The Jericho site produced early evidence of barley cultivation.

Evidence of barley cultivation in ancient northern American has been found near the Great Lakes .

Hordeum pusillum was unknown in Mesoamerica, where there is no evidence of pre-Columbian barley cultivation.

Colonization started about 10500 years ago, whereas neolithization started about 6500 years ago and was dominated by cattle culture with some wheat and minor barley cultivation.

Barley is more tolerant of soil salinity than wheat, which might explain the increase of barley cultivation in Mesopotamia from the second millennium BC onwards.

In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death, and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting.