Observation and setting. Ohalo II was a lakeside hunter-gatherer camp at the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret). Waterlogging preserved an exceptional quantity of plants. Snir and colleagues, PLOS One (2015) examined approximately 150,000 plant remains, identifying more than 140 gathered species, wild cereals, species that thrive in disturbed ground, and evidence for grinding wild wheat and barley.
Dated material and method. The “23,000 years” is a calibrated approximate age of the occupation, supported by radiocarbon dating of charcoal and other site materials, not a date obtained directly from every seed. Earlier papers sometimes give around 19,400 uncalibrated radiocarbon BP for the same broad occupation; that is not a contradiction in ordinary calendar years. See Nadel, Carmi and Segal, Journal of Archaeological Science (1995).
Interpretations and alternatives. observed: diverse gathered and processed wild plant foods and plants adapted to disturbed habitat. inferred: repeated human disturbance of the camp environment. hypothesis: the authors propose small-scale experimental cultivation of wild cereals. Some of the same plant pattern could result from gathering, disposal, trampling, or other disturbance without planting. There is no basis here to call Ohalo II a domesticated-grain farming society. The distinction between intensive foraging, occasional cultivation, genetic domestication, and dependence on agriculture is central to this project.
Next test. Compare species frequencies, seed morphology, spatial distribution, and use-wear on grinding tools with other well-dated camps and later cultivation sites. Track which observations actually discriminate planting from harvesting wild stands.