Reassessing domestication events in the Near East: Einkorn and Triticum urartu.

To reassess domestication events in the Near East, accessions of Triticum urartu from a well-described sampling were combined with a representative sample covering the Karacadağ Einkorn wheat domestication. The observed DNA separation between the two wheat species accounts for the main differentiation, but geographic variation within T. urartu is evident and so is the domestication scenario among wild, feral, and domesticated Einkorn. In contrast to the clear DNA differences, it is difficult to separate living T. urartu from wild Einkorn based on morphology. With archaeobotanical material a distinction of carbonized remains of these two wheats is considered to be impossible. We reviewed the differences concerning morphology and maturity and combined these observations with information about archaeological sites in the Near East. In conclusion, the excavation sites in the middle Euphrates may contain T. urartu rather than Einkorn wheat and T. urartu may underlie the reported occurrence of the extinct 2-grained domesticated "Einkorn" wheat. The first Einkorn wheat domestication sensu stricto seems to have happened around the Karacadağ, as reported earlier. The human dimension shown by the excavation of Göbekli Tepe can explain why domesticated phenotypes might have spread quickly.