The development of agriculture in the northwestern Mediterranean around the economic threshold of 4000 BC

Neolithic farmers in the northwestern Mediterranean focused on the cultivation of free-threshing cereals for over a millennium. Around 4000 BC agriculture underwent a significant change with the preference shifting to glume wheats. Evidence for this is provided by plant remains from archaeological sites. Previously, the material came exclusively from dry sites, but quality and quantity of rare waterlogged remains are substantially better.