scholarly journals Dental calculus reveals Mesolithic foragers in the Balkans consumed domesticated plant foods

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (37) ◽  
pp. 10298-10303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Cristiani ◽  
Anita Radini ◽  
Marija Edinborough ◽  
Dušan Borić
Keyword(s):  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Dental Calculus ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Human Teeth ◽  
Plant Foods ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Researchers agree that domesticated plants were introduced into southeast Europe from southwest Asia as a part of a Neolithic “package,” which included domesticated animals and artifacts typical of farming communities. It is commonly believed that this package reached inland areas of the Balkans by ∼6200 calibrated (cal.) BC or later. Our analysis of the starch record entrapped in dental calculus of Mesolithic human teeth at the site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans provides direct evidence that already by ∼6600 cal. BC, if not earlier, Late Mesolithic foragers of this region consumed domestic cereals, such as Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccum, and Hordeum distichon, which were also the main crops found among Early Neolithic communities of southeast Europe. We infer that “exotic” Neolithic domesticated plants were introduced to southern Europe independently almost half a millennium earlier than previously thought, through networks that enabled exchanges between inland Mesolithic foragers and early farming groups found along the Aegean coast of Turkey.

6600–6000 cal BC Abrupt Climate Change and Neolithic Dispersal from West Asia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Weninger ◽  
Lee Clare
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Abrupt Climate Change ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
New Hypothesis

Recent advances in palaeoclimatological and meteorological research, combined with new radiocarbon data from western Anatolia and southeast Europe, lead us to formulate a new hypothesis for the temporal and spatial dispersal of Neolithic lifeways from their core areas of genesis. The new hypothesis, which we term the Abrupt Climate Change (ACC) Neolithization Model, incorporates a number of insights from modern vulnerability theory. We focus here on the Late Neolithic (Anatolian terminology), which is followed in the Balkans by the Early Neolithic (European terminology). From high-resolution 14C-case studies, we infer an initial (very rapid) west-directed movement of early farming communities out of the Central Anatolian Plateau towards the Turkish Aegean littoral. This move is exactly in phase (decadal scale) with the onset of ACC conditions (~6600 cal BC). Upon reaching the Aegean coastline, Neolithic dispersal comes to a halt. It is not until some 500 years later—that is, at the close of cumulative ACC and 8.2 ka cal BP Hudson Bay cold conditions—that there occurs a second abrupt movement of farming communities into Southeast Europe, as far as the Pannonian Basin. The spread of early farming from Anatolia into eastern Central Europe is best explained as Neolithic communities’ mitigation of biophysical and social vulnerability to natural (climate-induced) hazards.

scholarly journals Regional diversity in subsistence among early farmers in Southeast Europe revealed by archaeological organic residues

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1894) ◽  
pp. 20182347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy J. E. Cramp ◽  
Jonathan Ethier ◽  
Dushka Urem-Kotsou ◽  
Clive Bonsall ◽  
Dušan Borić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Residues ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Transformative Process ◽  
Climatic Range ◽  
Early Farmers ◽  
Early Pottery ◽  
Neolithic Pottery

The spread of early farming across Europe from its origins in Southwest Asia was a culturally transformative process which took place over millennia. Within regions, the pace of the transition was probably related to the particular climatic and environmental conditions encountered, as well as the nature of localized hunter–gatherer and farmer interactions. The establishment of farming in the interior of the Balkans represents the first movement of Southwest Asian livestock beyond their natural climatic range, and widespread evidence now exists for early pottery being used extensively for dairying. However, pottery lipid residues from sites in the Iron Gates region of the Danube in the northern Balkans show that here, Neolithic pottery was being used predominantly for processing aquatic resources. This stands out not only within the surrounding region but also contrasts markedly with Neolithic pottery use across wider Europe. These findings provide evidence for the strategic diversity within the wider cultural and economic practices during the Neolithic, with this exceptional environmental and cultural setting offering alternative opportunities despite the dominance of farming in the wider region.

scholarly journals Seasonal calving in European Prehistoric cattle and its impacts on milk availability and cheese-making

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Balasse ◽  
Rosalind Gillis ◽  
Ivana Živaljević ◽  
Rémi Berthon ◽  
Lenka Kovačiková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Cheese Making ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Stable Oxygen ◽  
Neolithic Europe

AbstractPresent-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.

scholarly journals Temporal dynamics of Linearbandkeramik houses and settlements, and their implications for detecting the environmental impact of early farming

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1653-1670 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Meadows ◽  
Nils Müller-Scheeßel ◽  
Ivan Cheben ◽  
Helene Agerskov Rose ◽  
Martin Furholt
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Temporal Relationships ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Geophysical Prospection

Long-held ideas concerning early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlements in central Europe have been thoroughly challenged in recent years, for example, regarding their internal organisation or the use-life of individual houses. These topics have now also been addressed with the help of large radiocarbon (14C) datasets. In the light of this discussion, we present findings of our ongoing research at Vráble in south-western Slovakia. Intensive prospection by fieldwalking, geophysics and sedimentology, complemented by targeted excavations and archaeobotanical investigations, aims to unravel social and temporal relationships between three adjacent LBK settlements. A total of 23 of the c.300 houses revealed by geophysical prospection have been dated. Bayesian chronological modelling of this dataset, comprising 109 14C ages from 104 samples, indicates that the three LBK settlements at Vráble coexisted, and that overall the LBK settlement lasted for c. 200–300 years. Our results imply a ‘short’ use-life for individual houses (median c.20–30 y), suggesting that relatively few houses were inhabited simultaneously. Our data suggest that the overall LBK population at Vráble might have increased over the course of occupation, but probably never exceeded 200–300 individuals, based on the number of houses that could have been occupied contemporaneously. We compare the Vráble evidence with Bayesian chronologies for other LBK sites, and discuss the implications of these findings for models of population agglomeration and recognising the environmental impact of early farming communities.

scholarly journals Wild cereal grain consumption among Early Holocene foragers of the Balkans predates the arrival of agriculture

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Cristiani ◽  
Anita Radini ◽  
Andrea Zupancich ◽  
Angelo Gismondi ◽  
Alessia D'Agostino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Dental Calculus ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Grain Processing ◽  
Ground Stone ◽  
Cereal Grain ◽  
Wild Cereals ◽  
Plant Processing ◽  
Cereal Plants

Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. This zone was inhabited by likely complex Holocene foragers for several millennia before the appearance of the first farmers ~6200 cal BC. We also analyzed forager ground stone tools for evidence of plant processing. Our results based on the study of dental calculus show that certain species of Poaceae (species of the genus Aegilops) were used since the Early Mesolithic, while ground stone tools exhibit traces of a developed grass grain processing technology. The adoption of domesticated plants in this region after ~6500 cal BC might have been eased by the existing familiarity with wild cereals.

scholarly journals Early Neolithic jar burials in southeast Europe: a comparative approach

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krum Bacvarov
Keyword(s):  
Core Area ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
East Europe ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
In The Beginning

A typical product of early farming symbolism, jar burial, appeared in the beginning of southeast European Neolithization. Early jar burial development in south-east Europe displays two distinct chronological levels: an early Neolithic core area in the Struma and Vardar valleys and the western Rhodope, and later, late/final Neolithic and/or early Chalcolithic – depending on local terminology – manifestations ‘scattered’ in various places in the study area. It is the early chronological level of jar burial distribution that will be considered here in relation to the first expressions of these mortuary practices in Central Anatolia, in order to throw some light on the specifics of their origins and variability.

The importance of stock herding and dairying in the Neolithic Balkans and the subsistence diversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darko Stojanovski ◽  
Ivana Živaljević ◽  
Vesna Dimitrijević ◽  
Julie Dunne ◽  
Richard Evershed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Milk Proteins ◽  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Dental Calculus ◽  
Isotopic Study ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
New Information ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Ceramic Vessels

The application of biomolecular techniques to archaeological materials from the Balkans is providing valuable new information on the prehistory of the region. This is especially relevant for the study of the neolithisation process in SE Europe, which gradually affected the rest of the continent. Here, to answer questions regarding diet and subsistence practices in early farming societies, we combine organic residue analyses of archaeological pottery, taxonomic and isotopic study of domestic animal remains and biomolecular analyses of human dental calculus. The results from the analyses of the lipid residues from pottery suggest that milk was processed in ceramic vessels. Dairy products were shown to be part of the subsistence strategies of the earliest Neolithic communities in the region but were of varying importance in different areas of the Balkan. On the other hand, we did not confidently detect any milk proteins within the dental calculus. The molecular and isotopic identification of meat, dairy, plants and beeswax in the pottery lipids also provided insights into the diversity of diet in these early Neolithic communities. We also present the first compound-specific radiocarbon dates for the region, obtained directly on absorbed organic residues extracted from pottery, identified as dairy lipids.

scholarly journals Russia’s Foreign Policy Evolution in the New Balkan Landscape

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Entina ◽  
Alexander Pivovarenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Difference

The article reflects on the issue of the foreign policy strategy of modern Russia in the Balkans region. One of the most significant aspects of this problem is the difference in views between Russia and the West. Authors show how different interpretations of the events in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s predetermined the sense of mutual suspicion and mistrust which spread to other regions such as the post-Soviet space. Exploring differences between the Russian and the Western (Euro-Atlantic) views on the current matters, authors draw attention to fundamental differences in terminology: while the Western narrative promotes more narrow geographical and political definitions (such as the Western Balkan Six), traditional Russian experts are more inclined to wider or integral definitions such as “the Balkans” and “Central and Southeast Europe”. Meanwhile none of these terms are applicable for analysis of the current trends such as the growing transit role of the Balkans region and its embedding in the European regional security architecture. Therefore, a new definition is needed to overcome the differences in vision and better understand significant recent developments in the region. Conceptualizing major foreign policy events in Central and Southeast Europe during the last three decades (the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s), authors demonstrate the significance of differences in tools and methods between the Soviet Union and the modern Russia. Permanent need for adaptation to changing political and security context led to inconsistence in Russian Balkan policy in the 1990s. Nevertheless, Russia was able to preserve an integral vision of the region and even to elaborate new transregional constructive projects, which in right political circumstances may promote stability and become beneficial for both Russia and the Euro-Atlantic community.

scholarly journals Herbivore diets and the anthropogenic environment of early farming in southern Scandinavia

The Holocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt J Gron ◽  
Peter Rowley-Conwy
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Human Influence ◽  
Domestic Species ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Dietary Variation ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Feeding Environments

Farming practice in the first period of the southern Scandinavian Neolithic (Early Neolithic I, Funnel Beaker Culture, 3950–3500 cal. BC) is not well understood. Despite the presence of the first farmers and their domesticated plants and animals, little evidence of profound changes to the landscape such as widespread deforestation has emerged from this crucial early period. Bone collagen dietary stable isotope ratios of wild herbivores from southern Scandinavia are here analysed in order to determine the expected range of dietary variation across the landscape. Coupled with previously published isotope data, differences in dietary variation between wild and domestic species indicate strong human influence on the choice and creation of feeding environments for cattle. In context with palynological and zooarchaeological data, we demonstrate that a human-built agricultural environment was present from the outset of farming in the region, and such a pattern is consistent with the process by which expansion agriculture moves into previously unfarmed regions.

In the light of new data: The population of the first farming communities in the eastern Marmara region

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-77
Author(s):  
M. Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg ◽  
Jacob Roodenberg
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Data ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Marmara Region ◽  
Sea Of Marmara ◽  
Degenerative Arthritis ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
High Infant Mortality ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Attitude Toward Death ◽  
Early Farmers

AbstractFollowing on from a few decades of osteological analysis this study presents an assessment of the data retrieved from human population samples provided by four early farming sites, namely Ilıpınar, Menteşe, Barcın and Aktopraklık, located in the lake basins southeast of the Sea of Marmara. It highlights various aspects of that population such as demographic data, health, trauma, and ancient people’s attitude toward death. The research aims to identify and discuss similarities and dissimilarities between the studied Neolithic settlements in this region, especially with regard to paleo-demographic data and the use of violence. With exception of a small group of burials at Aktopraklık that contrasted with regular inhumations, it seems that mortuary practices barely differed from one community to another, and transcended across regional boundaries. The use of wooden planks covering the bottom of grave pits, which were first discovered at Ilıpınar, may serve as an example. Early farmers of the eastern Marmara region suffered mostly from joint diseases and degenerative arthritis. Their life expectancy was similar for adults of both sexes, at between 25–40 years, while two of the four communities showed high infant mortality.

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