EPIPALAEOLITHIC (19,000 BP) CEREAL AND FRUIT DIET AT OHALO-II, SEA OF GALILEE, ISRAEL

Charred plant remains, 19,000 years old, were uncovered at Ohalo II on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. The wild barley and other edible grasses and fruits found suggest, by their ripening seasons, that the site was occupied at least during spring and autumn. The species found provide insights into the subsistence strategy of the earliest known hunter gatherer community of the Levantine Epipalaeolithic period. In addition, the remains of barley rachis nodes provide new evidence distinguishing between domesticated and wild types in ancient archaeobotanical material.