Editing 9th millennium BC (section)

==Rise of agriculture==
The [[Natufian culture]] continued to prevail in the [[Levant]]ine and upper [[Mesopotamia]]n areas of the [[Fertile Crescent]] with their most significant site at [[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho (Tell es-Sultan)]] in the [[Jordan Valley]]. The Natufian people had been [[sedentism|sedentary or semi-sedentary]] through the 10th millennium, even before the introduction of [[agriculture]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |author-link1=David Noel Freedman |first1=D. N. |last1=Freedman |first2=Allen C. |last2=Myers |first3=Astrid B. |last3=Beck |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=978-08-02824-00-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/689 689–691] |url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/689 }}</ref>

By about 8500 BC, the Natufians were harvesting [[wild wheat]] with [[flint]]-edged [[sickle]]s.{{sfn|Bronowski|1973|p=65}} It was around that time, or soon afterwards, that the wild wheat crossed with a natural [[Aegilops|goat grass]] to form [[emmer]], the seeds of which could scatter in the wind to spread naturally. Later, emmer crossed with another goat grass to form the even larger hybrid that is [[Common wheat|bread wheat]]. The Natufians learned how to harvest the new wheat, grind it into flour and make [[bread]]. The early bread was unleavened, with the dough allowed to dry on hot stones.{{sfn|Bronowski|1973|pp=64–69}} Writing in 1973, [[Jacob Bronowski]] argued that the combination of wheat and water at Jericho enabled man to begin civilisation. Jericho, having a natural spring, was an oasis on the edge of the [[Syrian Desert]] and, although similar developments occurred elsewhere, Bronowski called Jericho "a microcosm of history".{{sfn|Bronowski|1973|p=69}}

The earliest known cultivation of [[lentil]]s was at [[Mureybet]] in Syria, where wheat and [[barley]] were also grown. Lentils were later (by 7500 BC) found at [[Hacilar]] and [[Çayönü]] in Turkey.<ref>''Pulses, Sugar and Tuber Crops'' by Chittaranjan Kole, 2007, Introduction 5.1.1, page 91, quoting Cubero JI (1981) Origin, taxonomy and domestication. In: Webb C, Hawtin G (eds) ''Lentils''. CAB, Slough, UK, pp. 15–38.</ref> Ganj Dareh, in Iranian Kurdistan, has been cited as the earliest settlement to domesticate animals, specifically the goat, towards the end of the millennium.<ref name="zeder-sci-2000">{{cite journal |last1=Zeder |first1=M. A. |title=The Initial Domestication of Goats (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000&nbsp;Years Ago |journal=Science |date=24 March 2000 |volume=287 |issue=5461 |pages=2254–2257 |doi=10.1126/science.287.5461.2254 |pmid=10731145 |bibcode=2000Sci...287.2254Z }}</ref><ref name="goats1">[http://discovermagazine.com/2000/jul/breakbone What's Bred in the Bone], ''[[Discover (magazine)]]'', July 2000 ("After investigating bone collections from ancient sites across the Middle East, she found a dearth of adult male goat bones—and an abundance of female and young male remains—from a 10,000-year-old settlement called Ganj Dareh, in Iran's Zagros Mountains. This provides the earliest evidence of domesticated livestock, Zeder says".)</ref>

Agriculture may have begun in the [[Far East]] before 8300 BC, the estimated date for the earliest cultivation of common [[millet]]. Proso millet (''[[Panicum miliaceum]]'') and foxtail millet (''[[Setaria italica]]'') were important crops beginning in the [[Early Neolithic]] of China. Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found at [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] (north), where proso millet husk [[phytoliths]] and biomolecular components have been identified around 10,300–8,700 years ago in [[storage pit (archaeology)|storage pits]] along with remains of pit-houses, pottery, and stone tools related to millet cultivation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lu |first1=Houyuan |last2=Zhang |first2=Jianping |last3=Liu |first3=Kam-biu |last4=Wu |first4=Naiqin |last5=Li |first5=Yumei |last6=Zhou |first6=Kunshu |last7=Ye |first7=Maolin |last8=Zhang |first8=Tianyu |last9=Zhang |first9=Haijiang |last10=Yang |first10=Xiaoyan |last11=Shen |first11=Licheng |last12=Xu |first12=Deke |last13=Li |first13=Quan |title=Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=5 May 2009 |volume=106 |issue=18 |pages=7367–7372 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900158106 |pmid=19383791 |pmc=2678631 |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.7367L |doi-access=free }}</ref>