(1) In England, thatching straw would have been obtained primarily from spelt wheat which replaced emmer wheat as the staple throughout southern England in the Iron Age.(2) Three species exist both as wild and domesticated wheats, einkorn, emmer , and breadwheat.(3) About 2,500 of the grains are from wild barley and 100 from wild emmer wheat.(4) Other Iron Age crops included the more ancient emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum, which was grown on light soils), bread wheat, oats, rye, peas, Celtic beans, and flax.(5) Most of the time aysh is made from barley and emmer wheat, the most common crops in Egypt.(6) Ancient or modern farmers have grown four wheat species: einkorn, emmer , timopheevi, and common (hexaploid, or bread) wheat.(7) Bread wheat was the accidental ‘unnatural’ crossing of einkorn and then emmer wheat with another species.(8) The most complete evidence has come from the Near East, where domesticated barley and emmer wheat strains have been found which date from about 8000 BC.(9) About 10,000 years ago, nomadic tribes began cultivating grains such as linkorn and emmer , the ancestors of wheat.(10) The many thousands of grains comprise not just emmer and naked barley, but also bread wheat - which points clearly to the Neolithic - and linseed.
