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Einkorn wheat is a wild species of wheat, Triticum boeoticum. Einkorn is a diploidDiploid cells have two copies of each somatic chromosome (non-sex chromosomes), usually one from the mother and one from the father. Most somatic cells (body cells) of higher organisms are diploid or polyploid (three or more copies of each chromosome, oft species with a shattering ear and small seeds, making it difficult to harvest. The cultivated variant is Triticum monococcum.

Einkorn wheat was one of the earliest cultivated varieties of wheat. Kernels have been found in Epi-Paleolithic and early NeolithicThe Neolithic (Greek neos new, lithos stone, or "New Stone Age") is traditionally the last part of the stone age. The name was invented by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. It followed Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic and early Holo sites of the Fertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East incorporating present-day Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey. The term "Fertile Crescent" was coined by University of Chicago archeologist James Henr. It was first domesticated approximately 9000 years ago. Its cultivation decreased in the Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age is a period in a civilization's development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. The Bronze Age is part of the Three-age system for prehi and is considered a relic crop that is rarely planted today.

The cultivated variety is similar to the wild, except that the ear stays intact when ripe and the seeds are larger. All of these traits are essential for cultivation.