Bere Barley, a "Neolithic" Grain

 

Bere Barley, a "Neolithic" Grain

Bere, pronounced “bear” is a six-row barley which when milled becomes Bere Meal. It is still grown and used today in Orkney to make a traditional flatbread called a Bannock. It is probably Britain’s oldest cereal in continuous commercial cultivation.

The domestication of the Bere Barley grain is likely to have begun soon after the retreat of the last ice age, when plants, animals, and humans first colonised the vast plains of the North European continental shelf, an area east, west, and north of Orkney.

The grain probably initially adapted itself to the local climatic conditions, and the process of domestication was continued when humans would collect the heads of the primitive wild barley, selecting for size to make the nutritional content of the cereal worth the effort of extracting it from the seed head.

The theory implies that the continued viability of seeds or grains as they were carried into higher latitudes required them to be adapted to environmental conditions starkly different to those under which they were first domesticated.

The plant that is created under these circumstances is known as a “landrace”, which is defined as a domesticated, locally adapted, traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its environment and isolation from other populations of the species.

Bere Barley, Hordeum Vulgare L. , is the ancient grains that is found on the Outer Hebrides and Orkney.

“Barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. Vulgare) was one of the first and earliest crops domesticated by humans. Currently, archaeological and genetic evidence indicates barley is a mosaic crop, developed from several populations in at least five regions: Mesopotamia, the northern and southern Levant, the Syrian desert and, 900–1,800 miles (1,500–3,000 kilometers) to the east, in the vast Tibetan Plateau.

The wild progenitor of all of the barleys is thought to be Hordeum spontaneum (L.), a winter-germinating species which is native to a very wide region of Eurasia, from the Tigris and Euphrates river system in Iraq to the western reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Based on evidence from Upper Paleolithic sites such as Ohalo II in Israel, wild barley was harvested for at least 10,000 years before it was domesticated.

Barley as a whole is well-adapted to marginal and stress-prone environments, and a more reliable plant than wheat or rice in regions which are colder or higher in altitude.”(Hirst)

Rather than an imported grain, modified by human agency, Bere Barley was probably self-adapted.

Different environmental conditions exist in Orkney, compared to those normally found over much of Eurasia.

I hesitate to call anywhere unique, but there are things that make the northern Isles different, and create a different climate, and radically different weather and seasons.

Chief among the factors that condition the climate here is its location on the planet. The gulf Stream is a constant flow of equatorial water that pushes up the Atlantic ocean towards the Arctic ocean bringing warmth to the British Isles. It also brings violent winds to Orkney.

"Searching for the Origins of Bere Barley: a GeometricMorphometric Approach to Cereal LandraceRecognition in Archaeology" by M. Wallace et al.

"The spread of agriculture beyond the regions of cereal domestication in the FertileCrescent of southwest Asia was a lengthy process crossing biogeographic boundaries.Following initial expansion through Anatolia and to Cyprus, domesticated crops reachedsoutheast Europe c.8500 yrs BP, and from there were dispersed along two main routes: a southern route along the Mediterranean, reaching the Iberian peninsula c.7500 yrs BP, anda northwards route passing through central Europe by c.7500 yrs BP and eventuallyreaching northern Scotland c.6000 yrs BP (Bocquet-Appel et al. 2009; Fort 2015). Thecontinued viability of agriculture as it spread across Europe, especially along the latternorthwards trajectory, required crops to adapt to environmental conditions starkly differentto those under which they were first domesticated (Bogucki 2000; Bonsall et al. 2002;Halstead 1989). This is exemplified by adaptations in responsiveness to daylength with thenorthwards spread of agriculture (Jones et al. 2012) and observed adaptation to specificabiotic stresses (George et al. 2014; Schmidt et al. in prep.). Adaptation in crop specieswould have come about through periods of stable cultivation on the edges of newenvironments, leading to the emergence of new, locally adapted landraces."

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Index

The rich history of archaeology on Orkney provides source material for the following observations.

"Neolithic Migrants to Orkney" The story of the First, Founding Immigrants to Orkney 

"A Bizarre Idea" What's the Story, then?

"Walkable land in the North Sea" describes evidence that walkable land was present between Norfolk and Holland at a time when prehistoric people were occupying northern Europe. 

"Archaeology in the North Sea" looks at the elusive evidence that people could have walked from Caithness to South Ronaldsay. 

"3000BC" gives detailed evidence of tsunami events on the Norwegian Coast.

 "A Brief Guide to the Last Glaciation" How did the North Sea develop?

"Mainland Settlements" discusses and dates the early settlements across mainland Orkney.

"Barnhouse" describes this "Neolithic Village" a substantial group of Neolithic structures on the shore of Harray Loch. 

"Barnhouse Sweat Lodge" describes Structure 8, the Sweat Lodge at Barnhouse.

"Modern Sweat Lodge Practices" describes present day Sweat Lodge ceremonies.

"The Stones of Stenness" describes anomalies in the settings of the stones that formed the stone circle.

"The Ring of Brodgar" discusses just how many stones are there, or are not there, at the Ring of Brodgar. 

 "A Custom Among the Lower Class of People" , about 18th century Orkney people and the Stones at Brodgar. 

"Maeshowe, a Wonder of the Neolithic World" is the personal account of the excavation of the Maeshowe Cairn by the man who excavated it. I include it because it is so personal, not because it adds anything to our understanding. 

"Cairns of Orkney" is the commentary of several antiquarian archaeologists writing in previous centuries as they excavated Cairns in England, Scotland, and Orkney. Although these cairns may not have been excavated to a high standard, the commentary provided in these reports is, in my view, very personal, and highly approachable. 

"Cairns and the People in them" examines the bones of the people who were laid in cairns, and tells their stories.

"The Westrays" describes the Knap of Howar settlement, and the desolation of the islands that were found by the people of the Links of Noltland when they settled there at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. 

"Skara Brae, RCAHMS" is the official description of the Neolithic "Village"

"Skara Brae, Excavation", is an account of the excavation of Hut 7 in 1927. This is an interesting personal account of the Gordon Childe's Excavation by J Wilson Paterson.

"Dating Skara Brae" gives detailed dating evidence for Skara Brae 

"The Ness of Brodgar Excavation" and account of the excavation , before 2020, by Nick Card. 

"Dating the Ness of Brodgar" gives Dating evidence for the Ness of Brodgar 

"The Ferriby Boats" The first seafaring vessels? 

"The Orkney Vole" discusses the evidence that the Orkney Vole migrated from Europe to Orkney without setting foot on mainland Britain. 

Bere Barley, a Neolithic grain derivations of Bere Barley. 

"Concluding" , some simple remarks in conclusion.

"Finally" closing remarks.

Sources 

All views and opinions expressed are my own, but it remains a work-in-progress for which positive criticism and comment is welcomed.

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk