EMMER 187 



" bearded barley" in the memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Fund (aist 

 Memoir, 1901, Plates v. Fig. 16 ; vi. Fig. 17 ; xxxiv. Figs. 82 and 83). 



Portions of ears, spikelets, and grain exhumed from the foundations 

 of the tomb of King Sashu-Re of the Vth Dynasty (3000-4000 B.C.) have 

 been identified and described by Schulz. Excellent specimens of spikelets 

 (Fig. 124) with enclosed grain and portions of culms were given to me by 

 Sir Ernest Budge, who found them in a box in a tomb of the XVIIIth 

 Dynasty (about 1400 B.C.). 



Ears and grain were also discovered in a tomb at Gebelen (Xlth- 

 XXIst Dynasty), and other examples have been obtained from graves of 

 the Xllth Dynasty. 



Hrozny states that, next to barley, Emmer was the chief cereal culti- 



FIG. 124. Spikelets and grain of T. dicoccum. Upper row recent ; lower row, 

 ancient Egyptian specimens (1400 B.C.) 



vated in ancient Babylon (4000 B.C.) down to the beginning of Persian 

 rule over the country. 



There is no doubt that Emmer was widely grown by prehistoric man 

 in various parts of Europe and Asia, and was one of the chief cereals 

 cultivated in Egypt from the earliest times to the Graeco-Roman period 

 and later, when it appears to have been largely supplanted by macaroni 

 and ordinary bread wheats. 



The bote of the Ancient Egyptians, oAvpa (olura) and ea or eta (zea 

 or zeia) of early Greek authors, and the far of ancient Roman writers 

 on agriculture, were forms of this " spelt " wheat, and not T. Spelta, with 

 which it is so often confused by translators of the Classics. 



Although an important cereal in the earliest times, its cultivation is 

 now restricted to comparatively small dimensions, and is of little moment 



