Regional asynchronicity in dairy production and processing in early farming communities of the northern Mediterranean

In the absence of any direct evidence, the relative importance of meat and dairy productions to Neolithic prehistoric Mediterranean communities has been extensively debated. Here, we combine lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels with osteo-archaeological age-at-death analysis from 82 northern Mediterranean and Near Eastern sites dating from the seventh to fifth millennia BC to address this question. The findings show variable intensities in dairy and nondairy activities in the Mediterranean region with the slaughter profiles of domesticated ruminants mirroring the results of the organic residue analyses. The finding of milk residues in very early Neolithic pottery (seventh millennium BC) from both the east and west of the region contrasts with much lower intensities in sites of northern Greece, where pig bones are present in higher frequencies compared with other locations. In this region, the slaughter profiles of all domesticated ruminants suggest meat production predominated. Overall, it appears that milk or the by-products of milk was an important foodstuff, which may have contributed significantly to the spread of these cultural groups by providing a nourishing and sustainable product for early farming communities.

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Honey-collecting in prehistoric West Africa from 3500 years ago

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-22425-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Julie Dunne ◽

Alexa Höhn ◽

Gabriele Franke ◽

Katharina Neumann ◽

Peter Breunig ◽

...

Keyword(s):

West Africa ◽

Residue Analysis ◽

Fatty Acyl ◽

Prehistoric Pottery ◽

Alkanoic Acids ◽

Complex Lipid ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Early Farming ◽

Early Farmers ◽

Chemical Evidence

AbstractHoney and other bee products were likely a sought-after foodstuff for much of human history, with direct chemical evidence for beeswax identified in prehistoric ceramic vessels from Europe, the Near East and Mediterranean North Africa, from the 7th millennium BC. Historical and ethnographic literature from across Africa suggests bee products, honey and larvae, had considerable importance both as a food source and in the making of honey-based drinks. Here, to investigate this, we carry out lipid residue analysis of 458 prehistoric pottery vessels from the Nok culture, Nigeria, West Africa, an area where early farmers and foragers co-existed. We report complex lipid distributions, comprising n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters, which provide direct chemical evidence of bee product exploitation and processing, likely including honey-collecting, in over one third of lipid-yielding Nok ceramic vessels. These findings highlight the probable importance of honey collecting in an early farming context, around 3500 years ago, in West Africa.

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

10.1093/oso/9780199329199.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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.

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

Praehistorische Zeitschrift ◽

10.1515/pz-2020-0004 ◽

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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Residue Analysis of Cooking Vessels from Early Postclassic Xaltocan, Central Mexico

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/laq.2021.32 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Kristin De Lucia ◽

Linda Scott Cummings

Keyword(s):

Fourier Transform ◽

Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Sixteenth Century ◽

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Residue Analysis ◽

Food Preparation ◽

Central Mexico ◽

Early Postclassic ◽

Ceramic Vessels

This article examines the use of cooking vessels from Early Postclassic (AD 900–1250) Xaltocan, Mexico, through residue analysis of ceramic sherds. The analysis combined phytolith and starch analyses with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Because our understanding of prehispanic foodways in central Mexico is based largely on sources that describe or depict Aztec practices in the sixteenth century, we ask how foods were similar or different prior to the Aztecs. We also seek a better understanding of how plainware vessels were used in prehispanic times. Although there is long-term continuity in the preparation of foods such as tamales and corn gruels, we find that additional foods such as tuber-based stews were prepared in the Early Postclassic. In addition, some ceramic vessels, such as comales and crude bowls, had a wider range of food preparation functions than expected.

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Craniometric data support a mosaic model of demic and cultural Neolithic diffusion to outlying regions of Europe

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.2678 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 278 (1720) ◽

pp. 2874-2880 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel ◽

Ron Pinhasi

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Complete Replacement ◽

Cultural Elements ◽

Near Eastern ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Significant Gene ◽

Transition To Agriculture ◽

Outlying Regions

The extent to which the transition to agriculture in Europe was the result of biological (demic) diffusion from the Near East or the adoption of farming practices by indigenous hunter–gatherers is subject to continuing debate. Thus far, archaeological study and the analysis of modern and ancient European DNA have yielded inconclusive results regarding these hypotheses. Here we test these ideas using an extensive craniometric dataset representing 30 hunter–gatherer and farming populations. Pairwise population craniometric distance was compared with temporally controlled geographical models representing evolutionary hypotheses of biological and cultural transmission. The results show that, following the physical dispersal of Near Eastern/Anatolian farmers into central Europe, two biological lineages were established with limited gene flow between them. Farming communities spread across Europe, while hunter–gatherer communities located in outlying geographical regions adopted some cultural elements from the farmers. Therefore, the transition to farming in Europe did not involve the complete replacement of indigenous hunter–gatherer populations despite significant gene flow from the Southwest Asia. This study suggests that a mosaic process of dispersal of farmers and their ideas was operating in outlying regions of Europe, thereby reconciling previously conflicting results obtained from genetic and archaeological studies.

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