A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest asia

ABSTRACT The protracted domestication model posits that wild cereals in southwest Asia were cultivated over millennia before the appearance of domesticated cereals in the archaeological

record. These ‘pre-domestication cultivation’ activities are widely understood as entailing annual cycles of soil tillage and sowing and are expected to select for domestic traits such as

non-shattering ears. However, the reconstruction of these practices is mostly based on indirect evidence and speculation, raising the question of whether pre-domestication cultivation

created arable environments that would select for domestic traits. We developed a novel functional ecological model that distinguishes arable fields from wild cereal habitats in the Levant

using plant functional traits related to mechanical soil disturbance. Our results show that exploitation practices at key pre-domestication cultivation sites maintained soil disturbance

conditions similar to untilled wild cereal habitats. This implies that pre-domestication cultivation did not create arable environments through regular tillage but entailed low-input

exploitation practices oriented on the ecological strategies of the competitive large-seeded grasses themselves. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of

subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value

online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles $119.00 per year only $9.92 per issue

Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL

ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS HOTSPOTS OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL ACTIVITY

LINKED TO ARIDITY AND PLANT TRAITS ACROSS GLOBAL DRYLANDS Article 12 April 2024 AN INCREASE IN FOOD PRODUCTION IN EUROPE COULD DRAMATICALLY AFFECT FARMLAND BIODIVERSITY Article Open access

02 September 2021 PERMACULTURE ENHANCES CARBON STOCKS, SOIL QUALITY AND BIODIVERSITY IN CENTRAL EUROPE Article Open access 04 July 2024 DATA AVAILABILITY All data used to perform the

discriminant analyses and their outputs are given in the Supplementary Materials. The modern floristic datasets and the archaeobotanical data analysed during the current study are not

publicly available due to ongoing analyses of the samples and raw data. Upon completion of all analyses the raw datasets will be made publicly available. Parts of the modern floristic

datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The raw data on which the analyses from Çatalhöyük are based are fully published and publicly accessible in

Green37. REFERENCES * Willcox, G., Fornite, S. & Herveux, L. Early Holocene cultivation before domestication in northern Syria. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 17, 313–325 (2008). Article 

Google Scholar  * Fuller, D. Q., Willcox, G. & Allaby, R. G. Cultivation and domestication had multiple origins: arguments against the core area hypothesis for the origins of agriculture

in the Near East. _World Archaeol._ 43, 628–652 (2011). Article  Google Scholar  * Ibáñez, J. J., Anderson, P. C., González-Urquijo, J. & Gibaja, J. Cereal cultivation and domestication

as shown by microtexture analysis of sickle gloss through confocal microscopy. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 73, 62–81 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * Weiss, E., Kislev, M. E. & Hartmann, A.

Autonomous cultivation before domestication. _Science_ 312, 1608–1610 (2006). Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar  * Willcox, G. Measuring grain size and identifying Near Eastern cereal

domestication: evidence from the Euphrates Valley. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 31, 145–150 (2004). Article  Google Scholar  * White, C. E. & Makarewicz, C. A. Harvesting practices and early

Neolithic barley cultivation at el-Hemmeh, Jordan. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 21, 85–94 (2012). Article  Google Scholar  * Colledge, S., Conolly, J., Finlayson, B. & Kuijt, I. New insights

on plant domestication, production intensification, and food storage: the archaeobotanical evidence from PPNA Dhra‘. _Levant_ 50, 14–31 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Kuijt, I. &

Finlayson, B. Evidence for food storage and predomestication granaries 11,000 years ago in the Jordan Valley. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 106, 10966–10970 (2009). Article  CAS  PubMed 

PubMed Central  Google Scholar  * Willcox, G. & Stordeur, D. Large-scale cereal processing before domestication during the tenth millennium cal bc in northern Syria. _Antiquity_ 86,

99–114 (2012). Article  Google Scholar  * Colledge, S. in _The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication_ (eds Damania, A. B. et al.) 121–131 (ICARDA, 1998). * Hillman, G. C., Hedges,

R., Moore, A. M. T., Colledge, S. & Pettitt, P. New evidence of Lateglacial cereal cultivation at Abu Hureyra on the Euphrates. _Holocene_ 11, 383–393 (2001). Article  Google Scholar  *

Willcox, G. Searching for the origins of arable weeds in the Near East. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 21, 163–167 (2012). Article  Google Scholar  * Snir, A. et al. The origin of cultivation and

proto-weeds, long before neolithic farming. _PLoS ONE_ 10, e0131422 (2015). Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar  * Harris, D. R. & Fuller, D. Q. in _Encyclopedia of Global

Archaeology_ (ed. Smith, C.) 104–113 (Springer, 2014). * Grime, J. P., Hodgson, J. G. & Hunt, R. _Comparative Plant Ecology: A Functional Approach to Common British Species_ (Springer,

2014). * Harlan, J. R., de Wet, J. M. J. & Price, E. G. Comparative evolution of cereals. _Evolution_ 27, 311–325 (1973). Article  PubMed  Google Scholar  * Fuller, D. Q. Contrasting

patterns in crop domestication and domestication rates: recent archaeobotanical insights from the Old World. _Ann. Bot._ 100, 903–924 (2007). Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar

  * Asouti, E. in _Neolithic Corporate Identities. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence and Environment 20_ (eds Benz, M. et al.) 21–53 (Ex oriente, 2017). * Harris, D. R.

in _Foraging and Farming: the Evolution of Plant Exploitation_ (eds Harris, D. R. & Hillman, G.) 11–26 (Unwin Hyman, 1989). * Smith, B. D. Low-level food production. _J. Archaeol. Res._

9, 1–43 (2001). Article  Google Scholar  * Rindos, D. _The Origins of Agriculture: an Evolutionary Perspective_ (Academic, 1984). * Weide, A. Towards a socio-economic model for southwest

Asian cereal domestication. _Agronomy_ 11, 2432 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * Hillman, G. C. & Davies, M. S. Measured domestication rates in wild wheats and barley under primitive

cultivation, and their archaeological implications. _J. World Prehist._ 4, 157–222 (1990). Article  Google Scholar  * Kislev, M. E., Hartmann, A. & Weiss, E. Impetus for sowing and the

beginning of agriculture: ground collecting of wild cereals. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 101, 2692–2695 (2004). Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar  * Weide, A. et al. The

association of arable weeds with modern wild cereal habitats: implications for reconstructing the origins of plant cultivation in the Levant. _Environ. Archaeol._

https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2021.1882715 (2021). * Zohary, M. The segetal plant communities of Palestine. _Vegetatio_ 2, 387–411 (1950). Article  Google Scholar  * Abbo, S., Lev-Yadun,

S. & Gopher, A. Plant domestication and crop evolution in the Near East: on events and processes. _Crit. Rev. Plant Sci._ 31, 241–257 (2012). Article  Google Scholar  * Wood, D. &

Lenné, J. M. A natural adaptive syndrome as a model for the origins of cereal agriculture. _Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B_ 285, 20180277 (2018). Google Scholar  * Bogaard, A., Palmer, C., Jones, G.,

Charles, M. & Hodgson, J. G. A FIBS approach to the use of weed ecology for the archaeobotanical recognition of crop rotation regimes. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 26, 1211–1224 (1999). Article

  Google Scholar  * Jones, G., Bogaard, A., Charles, M. & Hodgson, J. G. Distinguishing the effects of agricultural practices relating to fertility and disturbance: a functional

ecological approach in archaeobotany. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 27, 1073–1084 (2000). Article  Google Scholar  * Díaz, S. et al. The global spectrum of plant form and function. _Nature_ 529,

167–171 (2016). Article  PubMed  Google Scholar  * Garnier, E., Navas, M.-L. & Grigulis, K. _Plant Functional Diversity: Organism Traits, Community Structure, and Ecosystem Properties_

(Oxford Univ. Press, 2016). * Bogaard, A. _Neolithic Farming in Central Europe_ (Routledge, 2004). * Bogaard, A. et al. From traditional farming in Morocco to early urban agroecology in

northern Mesopotamia: combining present-day arable weed surveys and crop isotope analysis to reconstruct past agrosystems in (semi-)arid regions. _Environ. Archaeol._ 23, 303–322 (2018).

Article  Google Scholar  * Hamerow, H. et al. An integrated bioarchaeological approach to the medieval ‘agricultural revolution’: a case study from Stafford, England, c. ad 800–1200. _Eur.

J. Archaeol._ 23, 585–609 (2020). Article  Google Scholar  * Green, L., Charles, M. & Bogaard, A. Exploring the agroecology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia: an archaeobotanical

approach to agricultural intensity based on functional ecological analysis of arable weed flora. _Paléorient_ 44, 29–44 (2018). Google Scholar  * Green, L. _Assessing the Nature of Early

Farming in Neolithic Western Asia: A Functional Ecological Approach to Emerging Arable Weeds_. Univ. of Oxford (2017). * Atran, S. Hamula organisation and masha’a tenure in Palestine. _Man_

21, 271–295 (1986). Article  Google Scholar  * Palmer, C. ‘Following the plough’: the agricultural environment of northern Jordan. _Levant_ 30, 129–165 (1998). Article  Google Scholar  *

Håkansson, S. in _Biology and Ecology of Weeds_ (eds Holzner, W. & Numata, M.) 123–135 (Springer Netherlands, 1982). * Charles, M., Bogaard, A., Jones, G., Hodgson, J. & Halstead, P.

Towards the archaeobotanical identification of intensive cereal cultivation: present-day ecological investigation in the mountains of Asturias, northwest Spain. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 11,

133–142 (2002). Article  Google Scholar  * Hartmann-Shenkman, A., Kislev, M. E., Galili, E., Melamed, Y. & Weiss, E. Invading a new niche: obligatory weeds at Neolithic Atlit-Yam,

Israel. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 24, 9–18 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Kuijt, I. in _The Neolithic Demographic Transition and its Consequences_ (eds Bocquet-Appel, J.-P. &

Bar-Yosef, O.) 287–313 (Springer Netherlands, 2008). * Bogaard, A. et al. Private pantries and celebrated surplus: storing and sharing food at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Central Anatolia.

_Antiquity_ 83, 649–668 (2009). Article  Google Scholar  * Jones, G. et al. The origins of agriculture: intentions and consequences. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 125, 105290 (2021). Article  Google

Scholar  * Weiss, E., Kislev, M. E., Simchoni, O., Nadel, D. & Tschauner, H. Plant-food preparation area on an Upper Paleolithic brush hut floor at Ohalo II, Israel. _J. Archaeol. Sci._

35, 2400–2414 (2008). Article  Google Scholar  * Kluyver, T. A., Charles, M., Jones, G., Rees, M. & Osborne, C. P. Did greater burial depth increase the seed size of domesticated

legumes? _J. Exp. Bot._ 64, 4101–4108 (2013). Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar  * Preece, C., Jones, G., Rees, M. & Osborne, C. P. Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a

competitive advantage from large seedlings. _Ecol. Evol._ 11, 3300–3312 (2021). Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar  * Halstead, P. _Two Oxen Ahead: Pre-mechanized Farming in the

Mediterranean_ (Wiley, 2014). * Anderson, P. C. in _The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication_ (eds Damania, A. B. et al.) 145–159 (ICARDA, 1998). * Mercuri, A. M., Fornaciari, R.,

Gallinaro, M., Vanin, S. & di Lernia, S. Plant behaviour from human imprints and the cultivation of wild cereals in Holocene Sahara. _Nat. Plants_ 4, 71–81 (2018). Article  PubMed 

Google Scholar  * Spengler, R. N. & Mueller, N. G. Grazing animals drove domestication of grain crops. _Nat. Plants_ 5, 656–662 (2019). Article  PubMed  Google Scholar  * Smith, B. D.

General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies. _Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B_ 366, 836–848 (2011).

Article  Google Scholar  * Bogaard, A. et al. Reconsidering domestication from a process archaeology perspective. _World Archaeol_. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.1954990 (2021). *

Coqueugniot, E. in _Espace Naturel, Espace Habité En Syrie Du Nord (10e–2e millénaires av. J.-C.)_ (eds M. Fortin & O. Aurenche) 109–114 (Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 1998).

* Douché, C. _Émergence et développement des sociétés agricoles au Néolithique acéramique (Xe-VIIIe millénaires av. n. ère) étude archéobotanique de Dja’de El-Mughara et Tell Aswad, Syrie_.

PhD thesis (Archaeological Mission of Dja’de el Mughara, 2018). * Noy, T. Gilgal I: a pre-pottery Neolithic site, Israel. The 1985–1987 seasons. _Paléorient_ 15, 11–18 (1989). Article 

Google Scholar  * Bar-Yosef, O. & Gopher, A. in _An Early Neolithic Village in the Jordan Valley_ (eds Bar-Yosef, O. & Gopher, A.) 41–69 (Harvard Univ., 1997). * Wright, K. I. The

social origins of cooking and dining in early villages of western Asia. _Proc. Prehist. Soc._ 66, 89–121 (2000). Article  Google Scholar  * Finlayson, B. Egalitarian societies and the

earliest Neolithic of southwest Asia. _Prehist. Archaeol. J. Interdiscip. Stud._ 3, 27–43 (2020). Article  Google Scholar  * Bowles, S. & Choi, J.-K. The Neolithic agricultural

revolution and the origins of private property. _J. Polit. Econ._ 127, 2186–2228 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Kuijt, I. The Neolithic refrigerator on a Friday night: how many people

are coming to dinner and just what should I do with the slimy veggies in the back of the fridge? _Environ. Archaeol._ 20, 321–336 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Danin, A. Flora and

vegetation of Israel and adjacent areas. _Zoogeogr. Isr._ 30, 251–276 (1988). Google Scholar  * Noy-Meir, I., Gutman, M. & Kaplan, Y. Responses of Mediterranean grassland plants to

grazing and protection. _J. Ecol._ 77, 290–310 (1989). Article  Google Scholar  * Noy-Meir, I. The effect of grazing on the abundance of wild wheat, barley and oat in Israel. _Biol.

Conserv._ 51, 299–310 (1990). Article  Google Scholar  * Jones, G., Bogaard, A., Halstead, P., Charles, M. & Smith, H. Identifying the intensity of crop husbandry practices on the basis

of weed floras. _Annu. Br. Sch. Athens_ 94, 167–189 (1999). Article  Google Scholar  * Sternberg, M., Gutman, M., Perevolotsky, A., Ungar, E. D. & Kigel, J. Vegetation response to

grazing management in a Mediterranean herbaceous community: a functional group approach. _J. Appl. Ecol._ 37, 224–237 (2000). Article  Google Scholar  * Sternberg, M. et al. Testing the

limits of resistance: a 19-year study of Mediterranean grassland response to grazing regimes. _Glob. Change Biol._ 21, 1939–1950 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Calev, A. et al.

High-intensity thinning treatments in mature _Pinus halepensis_ plantations experiencing prolonged drought. _Eur. J. For. Res._ 135, 551–563 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * Osem, Y.,

Perevolotsky, A. & Kigel, J. Grazing effect on diversity of annual plant communities in a semi-arid rangeland: interactions with small-scale spatial and temporal variation in primary

productivity. _J. Ecol._ 90, 936–946 (2002). Article  Google Scholar  * Temper, L. Creating facts on the ground: agriculture in Israel and Palestine (1882–2000). _Hist. Agrar._ 48, 75–110

(2009). Google Scholar  * Dan, J., Yaalon, D., Koyumdjisky, H. & Raz, Z. The soil association map of Israel (1:1,000,000). _Isr. J. Earth Sci._ 21, 29–49 (1970). Google Scholar  * Sans,

F. X. & Masalles, R. M. Phenological patterns in an arable land weed community related to disturbance. _Weed Res._ 35, 321–332 (1995). Article  Google Scholar  * Zohary, M. &

Feinbrun-Dothan, N. _Flora Palaestina_ Vol. 1–4 (Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1966). * Davis, P. _Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands_ Vol. 1–10 (Edinburgh Univ. Press,

1965). * Mortimer, A. M. in _Weed Control Handbook: Principles_ (eds Hance, R. J. & Holly, K.) 1–42 (Blackwell, 1990). * Douché, C. & Willcox, G. New archaeobotanical data from the

Early Neolithic sites of Dja’de el-Mughara and Tell Aswad (Syria): a comparison between the northern and the southern Levant. _Paléorient_ 44, 45–58 (2018). Google Scholar  * Jones, G. The

application of present-day cereal processing studies to charred archaeobotanical remains. _Circaea_ 6, 91–96 (1990). Google Scholar  * Bogaard, A., Jones, G. & Charles, M. The impact of

crop processing on the reconstruction of crop sowing time and cultivation intensity from archaeobotanical weed evidence. _Veg. Hist. Archaeobot._ 14, 505–509 (2005). Article  Google Scholar

  * Bogaard, A. et al. in _Humans and Landscapes of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2000–2008 Seasons_ (ed. Hodder, I.) 93–128 (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology/British Institute at Ankara,

2013). * Filipović, D. _Early Farming in Central Anatolia: an Archaeobotanical Study of Crop Husbandry, Animal Diet and Land Use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük_ (British Archaeological Reports,

2014). * Helmer, D. et al. in _New Methods and the First Steps of Mammal Domestication_ (eds Vigne, J.-D. et al.) 86–95 (Oxbow Books, 2005). * Charles, M. Fodder from dung: the recognition

and interpretation of dung-derived plant material from archaeological sites. _Environ. Archaeol._ 1, 111–122 (1998). Article  Google Scholar  * Kislev, M. E. in _An Early Neolithic Village

in the Jordan Valley_ (eds Ofer Bar-Yosef & Avi Gopher) 209–236 (Harvard Univ., 1997). * Kislev, M. E. et al. in _Gilgal: Early Neolithic Occupations in the Lower Jordan Valley. The

Excavations of Tamar Noy_ (eds Bar-Yosef, O. et al.) 251–257 (Oxbow Books, 2010). * Snir, A., Nadel, D. & Weiss, E. Plant-food preparation on two consecutive floors at Upper Paleolithic

Ohalo II, Israel. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 53, 61–71 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Jones, G., Charles, M., Bogaard, A. & Hodgson, J. Crops and weeds: the role of weed functional ecology

in the identification of crop husbandry methods. _J. Archaeol. Sci._ 37, 70–77 (2010). Article  Google Scholar  * Šmilauer, P. & Lepš, J. _Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data Using

CANOCO 5_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014). * Galili, E. et al. Atlit-Yam: a Prehistoric site on the sea floor off the Israeli coast. _J. Field Archaeol._ 20, 133–157 (1993). Google Scholar  *

Brenet, M., Sanchez-Priego, J. & Ibáñez-Estévez, J. J. in _Préhistoire et Approche Expérimentale_ (eds Bourguignon, L. et al.) 121–164 (Monique Mergoil, 2001). * Bar-Yosef, O., Gopher,

A., Goring-Morris, A. N. & Kozlowski, S. K. in _Gilgal: Early Neolithic Occupations in the Lower Jordan Valley. The Excavations of Tamar Noy_ (eds Bar-Yosef, O. et al.) 11–26 (Oxbow

Books, 2010). Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank H. Leschner, N. Manela, Y. Melamed and T. Avin-Wittenberg for their great support in the preparation and realization of the

vegetation surveys that represent the basis of this study. We also thank S. Bowles and G. Larson for valuable comments on previous drafts of this article. This research was supported by an

AHRC studentship (2013–2016; L.G.) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Commission (grant number 838395; A.W.). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS *

School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Alexander Weide, Laura Green, John G. Hodgson, Jade Whitlam & Amy Bogaard * Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield,

Sheffield, UK John G. Hodgson * UMR 7209, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle-CNRS, Paris, France Carolyne Douché & Margareta Tengberg * Department of Natural Resources, Newe-Ya’ar

Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Institute, Ramat Yishay, Israel Guy Dovrat * Department of Natural Resources, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani

Institute, Bet-Dagan, Israel Yagil Osem Authors * Alexander Weide View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Laura Green View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * John G. Hodgson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Carolyne Douché View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Margareta Tengberg View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Jade Whitlam View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Guy Dovrat View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Yagil Osem View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Amy Bogaard View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS A.W. developed the original ideas and designed the study. A.W., J.G.H., J.W. and A.B. conducted field work and collected the plant functional-trait data. G.D.

and Y.O. contributed survey data and gave permission for their use. L.G., C.D. and M.T. provided archaeobotanical data and gave permission for their use. A.W. performed the data analysis and

wrote the paper with the help of A.B. All authors were involved in the interpretation of the results and commented on the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Alexander Weide.

ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Plants_ thanks Anna Maria Mercuri, Robert Spengler and Burhan

Ulas for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps

and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Figs. 1–8. REPORTING SUMMARY SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 1 Supplementary Tables 1–4. RIGHTS AND

PERMISSIONS Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s);

author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS

ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Weide, A., Green, L., Hodgson, J.G. _et al._ A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia. _Nat. Plants_ 8,

623–634 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01161-7 Download citation * Received: 29 March 2021 * Accepted: 29 April 2022 * Published: 02 June 2022 * Issue Date: June 2022 * DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01161-7 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not

currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative