Editing Wheat (section)

=== 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>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines heights=180px widths=220px>
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
</gallery>