55 |pages=207–221 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206013930/http://www.sciencefromisrael.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,2,14;journal,9,41;linkingpublicationresults,1:300170,1 |archive-date=6 December 2013 |access-date=6 July 2011 |number=3–4|doi=10.1560/IJPS.55.3-4.207 |doi-broken-date=2 November 2024 }}</ref><ref name="Colledge-2007">{{cite book |last=Colledge |first=Sue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2nym35k_EcC&pg=PA40 |title=The origins and spread of domestic plants in southwest Asia and Europe |publisher=[[Left Coast Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59874-988-5 |pages=40–}}</ref> Genetic studies have found that, like einkorn, it was domesticated in southeastern Anatolia, but only once.<ref name="Ozkan-2002"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luo |first1=M.-C. |last2=Yang |first2=Z.-L. |last3=You |first3=F. M. |last4=Kawahara |first4=T. |last5=Waines |first5=J. G. |last6=Dvorak |first6=J. |date=2007 |title=The structure of wild and domesticated emmer wheat populations, gene flow between them, and the site of emmer domestication |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-006-0474-0 |journal=Theoretical and Applied Genetics |volume=114 |issue=6 |pages=947–959 |doi=10.1007/s00122-006-0474-0 |pmid=17318496 |s2cid=36096777}}</ref> The earliest secure archaeological evidence for domestic emmer comes from Çayönü, {{circa|8300–7600&nbsp;BC}}, where distinctive scars on the spikelets indicated that they came from a hulled domestic variety.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/> Slightly earlier finds have been reported from [[Tell Aswad]] in Syria, {{circa|8500–8200&nbsp;BC}}, but these were identified using a less reliable method based on grain size.<ref name="Zohary-2012"/>

=== Early farming ===

[[File:NHM - Jungsteinzeit Sichel 2.jpg|thumb|right|Sickles with [[Microblade technology|stone microblade]]s were used to harvest wheat in the Neolithic period, {{circa|8500–4000 BC}}]]

Einkorn and emmer are considered two of the [[founder crops]] cultivated by the first farming societies in [[Neolithic]] West Asia.<ref name="Zohary-2012" /> These communities also cultivated naked wheats (''T. aestivum'' and ''T. durum'') and a now-extinct domesticated form of [[Triticum timopheevii|Zanduri wheat]] (''T. timopheevii''),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Czajkowska |first1=Beata I. |last2=Bogaard |first2=Amy |last3=Charles |first3=Michael |last4=Jones |first4=Glynis |last5=Kohler-Schneider |first5=Marianne |last6=Mueller-Bieniek |first6=Aldona |last7=Brown |first7=Terence A. |date=2020-11-01 |title=Ancient DNA typing indicates that the "new" glume wheat of early Eurasian agriculture is a cultivated member of the Triticum timopheevii group |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440320301795 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=123 |pages=105258 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2020.105258 |bibcode=2020JArSc.123j5258C |s2cid=225168770}}</ref> as well as a wide variety of other cereal and non-cereal crops.<ref name="Arranz-Otaegui-2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Arranz-Otaegui |first1=Amaia |last2=Roe |first2=Joe |date=2023-09-01 |title=Revisiting the concept of the 'Neolithic Founder Crops' in southwest Asia |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=475–499 |doi=10.1007/s00334-023-00917-1 |bibcode=2023VegHA..32..475A |s2cid=258044557 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Wheat was relatively uncommon for the first thousand years of the Neolithic (when [[barley]] predominated), but became a staple after around 8500&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Arranz-Otaegui-2023"/> Early wheat cultivation did not demand much labour. Initially, farmers took advantage of wheat's ability to establish itself in [[annual grasslands]] by enclosing fields against grazing animals and re-sowing stands after they had been harvested, without the need to systematically remove vegetation or till the soil.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Weide |first1=Alexander |last2=Green |first2=Laura |last3=Hodgson |first3=John G. |last4=Douché |first4=Carolyne |last5=Tengberg |first5=Margareta |last6=Whitlam |first6=Jade |last7=Dovrat |first7=Guy |last8=Osem |first8=Yagil |last9=Bogaard |first9=Amy |date=June 2022 |title=A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-022-01161-7 |journal=Nature Plants |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=623–634 |doi=10.1038/s41477-022-01161-7 |pmid=35654954 |bibcode=2022NatPl...8..623W |s2cid=249313666}}</ref> They may also have exploited natural wetlands and floodplains to practice [[décrue farming]], sowing seeds in the soil left behind by receding floodwater.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sherratt |first=Andrew |date=February 1980 |title=Water, soil and seasonality in early cereal cultivation |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.1980.9979770 |journal=World Archaeology |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=313–330 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1980.9979770}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=James C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjYuDwAAQBAJ |title=Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States |date=2017 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3002-3168-7 |publication-place=New Haven |page=66 |chapter=The Domestication of Fire, Plants, Animals, and ... Us |quote=The general problem with farming — especially plough agriculture — is that it involves so much intensive labor. One form of agriculture, however, eliminates most of this labor: 'flood-retreat' (also known as décrue or recession) agriculture. In flood-retreat agriculture, seeds are generally broadcast on the fertile silt deposited by an annual riverine flood. |author-link1=James C. Scott |access-date=19 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Graeber |first1=David |title=The dawn of everything: a new history of humanity |last2=Wengrow |first2=David |date=2021 |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-241-40242-9 |location=London |page=235}}</ref> It was harvested with [[Microblade technology|stone-bladed]] [[sickle]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maeda |first1=Osamu |last2=Lucas |first2=Leilani |last3=Silva |first3=Fabio |last4=Tanno |first4=Ken-Ichi |last5=Fuller |first5=Dorian Q. |date=2016-08-01 |title=Narrowing the Harvest: Increasing sickle investment and the rise of domesticated cereal agriculture in the Fertile Crescent |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=145 |pages=226–237 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.032 |bibcode=2016QSRv..145..226M |doi-access=free }}</ref> The ease of storing wheat and other cereals led farming households to become gradually more reliant on it over time, especially after they developed individual storage facilities that were large enough to hold more than a year's supply.<ref name="Weide-2021">{{Cite journal |last=Weide |first=Alexander |date=29 November 2021 |title=Towards a Socio-Economic Model for Southwest Asian Cereal Domestication |journal=Agronomy  |volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=2432 |doi=10.3390/agronomy11122432 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021Agron..11.2432W }}</ref>

Wheat grain was stored after [[threshing]], with the [[chaff]] removed.<ref name="Weide-2021"/> It was then processed into flour using [[ground stone]] [[Mortar and pestle|mortars]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dubreuil |first=Laure |date=2004-11-01 |title=Long-term trends in Natufian subsistence: a use-wear analysis of ground stone tools |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440304000731 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=31 |issue=11 |pages=1613–1629 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2004.04.003 |bibcode=2004JArSc..31.1613D}}</ref> [[Bread]] made from ground einkorn and the tubers of a form of [[Club-rush|club rush]] (''Bolboschoenus glaucus'') was made as early as 12,400&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arranz-Otaegui |first1=Amaia |last2=Gonzalez Carretero |first2=Lara |last3=Ramsey |first3=Monica N. |last4=Fuller |first4=Dorian Q. |last5=Richter |first5=Tobias |date=2018-07-31 |title=Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=115 |issue=31 |pages=7925–7930 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1801071115 |pmc=6077754 |pmid=30012614 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.7925A |doi-access=free }}</ref> At [[Çatalhöyük]] ({{Circa|7100–6000&nbsp;BC}}), both wholegrain wheat and flour was used to prepare bread, [[porridge]] and [[gruel]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=González Carretero |first1=Lara |last2=Wollstonecroft |first2=Michèle |last3=Fuller |first3=Dorian Q. |date=2017-07-01 |title=A methodological approach to the study of archaeological cereal meals: a case study at Çatalhöyük East (Turkey) |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-017-0602-6 |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=415–432 |doi=10.1007/s00334-017-0602-6 |pmid=28706348 |pmc=5486841 |bibcode=2017VegHA..26..415G |s2cid=41734442}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Dorian Q. |last2=Carretero |first2=Lara Gonzalez |date=2018-12-05 |title=The Archaeology of Neolithic Cooking Traditions: Archaeobotanical Approaches to Baking, Boiling and Fermenting |journal=Archaeology International |volume=21 |pages=109–121 |doi=10.5334/ai-391 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Apart from food, wheat may also have been important to Neolithic societies as a source of [[straw]], which could be used for fuel, [[Wicker|wicker-making]], or [[wattle and daub]] construction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graeber |first1=David |title=The dawn of everything: a new history of humanity |last2=Wengrow |first2=David |date=2021 |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-241-40242-9 |location=London |pages=232}}</ref>

=== Spread ===

Domestic wheat was quickly spread to regions where its wild ancestors did not grow naturally. Emmer was introduced to Cyprus as early as 8600&nbsp;BC and einkorn {{Circa|7500&nbsp;BC}};<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vigne |first1=Jean-Denis |last2=Briois |first2=François |last3=Zazzo |first3=Antoine |last4=Willcox |first4=George |last5=Cucchi |first5=Thomas |last6=Thiébault |first6=Stéphanie |last7=Carrère |first7=Isabelle |last8=Franel |first8=Yodrik |last9=Touquet |first9=Régis |last10=Martin |first10=Chloé |last11=Moreau |first11=Christophe |last12=Comby |first12=Clothilde |last13=Guilaine |first13=Jean |date=2012-05-29 |title=First wave of cultivators spread to Cyprus at least 10,600 y ago |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=22 |pages=8445–8449 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1201693109 |pmc=3365171 |pmid=22566638 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109.8445V |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Leilani |last2=Colledge |first2=Sue |last3=Simmons |first3=Alan |last4=Fuller |first4=Dorian Q. |date=2012-03-01 |title=Crop introduction and accelerated island evolution: archaeobotanical evidence from 'Ais Yiorkis and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Cyprus |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-011-0323-1 |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=117–129 |doi=10.1007/s00334-011-0323-1 |bibcode=2012VegHA..21..117L |s2cid=129727157}}</ref> emmer reached [[Greece]] by 6500&nbsp;BC, [[Egypt]] shortly after 6000&nbsp;BC, and [[Germany]] and [[Spain]] by 5000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Diamond |year=2005 |orig-year=1997 |title=[[Guns, Germs and Steel]] |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-099-30278-0 |page=97}}</ref> "The early Egyptians were developers of [[bread]] and the use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Grundas |first=S.T. |chapter=Wheat: The Crop |title=Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition |page=6130 |year=2003 |publisher=Elsevier Science |isbn=978-012227055-0}}</ref> By 4000&nbsp;BC, wheat had reached the [[British Isles]] and [[Scandinavia]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Piotrowski |first=Jan |title=Britons may have imported wheat long before farming it |website=[[New Scientist]] |date=26 February 2019 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27044-britons-may-have-imported-wheat-long-before-farming-it/ |access-date=4 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Smith-2015">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Oliver |last2=Momber |first2=Garry |last3=Bates |first3=Richard |last4=Garwood |first4=Paul |last5=Fitch |first5=Simon |last6=Pallen |first6=Mark |last7=Gaffney |first7=Vincent |last8=Allaby |first8=Robin G. |s2cid=1167101 |display-authors=3 |title=Sedimentary DNA from a submerged site reveals wheat in the British Isles 8000 years ago |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=347 |issue=6225 |year=2015 |pages=998–1001 |doi=10.1126/science.1261278 |pmid=25722413 |bibcode=2015Sci...347..998S |hdl=10454/9405 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Brace-2019">{{cite journal |last1=Brace |first1=Selina |last2=Diekmann |first2=Yoan |last3=Booth |first3=Thomas J. |last4=van Dorp |first4=Lucy |last5=Faltyskova |first5=Zuzana |last6=Rohland |first6=Nadin |last7=Mallick |first7=Swapan |last8=Olalde |first8=Iñigo |last9=Ferry |first9=Matthew |last10=Michel |first10=Megan |last11=Oppenheimer |first11=Jonas |last12=Broomandkhoshbacht |first12=Nasreen |last13=Stewardson |first13=Kristin |last14=Martiniano |first14=Rui |last15=Walsh |first15=Susan |last16=Kayser |first16=Manfred |last17=Charlton |first17=Sophy |last18=Hellenthal |first18=Garrett|last19=Armit |first19=Ian |last20=Schulting |first20=Rick |last21=Craig |first21=Oliver E. |last22=Sheridan |first22=Alison |last23=Parker Pearson |first23=Mike |last24=Stringer |first24=Chris |last25=Reich |first25=David |last26=Thomas |first26=Mark G. |last27=Barnes |first27=Ian |display-authors=5 |title=Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain |journal=[[Nature Ecology & Evolution]] |volume=3 |issue=5 |year=2019 |pages=765–771 |doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9 |pmid=30988490 |pmc=6520225 |bibcode=2019NatEE...3..765B |doi-access=free |quote=Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain circa 4000 bc, a millennium after they appeared in adjacent areas of continental Europe.}}</ref> Wheat was also cultivated in [[India]] around 3500 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jarrige| first1= Jean-François| last2=Meadow| first2= Richard H |date=1980|title= The antecedents of civilization in the Indus Valley|journal= Scientific American| volume=243|issue=2|pages= 122–137}}</ref> Wheat likely appeared in [[China]]'s lower [[Yellow River]] around 2600 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Tengwen |last2=Leipe |first2=Christian |last3=Jin |first3=Guiyun |last4=Wagner |first4=Mayke |last5=Guo |first5=Rongzhen |last6=Schröder |first6=Oskar |last7=Tarasov |first7=Pavel E. |display-authors=5 |date=2018 |title=The early history of wheat in China from 14C dating and Bayesian chronological modelling |journal=[[Nature Plants]] |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=272–279 |doi=10.1038/s41477-018-0141-x |pmid=29725102 |s2cid=19156382}}</ref>

The oldest evidence for [[hexaploid]] wheat has been confirmed through [[DNA analysis]] of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400–6200 BC, recovered from [[Çatalhöyük]].<ref name="Bilgic-2016">{{cite journal |last1=Bilgic |first1=Hatice |display-authors=etal |title=Ancient DNA from 8400 Year-Old Çatalhöyük Wheat: Implications for the Origin of Neolithic Agriculture |journal=[[PLOS One]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=e0151974 |date=2016 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0151974 |pmid=26998604 |pmc=4801371 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1151974B |doi-access=free}}</ref> {{As of|2023|post=,}} the earliest known wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads was found in a granary at [[Assiros]] in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]] dated to 1350&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/research/wheat/wheat2 |title=The science in detail – Wheats DNA – Research – Archaeology |publisher=The [[University of Sheffield]] |date=19 July 2011|access-date=27 May 2012}}</ref> From the [[Middle East]], wheat continued to spread across Europe and to the [[Americas]] in the [[Columbian exchange]]. In the British Isles, wheat straw ([[Thatching|thatch]]) was used for roofing in the [[Bronze Age]], and remained in common use until the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Belderok |first1=B. |display-authors=etal |year=2000 |title=Bread-Making Quality of Wheat |publisher=Springer |page=3 |isbn=0-7923-6383-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cauvain |first1=S.P. |last2=Cauvain |first2=P. |year=2003 |title=Bread Making |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |page=540 |isbn=1-85573-553-9}}</ref> White wheat bread was historically a high status food, but during the nineteenth century it became in Britain an item of mass consumption, displacing [[oat]]s, [[barley]] and [[rye]] from diets in the North of the country. It became "a sign of a high degree of culture".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Otter|first1=Chris |title=Diet for a large planet |date=2020 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-69710-9 |page=50 }}</ref> After 1860, the enormous expansion of [[wheat production in the United States]] flooded the world market, lowering prices by 40%, and (along with the expansion of [[potato]] growing) made a major contribution to the nutritional welfare of the poor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Scott Reynolds |title=Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World |publisher=Basic Books |year=2022 |pages=3–4 |isbn=978-1-5416-4646-9}}</ref>

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File:UrukPlate3000BCE.jpg|[[Sumer]]ian [[cylinder seal]] impression dating to {{circa}} 3200 BC showing an ''[[Ensi (Sumerian)|ensi]]'' and his acolyte feeding a sacred herd wheat stalks; [[Ninurta]] was an agricultural deity and, in a poem known as the "Sumerian ''Georgica''", he offers detailed advice on farming
File:Trilla del trigo en el Antiguo Egipto.jpg|Threshing of wheat in [[ancient Egypt]]
File:Woman harvesting wheat, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, India ggia version.jpg|Traditional wheat harvesting<br/>India, 2012
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