Lentils represent the most common pulse crop found in Southwest Asian Neolithic archaeobotanical assemblages. Using carbon isotope determinations and palaeoclimatic modelling this paper investigates variability and change through time in lentil growth habitats at Gusir Höyük, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic habitation site in the Upper Tigris basin of southeast Anatolia dated to the 12th and 11th millennia cal bp. The elevated lentil carbon isotope values from samples dated to ~ 10,500–10,300 cal bp possibly points to greater water availability and the potential onset of lentil cultivation at Gusir Höyük during the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The paper revisits previous hypotheses about the process and timing of initial lentil domestication in the region through a re-evaluation of materials available from other Neolithic sites in SW Asia. Its findings highlight the important role of wild lentil populations growing in higher-rainfall localities, which may have responded more readily to increasing water availability in the context of early cultivation. It also explores the potential offered by isotopic approaches for detecting early cultivation, highlighting the need for future studies on pulse and cereal crop progenitors in SW Asia and beyond.

小扁豆是西南亚新石器时代考古植物群中最常见的豆类作物。本文利用碳同位素测定和古气候模型研究了 Gusir Höyük 扁豆生长栖息地随时间的变化和变化，Gusir Höyük 是安纳托利亚东南部上底格里斯盆地的一个前陶器新石器时代居住地，其历史可追溯到 12 世纪和 11 世纪。样品中扁豆碳同位素值升高至约 10,500–10,300 cal bp可能表明古西尔霍裕克 (Gusir Höyük) 的水资源供应量更大，并且可能在前陶器新石器时代 B 期开始种植扁豆。本文通过重新评估现有材料，重新审视了之前关于该地区最初扁豆驯化过程和时间的假设来自亚洲西南地区的其他新石器时代遗址。其研究结果强调了在降雨量较多的地区生长的野生扁豆种群的重要作用，这些地区可能更容易对早期种植中增加的可用水量作出反应。它还探讨了同位素方法在检测早期种植方面所提供的潜力，强调了未来对西南亚洲及其他地区的豆类和谷类作物祖先进行研究的必要性。