Neolithic founder crops
The Neolithic founder crops are the eight plant species that were domesticated by early Holocene farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region of southwest Asia, and which formed the basis of systematic agriculture in the Middle East, North Africa, India, Persia and Europe. They consist of flax, three cereals and four pulses, and are the first known domesticated plants in the world. Although domesticated rye occurs in the final Epi-Palaeolithic strata at Tell Abu Hureyra, it was insignificant in the Neolithic Period of southwest Asia and only became common with the spread of farming into northern Europe several millennia later.
This list applies mainly to agriculture in southwest Asia. Rice was cultivated at the Yangtze River in East Asia around the same time, peanuts, squashes, and cassavas had been domesticated in the New World, and other plants were used in southwest Asia such as figs.List
Cereals
