Diversity of wheat in modern Georgia versus discoveries of the archaeological excavations of the 6,000 BC Neolithic sites of Lower Kartli Region (SE Georgia)

Abstract

Georgia is one of the most important centers for the diversity of domesticated wheat. It is the only country in the world where all wheat genomes (AA, AABB, AAGG, AAGGAA, AABBDD) and all seven, domesticated hulled wheat species are present. The diversity of the wheat species (15) in Georgia is higher than in any other country including the Fertile Crescent region. Such diversity could orig- inate only in the areas of ancient agricultural traditions. Archaeological excavations of the Neolithic sites of Arukhlo, Khramis Didi Gora and Gadachrili Gora in Kvemo [lower] Kartli Region (south-east Georgia) confirmed that wheat has been cultivated in Georgia since at least 7th and in the beginning of the 6th millennia BC, when the Shulaveri – Shomu Culture appeared in East Georgia. As many as nine wheat species were identified in Arukhlo suggesting that hulled and free-threshing wheats of all ploidy levels were already produced there. Among them, there are 4 species of hexaploid wheats: T. spelta, T. sphaerococcum, T. aestivum, T. compactum. Inter-estingly the appearance of naked tetraploid wheat species of T. carthlicum and T. durum in the oldest layers of Arukhlo. The palaeoethnobotanical material of later Neolithic site Chikhori (Imereti, West Georgia) is identical to the botanical materials of Arkhulo and Khramis Didi Gora.