Barley was domesticated twice

Morrell and Clegg in today’s P.N.A.S. investigated differences in haplotype frequency in multiple loci over > 60 Barley species. They argue that this demonstrates that Barley (Hordeum vulgare) was domesticated twice. It was first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent, which lead to most of the current European and American cultivars. The second domestication occured 1,500–3,000 km east, and lead to the development of most Asian cultivars.