Shipping amphorae and shipping sheep? Livestock mobility in the north-east Iberian peninsula during the Iron Age based on strontium isotopic analyses of sheep and goat tooth enamel

Animal mobility is a common strategy to overcome scarcity of food and the related over-grazing of pastures. It is also essential to reduce the inbreeding rate of animal populations, which is known to have a negative impact on fertility and productivity. The present paper shows the geographic range of sheep provisioning in different phases of occupation at the Iron Age site of Turó de la Font de la Canya (7th to 3rd centuries BC). Strontium isotope ratios from 34 archaeological sheep and goat enamel, two archaeological bones and 14 modern tree leaves are presented. The isotopic results suggest that sheep and goats consumed at the site were reared locally (within a few kilometres radius) during the whole period of occupation. The paper discusses the isotopic results in light of the socio-political structure of this period, as complex, strongly territorial societies developed during the Iron Age in the north-east Iberian Peninsula

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All collapsed and paired-end sequence data for samples sequenced in this study are available in compressed fastq format through the European Nucleotide Archive under accession number PRJEB44430, together with rescaled and trimmed bam sequence alignments against both the nuclear and mitochondrial horse reference genomes. Previously published ancient data used in this study are available under accession numbers PRJEB7537, PRJEB10098, PRJEB10854, PRJEB22390 and PRJEB31613, and detailed in Supplementary Table 1. The genomes of ten modern horses, publicly available, were also accessed as indicated in their corresponding original publications57,61,85-87.NOTE: see the published version available via the DOI in this record for the full list of authorsDomestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 BC. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia and Anatolia, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 BC, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 BC driving the spread of Indo-European languages. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium BC Sintashta culture

The Origins and Spread of Domestic Horses from the Western Eurasian Steppes

Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association7 between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc8,9 driving the spread of Indo-European languages10. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture11,12. © 2021, The Author(s).We thank all members of the AGES group at CAGT. We are grateful for the Museum of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (UB RAS, Ekaterinburg) for providing specimens. The work by G. Boeskorov is done on state assignment of DPMGI SB RAS. This project was supported by the University Paul Sabatier IDEX Chaire d’Excellence (OURASI); Villum Funden miGENEPI research programme; the CNRS ‘Programme de Recherche Conjoint’ (PRC); the CNRS International Research Project (IRP AMADEUS); the France Génomique Appel à Grand Projet (ANR-10-INBS-09-08, BUCEPHALE project); IB10131 and IB18060, both funded by Junta de Extremadura (Spain) and European Regional Development Fund; Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO:67985912); the Zoological Institute ZIN RAS (АААА-А19-119032590102-7); and King Saud University Researchers Supporting Project (NSRSP–2020/2). The research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (19-59-15001 and 20-04-00213), the Russian Science Foundation (16-18-10265, 20-78-10151, and 21-18-00457), the Government of the Russian Federation (FENU-2020-0021), the Estonian Research Council (PRG29), the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (PRG1209), the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (Project NF 104792), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Momentum Mobility Research Project of the Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities); and the Polish National Science Centre (2013/11/B/HS3/03822). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (grant agreement 797449). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreements 681605, 716732 and 834616)

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia and Anatolia, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc driving the spread of Indo-European languages. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture

Data for: Livestock production, politics and trade: a glimpse from Iron Age and Roman Languedoc

Supplementary materialsFig. 1. Reconstruction of the probability density function for each site and period given the values detailed in table 4. Table 1. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Cattle of Monédière and Lattara . (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 2. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Cattle of Monédière and Lattara. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 3. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Sheep/Goat of Monédière and Lattara. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 4. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Sheep/Goat of Monédière and Lattara. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 5. Results Mann Mann-Whitney rest for the Strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr).Table 6. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Cattle of different sites. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value. Table 7. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Cattle of different sites. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 8. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lenghts values by the Sheep/Goat of different sites. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value. Table 9. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Sheep/Goat of different sites. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value

Data for: Livestock production, politics and trade: a glimpse from Iron Age and Roman Languedoc

Supplementary materialsFig. 1. Reconstruction of the probability density function for each site and period given the values detailed in table 4. Table 1. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Cattle of Monédière and Lattara . (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 2. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Cattle of Monédière and Lattara. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 3. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Sheep/Goat of Monédière and Lattara. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 4. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Sheep/Goat of Monédière and Lattara. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 5. Results Mann Mann-Whitney rest for the Strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr).Table 6. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lengths values by the Cattle of different sites. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value. Table 7. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Cattle of different sites. (In blue) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.Table 8. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone lenghts values by the Sheep/Goat of different sites. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value. Table 9. Results Mann-Whitney U test for the Comparison of the LSI bone widths values by the Sheep/Goat of different sites. (In green) Significant difference: *(0.05-0.01), **(0.01-0.001), ***(< 0.001) ; N= Non Significant difference (Wilcox test); NA= missing value.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Pre-Roman improvements to agricultural production: evidence from livestock husbandry in late prehistoric Italy

Domestication of wild cattle, sheep, and pigs began a process of body size diminution. In most of Western Europe this process continued across prehistory and was not reversed until the Roman period. However, in Italy, an increase in livestock body size occurred during the Iron Age, earlier than the Western provinces. In order to better understand the nature and timing of this early increase in animal size, this paper presents a detailed regional study of taxonomic abundance and biometric data from zooarchaeological assemblages recovered from the Po and Venetian-Friulian Plains in northern Italy. Our results demonstrate a high level of regionality in the choice of species exploited, with husbandry systems focused on different domesticates, as well as regional differences in animal size. However, despite significant variation in species frequencies, settlement structure, and epigraphic tradition, all areas with sufficient data demonstrate similar significant changes in livestock body size. Cattle and sheep increased incrementally in size prior to the Roman conquest in all regions considered; surprisingly, pigs continued to decrease in size throughout later prehistory. The incremental pace and pan-regional character of the size change in cattle and sheep suggests an internally motivated phenomenon rather than herd replacement with a new larger population, as might follow colonisation or conquest. The divergence in size trends for bovids and suids suggests a noteworthy change in cattle and sheep herding practices during the Iron Age or final centuries of the Bronze Age, in contrast with greater continuity in pig management. Our analysis provides a thorough zooarchaeological synthesis for northern Italy and, for the first time, demonstrates that both cattle and sheep increased in size outside of Roman territory well before the conquest of this area. This study offers a basis for future chemical analyses (DNA, isotopes), which will further investigate the cause(s) of livestock size changes in northern Italy

Systems change: investigating climatic and environmental impacts on livestock production in lowland Italy between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity (c. 1700 BC – AD 700)

Animal management is shaped by its environmental and landscape context, but these factors are rarely investigated quantitatively in zooarchaeological studies. Here we aim to examine the relationship between trends in zooarchaeological data and environmental and climatic dynamics between the Middle Bronze Age and Late Antiquity in lowland northern Italy (Po–Friulian Plain). This region provides an ideal test case to investigate the impact of landscape variables (precipitation, solar irradiance, elevation, soil characteristics) and climate evolution due to the area’s relatively homogenous topography and climatic conditions. This study presents a new elaboration and visualisation of zooarchaeological data from northern Italy, investigates correlations between these data and landscape variables, and contextualises trends in relation to regional environmental and climate proxies at two scales. This analysis reveals a shift towards more heterogeneous livestock on a regional level during the Late Iron Age and Roman period, and strong evidence for a correlation between cattle representation and local soil characteristics at a site-level during the Bronze Age. Consideration of environmental data shows little relationship between species representation, livestock body size, and climate proxies, indicating that human social dynamics rather than climate change were the primary driver to changes in animal management on the regional macro-scale

New trajectories or accelerating change? Zooarchaeological evidence for Roman transformation of animal husbandry in Northern Italy

Throughout the Western provinces of the Roman Empire, greater economic and political connectivity had a major impact on agricultural production, which grew in scale and specialisation after integration with the Roman state. However, uniquely in Western Europe, farming strategies in Italy began to evolve centuries before the Roman conquest, and many ‘Roman’ patterns associated with livestock size and the relative proportions of different taxa first emerged during the early and middle centuries of the first millennium BC. These changes imply a significant reorganisation of production strategies well before Roman hegemony, even in relatively marginal areas of Italy. Zooarchaeological studies have documented further significant changes to livestock production in Roman times, but the relationship between these developments and earlier trends remains unclear. Through analysis of zooarchaeological data for species representation and livestock biometry from lowland northern Italy (Po–Friulian Plain), this study investigates animal exploitation between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity in order to characterise the influence of Roman political and economic organisation on animal husbandry. Results demonstrated subregional variation in species representation, and different trajectories in the biometric evolution of cattle, sheep and goats, compared to pigs. Initial steps established in the Iron Age towards a more complex and dynamic livestock economy were accelerated and further reconfigured in Roman times, facilitated by Roman economic organisation and the specialised and large-scale production systems within it. Zooarchaeological trends continued to progress over the Roman period, until further changes at the very end of the chronology considered here—around the sixth century AD—suggest another wave of change

Resilience and livestock adaptations to demographic growth and technological change: A diachronic perspective from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity in NE Iberia

There are strong interactions between an economic system and its ecological context. In this sense, livestock have been an integral part of human economies since the Neolithic, contributing significantly to the creation and maintenance of agricultural anthropized landscapes. For this reason, in the frame of the ERC-StG project ’ZooMWest’ we collected and analyzed thousands of zooarchaeological data from NE Iberia. By considering these data in comparison with ecological indicators (archaeobotanical remains) and archaeological evidence (settlement characteristics and their distribution) this paper seeks to characterize changes in animal production and the relationship between people, livestock, and their environment. These methods allow for an investigation of the topic at different scales (site, zone, territory) with a broad diachronic perspective, and for consideration of orography and cultural traditions alongside climatic factors. Through this integration of various streams of evidence, we aim to better understand the structure of ancient economic systems and the way they conditioned human decision-making on animal production. Results show a shifting relationship with the territory between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity, in which market requirements and an economic model with a higher degree of integration increasingly influenced husbandry strategies. These processes are reflected in changes in land use and forms of territorial occupation, although along different rhythms and trajectories