Neolithic communities resisted new farming ways

London: An analysis of palm-sized stone grinders used around 7,000 years ago in North Africa shows that ancient communities resisted new farming practices because of their highly mobile style of life. According to earlier studies, the stratigraphy (layers of sediment) at Haua Fteah indicates continuous human habitation from at least 80,000 years ago right up to the present day.

Comparing the characteristic shape and size of the starch found in the grinders' crevices to those in a reference collection of wild and domestic plant varieties collected in different North African and Southern European countries, the researchers were able to determine that the residues, most probably, came from one of the species belonging to the Cenchrinae grasses.

Various species of the genus Cenchrus are still gathered today by several African groups when other resources are scarce. Cenchrus is prickly and its seed is laborious to extract. But it is highly nutritious, especially in times of severe food shortage.

Evidence of the processing of wild plants at Haua Fteah confirms recent theories that the adoption of domesticated species in North Africa was in an addition to, rather than a replacement of, the exploitation of wild resources such as the native grasses that still grow wild in the site.