89 research outputs found
Introduction to the Special Issue: "Introduction and intensification of agriculture in Central Eurasia and adjacent regions"
For well over a century, scholars from across the social and biological
sciences have been trying to understand the origins and spread of agriculture.
This debate is often intertwined with discussions of climate change and human
environmental impact. Over the past decade, this debate has spread into
Central Eurasia, from western China to Ukraine and southern Russia to
Turkmenistan, a part of the world often thought to have been largely dominated
by pastoralists. A growing interest in the prehistory of Central Eurasia has
spurred a new chapter in the origins of agriculture debate; archaeobotanical
research is showing how important farming practices in this region were in
regard to the spread of crops across the Old World. While early people living
in Central Eurasia played an influential role in shaping human history, there
is still limited understanding of the trajectories of social evolution among
these populations. In March 2015, 30 leading scholars from around the globe
came together in Berlin, Germany, to discuss the introduction and
intensification of agriculture in Central Eurasia and adjacent regions. At the
German Archaeological Institute in Berlin (Deutsches ArchÀologisches Institut,
DAI), these scholars presented novel data on topics covering East, South, and
Central Asia, spanning a wide realm of methodological approaches. The present
special edition volume deals with a selection of the papers given at this
conference, and it marks a significant step toward recognizing the
contribution of Central Eurasian populations in the spread and development of
agricultural systems over the course of the Holocene
An overview
A total of 51,074 archaeological sites from the early Neolithic to the early
Iron Age (c. 8000â500 BC), with a spatial extent covering most regions of
China (c. 73â131°E and c. 20â53°N), were analysed over space and time in this
study. Site maps of 25 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities, published in the series âAtlas of Chinese Cultural Relicsâ,
were used to extract, digitalise and correlate its archaeological data. The
data were, in turn, entered into a database using a self-developed mapping
software that makes the data, in a dynamic way, analysable as a contribution
to various scientific questions, such as population growth and migrations,
spread of agriculture and changes in subsistence strategies. The results
clearly show asynchronous patterns of changes between the northern and
southern parts of China (i.e. north and south of the Yangtze River,
respectively) but also within these macro-regions. In the northern part of
China (i.e. along the Yellow River and its tributaries and in the Xiliao River
basin), the first noticeable increase in the concentration of Neolithic sites
occurred between c. 5000 and 4000 BC; however, highest site concentrations
were reached between c. 2000 and 500 BC. Our analysis shows a radical north-
eastern shift of high site-density clusters (over 50 sites per 100âĂâ100âkm
grid cell) from the Wei and middle/lower Yellow Rivers to the Liao River
system sometime between 2350 BC and 1750 BC. This shift is hypothetically
discussed in the context of the incorporation of West Asian domesticated
animals and plants into the existing northern Chinese agricultural system. In
the southern part of China, archaeological sites do not show a noticeable
increase in the absolute number of sites until after c. 1500 BC, reaching a
maximum around 1000 BC
Volksrepublik China: Silk Road Fashion: Textile FlÀchenbildung und Verschlusstechniken
The well-preserved outfit of a ca. 40 year old horse rider who was excavated at Yanghai burial site near Turfan, Autonomous Region of Uyghur Xinjiang, P.R. China, provides the unique opportunity to study 3000 year old textile structures and manufacturing techniques. By in-depth research and confirmation through experimental reconstruction of garments we discovered twill, kilim and a particular type of weft twining (Taniko) have been applied in producing the manâs trousers. We paid special attention to plaited bands which served to close the garments: waist belt and bands for fastening the boots. First tests showed that intertwined sprang might have been used. Our results corroborate that techniques were intentionally chosen to produce a certain functionally and aesthetically desired material quality and ornament
New evidence for ball games in Eurasia from ca. 3000-year-old Yanghai tombs in the Turfan depression of Northwest China
Three leather balls discovered in tombs IM157, IM209, and IM214 of the prehistoric Yanghai cemetery (42 degrees 48'N, 89 degrees 39'E) located about 43 km southeast of the modern city of Turfan, were AMS radiocarbon dated to the time interval between 1189 and 911 BCE (95% probability), and thus predate other currently known antique balls and images of ball games in Eurasia by several centuries. Our study approves the antiquity of the Yanghai balls, but the available data is not enough to answer the question how these balls were played. Although, their use in team and goal sport is likely, a suggested game similar to hockey, golf or polo cannot be confirmed, because no appropriate sticks were found in direct association with the balls. The affiliation of curved wooden sticks in Yanghai with ball games suggested earlier remains hypothetical, as all found sticks are noticeably younger in age, and other forms of use should be verified by future studies. Two of the three balls were found in the burials of the possible horse riders. Given that ball games from ancient times were considered an excellent form of physical exercise and military training, we suggest that balls (and ball games) appeared in the region at the same time as horseback riding and mounted warfare began to spread in the eastern part of Central Asia
Yanghai, China. Neues zur Geschichte der Bekleidungstechnologie. Die Erfindung von Wirkerei auf Köper. Projekt »Silk Road Fashion«. Die Arbeiten der Jahre 2020 und 2021
Ancient knowledge of the textile production belongs to the worldâs intangible cultural heritage and shapes the appearance of most people worldwide when used for clothing. However, their ancient roots can seldom be studied because archaeological textiles and looms on which they were produced decay in most environments without trace. This report presents highlight results of fabric techniques of the wool garments of the âșTurfan manâč, buried ca.âŻ1200â1000âŻBCE at Yanghai, located in the Turfan oasis in Northwest China. The studied textiles are local products showing advancements of wool technologies developed in the southern (tapestry) and northern (twill) parts of West Asia, which were transferred and further refined by woolworkers via as of yet uÂnknown areas in central and northern Eurasia. From clues of the textiles, the possible design of the weaving device was inferred
Archaeobotanical evidence of plant cultivation from the Sanbaopi site in south-western Taiwan during the Late Neolithic and Metal Age
Despite decades of lively debate about Taiwanâs role in the spread of early agriculture, crops and cultivation practices to the Indo-Pacific region, there is little archaeobotanical data from the island. Here we present the first directly dated and systematically analysed macrobotanical records from Taiwan obtained by flotation at the archaeological site Sanbaopi 5 (23°07âČ03âČâČN, 120°15âČ32âČâČE), representing the Dahu (1400 BCEâ100 CE) and Niaosong (100â1400 CE) culture periods. The results suggest that Middle Dahu (900â100 BCE) communities in the study area practiced rainfed crop cultivation with mainly foxtail (Setaria italica) and broomcorn (Panicum miliaceum) millet and rice (Oryza sativa). Pulses (Vigna angularis, Glycine soja/max) were also part of the subsistence of local farmers and used as supplementary food and/or green manure. The archaeobotanical record together with archaeological site data for prehistoric China substantiates evidence that the Dahu culture originates in the Lower Yellow River region and migrated to Taiwan along the East China Sea coast. The emergence of the Dahu culture coincided with the spread of mixed millet-rice farming to the Korean Peninsula and Japan and was possibly related to enhanced economic and political expansion of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties and the long-term weakening of summer monsoon precipitation. Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) and mung bean (V. radiata var. radiata) assemblages from the sixth century CE Niaosong period highlight the influx of goods, crops, knowledge and people from South and Southeast Asia via southern routes in the context of enhanced exchange across the South China Sea region
Holocene vegetation and climate history in Baikal Siberia reconstructed from pollen records and its implications for archaeology
Past research has greatly improved our understanding of palaeoenvironmental changes in the Lake Baikal Region, but at the same time has indicated intra-regional variations in this vast study area. Here we present a new AMS-dated late glacial-middle Holocene (ca. 13,500-4000 cal. yr BP) pollen record from Lake Ochaul (54 degrees 14'N, 106 degrees 28'E; altitude 641 m a.s.l.) situated in the less-studied area of Cis-Baikal and compare reconstructed vegetation and climate dynamics with the published environmental history of Trans-Baikal based on the pollen record from Lake Kotokel (52 degrees 47'N, 108 degrees 07'E; altitude 458 m a.s.l.). Although both records show comparable major long-term trends in vegetation, there are considerable differences. Around Ochaul the landscape was relatively open during the Younger Dryas stadial, but forest vegetation started to spread at the late glacial/Holocene transition (ca. 11,650 cal. yr BP), thus ca. 1000 years earlier than around Kotokel. While in both regions taiga forests spread during the early and middle Holocene, the marked increase in Scots pine pollen in the Kotokel record after ca. 6800 cal. yr BP is not seen in that from Ochaul, where birch and coniferous taxa, such as Siberian pine, larch, spruce and fir, dominate, indicating different environmental conditions and driving forces in both study regions. However, the pollen data from Ochaul emphasizes that the Cis-Baikal area also saw a continuous increase in forest cover and in the proportion of conifers over birch trees and shrubs during the early-middle Holocene, which may have contributed to a decrease in the number of large herbivores, the main food resource of the Early Neolithic hunter-gatherer groups. This and rather abrupt reorganization of atmospheric circulation, which affected atmospheric precipitation distribution resulting in thicker and longer-lasting snow cover, may have led to a collapse of Early Neolithic Kitoi populations ca. 6660 cal. yr BP followed by a cultural "hiatus" in the archaeological records during the Middle Neolithic phase (ca. 6660-6060 cal. yr BP). The results stress the importance of sub-regional palaeoenvironmental studies and the need for a representative network of well-dated, high-resolution sediment archives for a better understanding of environmental changes and their potential impacts on the hunter-gatherer populations in the archaeologically-defined micro-regions
Ancient DNA identification of domestic animals used for leather objects in Central Asia during the Bronze Age
The arid climate of many regions within Central Asia often leads to excellent
archaeological preservation, especially in sealed funerary contexts, allowing
for ancient DNA analyses. While geneticists have looked at human remains,
clothes, tools, and other burial objects are often neglected. In this paper,
we present the results of an ancient DNA study on Bronze Age leather objects
excavated from tombs of the Wupu cemetery in the Hami Oasis and Yanghai
cemetery in the Turpan Oasis, both in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of
northwestern China. In addition to species identification of goat (Capra
aegagrus/hircus), sheep (Ovis orientalis/aries), and cattle (Bos
primigenius/taurus), mitochondrial haplogroups were determined for several
samples. Our results show that Bronze Age domesticated goats and sheep from
the Hami and Turpan oases possessed identical or closely related haplotypes to
modern domestic animals of this area. The absence of leather produced from
wild animals emphasizes the importance of animal husbandry in the cultures of
Wupu and Yanghai
The earliest directly dated saddle for horse-riding from a mid-1st millennium BCE female burial in Northwest China
The invention of the saddle substantially improved horseback-riding, which not only revolutionized warfare, but also eased long-distance speedy movement across Eurasia. Here we present the first detailed construction analysis and absolute age determination of a well-preserved soft leather saddle recovered from the tomb of a female deceased at the Yanghai cemetery site in the Turfan Basin at the eastern end of the Tian Shan mountains. Compared with the oldest known saddle from the Scythian Pazyryk culture site Tuekta barrow no. 1 (430â420 BCE) in north-western Altai, the Yanghai specimen radiocarbon dated to 727â396 BCE (95.4% probability range) is contemporaneous or possibly older. The saddle features the basic elements of soft saddle construction that are still used today: two stuffed, wing-shaped hides sewn together along the outer edges and separated by a central gullet-like spacer and lens-shaped support elements, resembling knee and thigh rolls of modern saddles. Being a masterful piece of leather- and needlework, it is, however, less complex compared to Scythian saddles from the 5thâ3rd centuries BCE. Another specimen from nearby Subeixi site, which is also described in detail for the first time in the present study, much closer resembles the Pazyryk saddles in shape, size and structure. In Yanghai, equestrian paraphernalia appear in the grave assemblages during the entire burial period (ca. 1300 BCE to 200 CE), although in higher numbers only from ca. 300 BCE. In the same way, the burial of horses was not common until then. Despite the generally very good preservation of leather, only two saddles were discovered in Yanghai which makes them an exception rather than the norm and raises the question of whether these saddles were acquired from more specialized horse breeders, riders, and saddlers in the North
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5thâ10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter-gatherer economies
This paper discusses archaeobotanical remains of naked barley recovered from
the Okhotsk cultural layers of the Hamanaka 2 archaeological site on Rebun
Island, northern Japan. Calibrated ages (68% confidence interval) of the
directly dated barley remains suggest that the crop was used at the site ca.
440â890 cal yr AD. Together with the finds from the Oumu site (north-eastern
Hokkaido Island), the recovered seed assemblage marks the oldest well-
documented evidence for the use of barley in the Hokkaido Region. The
archaeobotanical data together with the results of a detailed pollen analysis
of contemporaneous sediment layers from the bottom of nearby Lake Kushu point
to low-level food production, including cultivation of barley and possible
management of wild plants that complemented a wide range of foods derived from
hunting, fishing, and gathering. This qualifies the people of the Okhotsk
culture as one element of the long-term and spatially broader Holocene
hunterâgatherer cultural complex (including also Jomon, Epi-Jomon, Satsumon,
and Ainu cultures) of the Japanese archipelago, which may be placed somewhere
between the traditionally accepted boundaries between foraging and
agriculture. To our knowledge, the archaeobotanical assemblages from the
Hokkaido Okhotsk culture sites highlight the north-eastern limit of
prehistoric barley dispersal. Seed morphological characteristics identify two
different barley phenotypes in the Hokkaido Region. One compact type (naked
barley) associated with the Okhotsk culture and a less compact type (hulled
barley) associated with EarlyâMiddle Satsumon culture sites. This supports
earlier suggestions that the âSatsumon typeâ barley was likely propagated by
the expansion of the Yayoi culture via south-western Japan, while the âOkhotsk
typeâ spread from the continental Russian Far East region, across the Sea of
Japan. After the two phenotypes were independently introduced to Hokkaido, the
boundary between both barley domains possibly existed ca. 600â1000 cal yr AD
across the island region. Despite a large body of studies and numerous
theoretical and conceptual debates, the question of how to differentiate
between hunterâgatherer and farming economies persists reflecting the wide
range of dynamic subsistence strategies used by humans through the Holocene.
Our current study contributes to the ongoing discussion of this important
issue
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