Wheat and barley evolved from large-seeded annual grasses in the arid, low latitudes of Asia; their spread into higher elevations and northern latitudes involved corresponding evolutionary adaptations in these plants, including traits for frost tolerance and shifts in photoperiod sensitivity. The adaptation of farming populations to these northern latitudes was also a complex and poorly understood process that included changes in cultivation practices and the varieties of crops grown. In this article, we push back the earliest dates for the spread of wheat and barley into northern regions of Asia as well as providing earlier cultural links between East and West Asia. The archaeobotanical, palynological and anthracological data we present come from the Tongtian Cave site in the Altai Mountains, with a punctuated occupation dating between 5,200 and 3,200 calibrated years bp, coinciding with global cooling of the middle–late Holocene transition. These early low-investment agropastoral populations in the north steppe area played a major role in the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange.

小麦和大麦是从亚洲干旱低纬地区的大种子一年生禾本科植物进化而来的；它们向更高海拔和北纬地区的传播涉及这些植物的相应进化适应，包括耐霜性特征和光周期敏感性的变化。农业人口对这些北纬地区的适应也是一个复杂且鲜为人知的过程，其中包括耕作方式的变化和种植的作物品种。在本文中，我们将小麦和大麦传播到亚洲北部地区的最早日期推后，并提供东亚和西亚之间更早的文化联系。我们提供的考古植物学、孢粉学和炭疽学数据来自阿尔泰山通天洞遗址，其间断的职业可追溯到 5、 bp，与中晚期全新世过渡的全球冷却相吻合。北部草原地区的这些早期低投资农牧种群在史前跨欧亚交流中发挥了重要作用。