What if, for what ever reason, wheat, barley and wheat hadn't been domesticated in the middle east between 9000 BC and 7000 BC?
Let's say nobody come up with the idea, or more likely, let's say a "plant disease" whipes out their wild ancestors or or makes them unsafe for human consumption. Let's say they are not domesticated elsewhere.
How much would this "delay" old-world civilizations? Could this be enough to make the Americas more developped in relative terms? Would the Americas discover the Old World in this scenario? Or would we still have an world dominated by the Old World, but shaped by a civilization whose center lies in East Asia, Indonesia or Africa? Or would the Middle East still be the Center, once foreign crops like millet or rice?
Any thoughts?
These are interesting articles concerning this topic: