‘New glume wheat’ (NGW) is an archaeobotanical type increasingly recognised at Neolithic–Bronze Age sites across Europe and Western Asia. NGW has been recognised via aDNA and morphological analyses of chaff remains as a member of the Triticum timopheevii wheat group, recent cultivation of which is known only from western Georgia. This study combines geometric morphometric (GMM) analysis of NGW grains with updated results from a parallel study of chaff dehiscence, to assess the taxonomic classification and domestication status of NGW from the Neolithic East Mound at Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia).

Results confirm close comparability of NGW with modern wheats from the group T. timopheevii, in a form which has remained remarkably similar over thousands of years. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that NGW was undergoing selection for domestication traits in terms of shattering behaviour and grain form during the 1150-year East Mound sequence. These findings are interpreted in the context of substantial archaeobotanical evidence for a broad-spectrum plant strategy at Çatalhöyük which mitigated the risk of resource failure and supported experimentation in cropping. Possible cultural and practical incentives are considered for investment in the crop, made despite the availability of a fully-domesticated glume wheat (emmer) with similar growing and processing requirements. Alongside this, the study demonstrates the sensitivity of GMM to differences between and within wheat species, with methodological findings that can inform future studies.

'新颖麦' (NGW) 是一种考古植物学类型，在欧洲和西亚的新石器时代-青铜时代遗址中得到越来越多的认可。NGW 已通过 aDNA 和谷壳的形态分析被识别为Triticum timophevii小麦组的成员，最近仅在乔治亚州西部种植这种小麦。本研究将 NGW 谷物的几何形态测量 (GMM) 分析与谷壳裂开的平行研究的最新结果相结合，以评估来自 Çatalhöyük（安纳托利亚中部）新石器时代东丘的 NGW 的分类分类和驯化状态。

结果证实 NGW 与T. timophevii组的现代小麦具有密切的可比性，在几千年来一直非常相似的形式。此外，分析表明，NGW 在 1150 年的东丘序列期间正在根据破碎行为和谷物形式进行驯化性状的选择。这些发现是在 Çatalhöyük 广谱植物策略的大量考古植物学证据的背景下解释的，该策略降低了资源失败的风险并支持种植试验。尽管存在具有类似生长和加工要求的完全驯化的颖麦（二粒小麦），但仍考虑对作物进行投资可能的文化和实际激励措施。除此之外，该研究还证明了 GMM 对小麦品种之间和内部差异的敏感性，