Study finds stable climate linked to plant domestication

Washington, Jan 13 (ANI): A new Israeli study suggests that Agricultural Revolution was not brought about climate change.

The research conducted by Dr. Shahal Abbo from the Levi Eshkol School of Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and his colleagues has found that sustainable farming and the introduction of new crops depends on a moderately stable climate.

According to the researchers, the variety of crops in the Near East grew within the normal east Mediterranean rainfall pattern, wherein rainy years created enough surpluses to maintain farming communities during drought.

The authors believe climate change could not have set off major cultural changes.

Dr. Abbo and team studied the traditional farming systems up to the early twentieth century in the Near East to come up with their conclusions.

The authors said: "We argue against climate change being at the origin of Near Eastern agriculture and believe that a slow but real climatic change is unlikely to induce revolutionary cultural changes."

The study has appeared online in Springer's journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. (ANI)