DNA from an underwater site suggests that there was wheat in Britain 8,000 years ago — 2,000 years before farming arrived in the region.
The research suggests that wheat somehow made its way from the Neolithic farmers of Southern Europe to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of present-day Britain.
The farmers and hunter-gatherers may have been trading, said Robin G. Allaby, a plant geneticist at the University of Warwick and an author of the new study, which appears in the journal Science.
Stone tools found at the site resemble those found in northern France, another clue that there may have been trade between the two groups.
The researchers analyzed sediment cores from Bouldnor Cliff, on the coast of the Isle of Wight, and found ancient DNA from certain wheat strains. There was no evidence of cultivation, however, suggesting that the hunter-gatherers obtained the wheat as flour.
“They would probably add water to it and make a flatbread,” Dr. Allaby said.
For some reason, the hunter-gatherers in Britain waited 2,000 years after being introduced to wheat to take up farming themselves.
They may have intentionally resisted agriculture, or the climate at the time may not have been suitable, Dr. Allaby said.
“Probably, it was a combination of the two,” he added.
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