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While the nature and timing of the very beginning of the Neolithic in Ireland is still debated, our results -- based on new Bayesian chronologies of plant macro-remains -- are consistent with a rapid and abrupt transition to agriculture from c. 3750 cal BC, though there are hints of earlier Neolithic presence at a number of sites... Cereals were being consumed at many sites during this period, with emmer wheat dominant, but also barley (naked and hulled), as well as occasional evidence for einkorn wheat, naked wheat and flax. The earliest farmers in Ireland, like farmers elsewhere across NW Europe......

ROBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - Wine conjures up the image of cultured drinkers sipping their way delicately through a full-bodied vintage. But for two history buffs with a passion for the tipple, northern Italy has the barbarians to thank for its long wine-making tradition. Luca Sormani, from Como, and Fulvio Pescarolo, from the tiny town of Robbio near Milan, have traced the region's wine culture all the way back to its Celtic roots and have started making it according to ancient methods. Celtic tribes from farther north -- known to the Romans as "Barbari" -- conquered northern parts of Italy about...