Teething problems in cereal cultivation in prehistoric Egypt: a restudy of Fayum Neolithic sickle blades

References

• Barakat, H.N. 2002. “Regional pathways to agriculture in Northeast Africa.” In Droughts, Food and Culture: Ecological Change and Food Security in Africa’s Later Prehistory, edited by F.A. Hassan, 111–122. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
   Google Scholar
• Barich, B.E. 2016. “The introduction of Neolithic resources to North Africa: a discussion in light of the Holocene research between Egypt and Libya.” Quaternary International 410: 198–216. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.138
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Boyd, R. and Richerson, P.J. 1985. Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
   Google Scholar
• Brewer, D.J. 1989. Fishermen, Hunters and Herders: Zooarchaeology in the Fayum, Egypt (ca. 8200–5000 bp). Oxford: Archaeopress.
   Google Scholar
• Cappers, R. 2013. “Modelling cereal selection in Neolithic Egypt: an evaluation of economic criteria.” In Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa, edited by N. Shirai, 109–119. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• Caton-Thompson, G. and Gardner, E.W. 1934. The Desert Fayum. London: The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
   Google Scholar
• Currelly, C.T. 1913. Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire Nos. 63001–64906: Stone Implements. Cairo: Imprimerie de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale.
   Google Scholar
• Debono, F. and Mortensen, B. 1990. El Omari: A Neolithic Settlement and Other Sites in the Vicinity of Wadi Hof, Helwan. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
   Google Scholar
• De Morgan, J. 1897. Recherches sur les Origines de l’Égypte. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
   Google Scholar
• Eiwanger, J. 1988. Merimde-Benisalâme II: Die Funde der Mittleren Merimdekultur. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
   Google Scholar
• Eiwanger, J. 1992. Merimde-Benisalâme III: Die Funde der Jüngeren Merimdekultur. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
   Google Scholar
• Fuller, D.Q., Willcox, G. and Allaby, R.G. 2012. “Early agricultural pathways: moving outside the ‘core area’ hypothesis in Southwest Asia.” Journal of Experimental Botany 63/2: 617–633. doi: 10.1093/jxb/err307
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gopher, A., Barkai, R. and Asaf, A. 2001. “Trends in sickle blade production in the Neolithic of the Hula Valley, Israel.” In Beyond Tools: Redefining the PPN Lithic Assemblages of the Levant, edited by I. Caneva, C. Lemorini, D. Zampetti and P. Biagi, 411–425. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• Gopher, A. and Blockman, N. 2004. “Excavations at Lod (Neve Yaraq) and the Lodian culture of the Pottery Neolithic period.” Atiqot 47: 1–50.
   Google Scholar
• Holdaway, S., Phillipps, R., Emmitt, J. and Wendrich, W. 2016. “The Fayum revisited: reconsidering the role of the Neolithic package, Fayum north shore, Egypt.” Quaternary International 410: 173–180. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.072
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kindermann, K. 2010. Djara: Zur Mittelholozänen Besiedlungsgeschichte zwischen Niltal und Oasen (Abu-Muharik-Plateau, Ägypten). Köln: Heinrich Barth Institut.
   Google Scholar
• Kozlowski, J.K. 1983. Qasr el-Sagha 1980: Contribution to the Holocene Geology, the Predynastic and Dynastic Settlements in the Northern Fayum Desert. Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
   Google Scholar
• Kozlowski, J.K. and Ginter, B. 1989. “The Fayum Neolithic in the light of new discoveries.” In Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, edited by L. Krzyzaniak and M. Kobusiewicz, 157–179. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum.
   Google Scholar
• Linseele, V., Van Neer, W., Thys, S., Phillipps, R., Cappers, R., Wendrich, W. and Holdaway, S. 2014. “New archaeozoological data from the Fayum Neolithic with a critical assessment of the evidence for early stock keeping in Egypt.” PLoS ONE 9 (10): e108517. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108517
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Linseele, V., Holdaway, S.J. and Wendrich, W. 2016. “The earliest phase of introduction of Southwest Asian domesticated animals into Africa: new evidence from the Fayum Oasis in Egypt and its implications.” Quaternary International 412: 11–21. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.028
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lucarini, G. 2014. “The bifacial products from Hidden Valley and neighbouring areas in Wadi el Obeiyid.” In From Lake to Sand: The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt, edited by B.E. Barich, G. Lucarini, M.A Hamdan and F.A. Hassan, 265–283. Florence: All’Insegna del Giglio.
   Google Scholar
• Maeda, O., Lucas, L., Silva, F., Tanno, K. and Fuller, D.Q. 2016. “Narrowing the harvest: increasing sickle investment and the rise of domesticated cereal agriculture in the Fertile Crescent.” Quaternary Science Reviews 145: 226–237. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.032
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McDonald, M.M.A. 2013. “Whence the Neolithic of Northeastern Africa? Evidence from the Central Western Desert of Egypt.” In Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa, edited by N. Shirai, 175–192. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• McDonald, M.M.A. 2016. “The pattern of Neolithization in Dakhleh Oasis in the Eastern Sahara.” Quaternary International 410: 181–197. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.100
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morales, J., Pérez-Jordà, G., Peña-Chocarro, L., Zapata, L., Ruíz-Alonso, M., López-Sáez, J.A. and Linstädter, J. 2013. “The origins of agriculture in North-West Africa: macro-botanical remains from Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic levels of Ifri Oudadane (Morocco).” Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 2659–2669. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.01.026
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morales, J., Pérez-Jordà, G., Peña-Chocarro, L., Bokbot, Y., Vera, J.C., Martínez Sánchez, R.M. and Linstädter, J. 2016. “The introduction of South-Western Asian domesticated plants in North-Western Africa: an archaeobotanical contribution from Neolithic Morocco.” Quaternary International 412: 96–109. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.01.066
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Olami, Y., Burian, F. and Friedman, E. 1977. “Givat Haparsa: a Neolithic site in the coastal region.” Eretz Israel 13: 34–47.
   Google Scholar
• Petrie, W.M.F. 1890. Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara. London: Kegan Paul.
   Google Scholar
• Phillipps, R., Holdaway, S., Wendrich, W. and Cappers, R. 2012. “Mid-Holocene occupation of Egypt and global climatic change.” Quaternary International 251: 64–76. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2011.04.004
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Puglisi, S. 1967. “Missione per ricerche preistoriche in Egitto.” Origini 1: 301–312.
   Google Scholar
• Quintero, L.A., Wilke, P.J. and Waines, J.G. 1997. “Pragmatic studies of Near Eastern Neolithic sickle blades.” In The Prehistory of Jordan II, edited by H.G.K. Gebel, Z. Kafafi and G.O. Rollefson, 263–286. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• Richerson, P.J. and Boyd, R. 2004. Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
   Google Scholar
• Riemer, H. 2010. “Archäologischer Survey auf dem südlichen Abu-Muharik-Plateau.” In Djara: Zur Mittelholozänen Besiedlungsgeschichte zwischen Niltal und Oasen (Abu-Muharik-Plateau, Ägypten) Teil 2, edited by K. Kindermann, 547–714. Köln: Heinrich Barth Institut.
   Google Scholar
• Schepers, M., Cappers, R. and Heijen, I. 2006. “Neolithische graanopslag in de Fayum.” Paleo-Aktueel 17: 55–62.
   Google Scholar
• Seton-Karr, H.W. 1904. “Fayoom flint implements.” Annales du Service des Antiquités de L’Égypte 5: 145–186.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2010. The Archaeology of the First Farmer-Herders in Egypt: New Insights into the Fayum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic. Leiden: Leiden University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2011. “A missing chapter of The Desert Fayum: Fayum lithic artefact collection in the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.” Archéo-Nil 21: 115–146.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2013. “Was Neolithisation a struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest, or merely the survival of the luckiest? A case study of socioeconomic and cultural changes in Egypt in the Early–Middle Holocene.” In Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa, edited by N. Shirai, 213–235. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2015. “Filling the gap between the Fayum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic.” In Hunter-Gatherers and Early Food Producing Societies in Northeastern Africa, edited by J. Kabacinski, M. Chrodnicki and M. Kobusiewicz, 221–238. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2016a. “Establishing a Neolithic farming life in Egypt: a view from the lithic study at Fayum Neolithic sites.” Quaternary International 412: 22–35. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.111
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. 2016b. “The Desert Fayum at 80: revisiting a Neolithic farming community in Egypt.” Antiquity 90: 1181–1195. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2016.133
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. Forthcoming a. “The development of cereal cultivation and the evolution of lithic technology in Egypt in the Middle Holocene.” In The Neolithisation of the Mediterranean Basin: The Transition to Food-Producing Economies in North Africa and Southern Europe, edited by J. Rowland, G.J. Tassie and G. Lucarini. Berlin: Edition TOPOI.
   Google Scholar
• Shirai, N. Forthcoming b. “New light on The Desert Fayum: restudying Gertrude Caton-Thompson’s Fayum lithic collections in London.” In Desert and the Nile: Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, edited by J. Kabacinski, M. Chrodnicki and M. Kobusiewicz. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum.
   Google Scholar
• Simms, S.R. and Russell, K.W. 1997. “Bedouin hand harvesting of wheat and barley: implications for early cultivation in Southwestern Asia.” Current Anthropology 38: 696–702. doi: 10.1086/204658
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smith, A.C. 2013. “Unravelling the prehistoric ancestry of the present-day inhabitants of Northeast Africa: an archaeogenetic approach to Neolithisation.” In Neolithisation of Northeastern Africa, edited by N. Shirai, 121–147. Berlin: ex oriente.
   Google Scholar
• Unger-Hamilton, R. 1999. “Harvesting wild cereals and other plants.” In Prehistory of Agriculture: New Experimental and Ethnographic Approaches, edited by P.C. Anderson, 145–152. Los Angeles: UCLA Institute of Archaeology.
   Google Scholar
• Vardi, J. and Gilead, I. 2013. “Keeping the razor sharp: hafting and maintenance of sickles in the southern Levant during the 6th and 5th millennia bc.” In Stone Tools in Transition: From Hunter-Gatherers to Farming Societies in the Near East, edited by F. Borrell, J.J. Ibanez and M. Molist, 377–394. Barcelona: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona Servei de Publicacions.
   Google Scholar
• Wendorf, F. and Schild, R. 1976. Prehistory of the Nile Valley. New York: Academic Press.
   Google Scholar
• Wendrich, W., Taylor, R.E. and Southon, J.R. 2010. “Dating stratified settlement sites at Kom K and Kom W: fifth millennium BCE radiocarbon ages for the Fayum Neolithic.” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268: 999–1002. doi: 10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.083
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wenke, R.J., Long, J.E. and Buck, P.E. 1988. “Epipaleolithic and Neolithic subsistence and settlement in the Fayyum Oasis of Egypt.” Journal of Field Archaeology 15/1: 29–51.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wetterstrom, W. 1993. “Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile Valley.” In The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns, edited by T. Shaw, P.J.J. Sinclair, B. Andah and A. Okpoko, 165–226. London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Wilson, P., Gilbert, G. and Tassie, G. 2014. Sais II: The Prehistoric Period at Sa el-Hagar. London: Egypt Exploration Society.
   Google Scholar
• Yeivin, E. and Olami, Y. 1979. “Nizzanim – A Neolithic site in Nahal Evtah: excavations of 1968–1970.” Tel Aviv 6: 99–135. doi: 10.1179/033443579788441154
   Google Scholar