Natufian sickle blades (ca. 15,000–11,700 cal. BP) reveal cereal cultivation ca. 4.5 millennia before domestication

A groundbreaking analysis of Natufian sickle blades from Mount Carmel's caves reveals that prehistoric communities employed sophisticated cereal harvesting techniques approximately 4.5 millennia before systematic crop domestication. Microscopic use-wear analysis on flint sickle blades from el-Wad Terrace and Salibiya I sites identified patterns consistent with the harvest of semi-ripe and ripe cereals, utilizing their natural shattering mechanism. Additionally, traces of stripping suggest a threshing operation to extract grains efficiently. The study reconstructs an intensive, well-organized harvest strategy that began in mid-spring and continued until late spring, targeting unshattered plants. This practice demonstrates an advanced understanding of cereal properties and mixed stands, indicating early cultivation aimed at minimizing seed loss and stockpiling for future sowing.

Groman-Yaroslavski, I., Krugman, T., Belfer-Cohen, A., Yeshurun, R., Grosman, L., Kaufman, D., Barshay, K., Piliponsky, M., Vardi, J., Abadi, I., & Weinstein-Evron, M. (2026). Natufian sickle blades (ca. 15,000–11,700 cal. BP) reveal cereal cultivation ca. 4.5 millennia before domestication. Scientific Reports, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54740-5