An integrated stable isotope study of plants and animals from Kouphovouno, southern Greece: a new look at Neolithic farming

This paper presents the first study that combines the use of ancient crop and animal stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) and Zooarchaeology Mass Spectrometry species identification (ZooMS) for reconstructing early farming practices at Kouphovouno, a Middle–Late Neolithic village in southern Greece (c. 5950–4500 cal. BC). Debate surrounding the nature of early farming predominantly revolves around the intensity of crop cultivation: did early farmers move around the landscape while practicing temporary farming methods such as slash and burn agriculture or did they create more permanent fields by investing high labor inputs into smaller pieces of land that produced higher crop yields? The need to address these questions using a direct assessment of the intensity and scale of cultivation is apparent, and an integrated stable isotope approach provides such an opportunity. The results of this study support the model of small-scale mixed farming, where crop cultivation and animal husbandry are closely integrated. The farmers directed their intensive management towards crops grown for human consumption (free-threshing wheat), while growing fodder crop (hulled barley) more extensively. Pulses were cultivated under a high-manuring/high-watering regime, likely in garden plots in rotation with free-threshing wheat. The diets of the livestock enable us to investigate which parts of the landscape were used for browsing and grazing and indicate that animal management changed in the Late Neolithic. The sheep and goats were now kept in smaller numbers and grazed together and new pasture grasses may have been sought for the grazing of cattle. This study demonstrates that beyond its applicability for palaeodietary reconstruction, analysis of stable isotopes of archaeological crop and animal remains has important implications for understanding the relationship between humans, plants and animals in an archaeological context

Localized management of non-indigenous animal domesticates in Northwestern China during the Bronze Age.

The movements of ancient crop and animal domesticates across prehistoric Eurasia are well-documented in the archaeological record. What is less well understood are the precise mechanisms that farmers and herders employed to incorporate newly introduced domesticates into their long-standing husbandry and culinary traditions. This paper presents stable isotope values (δ13C, δ15N) of humans, animals, and a small number of plants from the Hexi Corridor, a key region that facilitated the movement of ancient crops between Central and East Asia. The data show that the role of animal products in human diets was more significant than previously thought. In addition, the diets of domestic herbivores (sheep/goat, and cattle) suggest that these two groups of domesticates were managed in distinct ways in the two main ecozones of the Hexi Corridor: the drier Northwestern region and the wetter Southeastern region. Whereas sheep and goat diets are consistent with consumption of naturally available vegetation, cattle exhibit a higher input of C4 plants in places where these plants contributed little to the natural vegetation. This suggests that cattle consumed diets that were more influenced by human provisioning, and may therefore have been reared closer to the human settlements, than sheep and goats

Past rainfall patterns in Southeast Asia revealed by microanalysis of δ18O values in human teeth

Funding Information: Technical assistance was provided by Kamil Sokolowski and Brian Tse at the Preclinical Imaging Core Facility at the Translational Research Institute, funding support for which came from Therapeutic Innovation Australia, under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. Histological preparation and SHRIMP analyses were funded by the Australian Academy of Sciences Regional Collaborations Program; Project ‘Tracing Ancient Environments During the Peopling of Southeast Asia’ (BCC 2017/2305974; Co-PIS: TM Smith, IS Williams, HR Buckley, DR Green) and the Australian Research Council (Future Fellowship FT200100390, PI: TM Smith). The excavation of the Pain Haka site was funded by a grant from the Research Institute for Development, UMR Paloc, and by additional funding from the French Embassy in Indonesia and a University of Otago Research Grant. Regarding the Napa material we thank Mr Ermilando Napa; Captain Leopoldo Quindoza of Barangay Tuhian and the Barangay council; the Sitio Buhangin community; and Jeremy Barns and Angel Bautista of the National Museum of the Philippines. With respect to the Con Co Ngua material grant sponsors included the Australian Research Council DP110101097, FT120100299, FT100100527, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 16H02527. Two living tooth donors and their families are also acknowledged with gratitude for their contributions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Neolithic agricultural management in the Eastern Mediterranean: new insight from a multi-isotope approach

The work presented in this dissertation explores the nature of agro-pastoral strategies developed by Neolithic farmers as a way to understand how early food production was inter-twined with environmental and socio-economic opportunities and constraints. Towards this end, a multi-isotope approach is used to address questions of scale and intensity of crop cultivation and animal management at the archaeological sites of Kouphovouno, southern Greece, Makriyalos, northern Greece, and Çatalhöyük, south-central Turkey. Measurements of stable carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope values of carbonized plant remains, human and animal bone collagen and animal tooth enamel are used to examine the similarities and differences in the types of treatments that individual species of plants and animals received during the agricultural cycle at the distinct locations. The results show that farmers at the three sites developed variable methods for exploiting the arable and pastoral landscape and catering to their economic and culinary needs. The discussion considers the implications of these findings to our understanding of the complexity and adaptability of early farming systems.</p

Statistical Reform in Archaeology

This is a collaborative research hub for the discussion group 'Statistical Reform in Archaeology' based at the Australian National University

Neolithic agricultural management in the Eastern Mediterranean: new insight from a multi-isotope approach

The work presented in this dissertation explores the nature of agro-pastoral strategies developed by Neolithic farmers as a way to understand how early food production was inter-twined with environmental and socio-economic opportunities and constraints. Towards this end, a multi-isotope approach is used to address questions of scale and intensity of crop cultivation and animal management at the archaeological sites of Kouphovouno, southern Greece, Makriyalos, northern Greece, and Ãatalhöyük, south-central Turkey. Measurements of stable carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope values of carbonized plant remains, human and animal bone collagen and animal tooth enamel are used to examine the similarities and differences in the types of treatments that individual species of plants and animals received during the agricultural cycle at the distinct locations. The results show that farmers at the three sites developed variable methods for exploiting the arable and pastoral landscape and catering to their economic and culinary needs. The discussion considers the implications of these findings to our understanding of the complexity and adaptability of early farming systems.</p