Experimental Barley Flour Production in 12,500-Year-Old Rock-Cut Mortars in Southwestern Asia.
Experimental archaeology at a Natufian site in the Southern Levant documents for the first time the use of 12,500-year-old rock-cut mortars for producing wild barley flour, some 2,000 to 3,000 years before cereal cultivation.Our reconstruction involved processing wild barley on the prehistoric threshing floor, followed by use of the conical mortars