Publications

This paper in Nature Plants presents the functional ecological model we developed in context of the NICHE project. The model focuses on mechanical soil disturbance factors - mainly soil tillage - and shows that tillage as an agricultural practice developed much later than previously assumed.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01161-7

This paper in Environmental Archaeology presents the results of vegetation surveys we conducted in spring 2019. We compare the floristic composition of wild cereal habitats with that of local arable weed floras and find a large overlap in species. This indicates that many typical arable weeds of traditional Levantine agriculture originated in local grasslands and cannot be used not identify the earliest cultivation activities.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2021.1882715

This paper in agronomy proposes a theoretical model for understanding the pace and trajectories of early cereal domestication in southwest Asia. The model considers biological, social, and economic factors that are associated with early cereal management systems and selection for domestication traits such as non-shattering ears.

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11122432 (open access)

This paper in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany identifies a mysterious grain type as a modern grass species. The so-called "Triticoid type grains" confused archaeobotanists for decades, leading to ambiguity among wheat and rye grain identifications in prehistoric contexts. It has even be suggested that these grains represent an extinct wild cereal species, but here we show that they belong to the extant species Heteranthelium piliferum.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-020-00822-x