THE WILD WHEAT OF PALESTINE 285 



archseological evidence upon which his conclusion is based, 

 states that " the best guess as to the date of the first harvest 

 is perhaps between 15,000 b. c. and 10,000 b. c." ' 



III. The Prototypes of Cereals 



Certain wild species of barley, oats, and rye are known, 

 which may reasonably be considered as the prototypes or 

 ancestors of their cultivated relatives. Thus Hordeiim 

 spontaneum, a wild barley, is regarded as the wild form of 

 Hordeum distichon, the two-rowed barley ; and it is further 

 believed that from this species have been derived Hordeum 

 vulgare, the common six-rowed square-headed barley, and 

 Hordeum hexastichon, the true six-rowed barley. Secale 

 montanum, a wild rye, has been considered to be the 

 prototype of Secede cereale, the cultivated rye; while 

 Avena fatua, a wild oat, or some other species of wild 

 Avena, is believed to be the progenitor of cultivated oats. 

 However, until recently, no one knew anything about 

 the original wild form of wheat and most botanists were in- 

 clined to believe that it had become extinct. In 1899, the 

 Count of Sohns-Laubach declared that the genealogical 

 record of wheat had been lost forever and that the history 

 of its development could only be written from theoretical 

 considerations. Even whilst the Count was publishing 

 his views, there was a small group of botanists who not 

 only believed that the wild ancestor of wheat would one 

 day be found but that a single head of it was already 

 known. Chief among these men was Komicke who de- 

 voted some forty years to the study of cereals.'' 



6 G. F. Scott Elliott, loc. cit., p. 217. 



7 Of. A. Aaronsohn, Agricultural and Botanical Explorations in 

 Palestine, Bulletin No. 180, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1910, pp. 37-38. 



