scholarly journals Early agriculture and crop transmission among Bronze Age mobile pastoralists of Central Eurasia

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1783) ◽  
pp. 20133382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Spengler ◽  
Michael Frachetti ◽  
Paula Doumani ◽  
Lynne Rouse ◽  
Barbara Cerasetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Seed Morphology ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Early Agriculture ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
Regional Interaction ◽  
The Third ◽  
Central Eurasia ◽  
Mobile Pastoralists ◽  
Desert Regions

Archaeological research in Central Eurasia is exposing unprecedented scales of trans-regional interaction and technology transfer between East Asia and southwest Asia deep into the prehistoric past. This article presents a new archaeobotanical analysis from pastoralist campsites in the mountain and desert regions of Central Eurasia that documents the oldest known evidence for domesticated grains and farming among seasonally mobile herders. Carbonized grains from the sites of Tasbas and Begash illustrate the first transmission of southwest Asian and East Asian domesticated grains into the mountains of Inner Asia in the early third millennium BC. By the middle second millennium BC, seasonal camps in the mountains and deserts illustrate that Eurasian herders incorporated the cultivation of millet, wheat, barley and legumes into their subsistence strategy. These findings push back the chronology for domesticated plant use among Central Eurasian pastoralists by approximately 2000 years. Given the geography, chronology and seed morphology of these data, we argue that mobile pastoralists were key agents in the spread of crop repertoires and the transformation of agricultural economies across Asia from the third to the second millennium BC.

scholarly journals Early integration of pastoralism and millet cultivation in Bronze Age Eurasia

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1910) ◽  
pp. 20191273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor R. Hermes ◽  
Michael D. Frachetti ◽  
Paula N. Doumani Dupuy ◽  
Alexei Mar'yashev ◽  
Almut Nebel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Early Integration ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
Plant Cultivation ◽  
Mobile Pastoralists ◽  
Stable Isotopic ◽  
Initial Transmission

Mobile pastoralists are thought to have facilitated the first trans-Eurasian dispersals of domesticated plants during the Early Bronze Age ( ca 2500–2300 BC). Problematically, the earliest seeds of wheat, barley and millet in Inner Asia were recovered from human mortuary contexts and do not inform on local cultivation or subsistence use, while contemporaneous evidence for the use and management of domesticated livestock in the region remains ambiguous. We analysed mitochondrial DNA and multi-stable isotopic ratios (δ 13 C, δ 15 N and δ 18 O) of faunal remains from key pastoralist sites in the Dzhungar Mountains of southeastern Kazakhstan. At ca 2700 BC, Near Eastern domesticated sheep and goat were present at the settlement of Dali, which were also winter foddered with the region's earliest cultivated millet spreading from its centre of domestication in northern China. In the following centuries, millet cultivation and caprine management became increasingly intertwined at the nearby site of Begash. Cattle, on the other hand, received low levels of millet fodder at the sites for millennia. By primarily examining livestock dietary intake, this study reveals that the initial transmission of millet across the mountains of Inner Asia coincided with a substantial connection between pastoralism and plant cultivation, suggesting that pastoralist livestock herding was integral for the westward dispersal of millet from farming societies in China.

Bronze Age textile evidence in ceramic impressions: weaving and pottery technology among mobile pastoralists of central Eurasia

Antiquity ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (332) ◽  
pp. 368-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula N. Doumani ◽  
Michael D. Frachetti
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Pottery Technology ◽  
Central Eurasia ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Mobile Pastoralists ◽  
The Bronze Age

Textiles are powerful indicators of technology and contact, as the authors show for the peoples of the Bronze Age central Asian steppes. In this case the textiles are mainly missing, but have left their imprints on the surface of the inside of pots, captured when otherwise redundant cloths were used to paddle or jacket the clay before hardening and firing. A good supply of old cloths seems to have been part of a potters' equipment and some were used several times. The authors analyse and date the fibres and weaves to give an indication of changing cultural context through the Bronze Age.

A Neolithic Structure and Bronze Age Activity at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, Glasgow

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-128
Author(s):  
Gavin Macgregor ◽  
Irene Cullen ◽  
Diane Alldritt ◽  
Michael Donnelly ◽  
Jennifer Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Research Division ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Age Features ◽  
The Bronze Age

Summary A programme of archaeological work was undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at West Flank Road, Drumchapel, in close proximity to the site of the prehistoric cemetery of Knappers. This paper considers the results of excavation of a range of negative features, including earlier Neolithic and Bronze Age pits and postholes. The earlier Neolithic features date to c. 3500–3000 BC and are interpreted as the partial remains of a subrectangular structure. The Bronze Age features may relate to ceremonial activities in the wider area. The significance of these remains is considered in relation to the site of Knappers and wider traditions during the fourth to second millennia BC.

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from Asine and their glyptic context

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Michael Lindblom ◽  
Gullög Nordquist ◽  
Hans Mommsen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
Archaeological Perspective

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from the Third Terrace at Asine are presented. The objects, used to impress relief decoration on pithoi and hearths, are unique in that no other examples are known from the Early Bronze Age Aegean. Their origin is discussed based on chemical characterization and their depositional contexts are reviewed from an archaeological perspective. Although there are no known impressions from these rollers on pithoi and hearths at Asine, it is shown that their owners surrounded themselves with different objects featuring similar glyptic impressions. Two such impressions find identical parallels at Tiryns and the combined evidence strongly suggest that Asine was the home for one or several potters who produced Early Helladic impressed hearths and pithoi.

Dairy Queen. Churns and milk products in the Aegean Bronze Age

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah P. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Milk Products ◽  
The Third ◽  
Household Processing

This article assembles examples of an unusual vessel found in domestic contexts of the Early Bronze Age around the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean. Identified as a “barrel vessel” by the excavators of Troy, Lesbos (Thermi), Lemnos (Poliochni), and various sites in the Chalkidike, the shape finds its best parallels in containers identified as churns in the Chalcolithic Levant, and related vessels from the Eneolithic Balkans. Levantine parallels also exist in miniature form, as in the Aegean at Troy, Thermi, and Poliochni, and appear as part of votive figures in the Near East. My interpretation of their use and development will consider how they compare to similar shapes in the archaeological record, especially in Aegean prehistory, and what possible transregional relationships they may express along with their specific function as household processing vessels for dairy products during the third millennium BC.

Caravan Routes of Inner Asia: The Third "Asia Lecture": Discussion

1928 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 528
Author(s):  
Charles Close ◽  
Francis Younghusband ◽  
Lord Ronaldshay
Keyword(s):  
Inner Asia ◽  
The Third

Results of Archaeoparasitological and Palynological Analyzes of the Contents of the Sewage Drain of the Chorgun Tower (South-Western Crimea)

2021 ◽  
pp. 377-389
Author(s):  
Evgeniy Nedelkin ◽  
◽  
Alexander Khrustalev ◽  
Anna Babenko ◽  
Sergey Slepchenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intestinal Parasites ◽  
Gastrointestinal Diseases ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
The Third ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Palynological Study ◽  
Sanitary Conditions ◽  
The Village ◽  
Constant Source

The article presents the results of an archaeoparasitological and palynological study of a sample taken from the sewage drain of the Chorgun Tower. This is a fortification on the territory of the village of Chernorechie (South-Western Crimea). According to archaeological research, the construction of the keep dates back to the third quarter of the 15th century. Four types of eggs of intestinal parasites infecting humans and synanthropic animals were identified in the sample. Regarding parasitic and infectious gastrointestinal diseases, human whipworm and roundworm eggs found in the sample are indicative of relatively unfavorable sanitary conditions of the fortification. Based on the features of the archaeoparasitological spectrum, it can be concluded that anthelminthic agents were used or food with antiparasitic effects against roundworms was consumed. The difficult sanitary and epidemiological situation was also complicated by synanthropic rodents, such as rats and domestic mice, which could be a constant source of dangerous infections in the Chorgun Keep. A palynological study of the contents of the sewage runoff made it possible to obtain additional information on the nutrition of people who used the latrine facilities in the Chorgun Keep. What is equally important is that the study demonstrates the possibilities of methods for the study of canalization as a source of bioarchaeological information.

scholarly journals Accidental find of the Late Bronze Age casting mould on the Pyshma River

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
I.Yu. Chikunova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Scientific Discussion ◽  
The Third ◽  
Foundry Mold

The purpose of this publication is to present to scientific discussion a unique casting mould. The foundry mold was discovered accidentally in 2019 near the Pyshma River in the Yalutorovsk District of the Tyumen Re-gion. It represents a four-sided trapezoid bar of gray slate stone, slightly tapered to one end. On three sides of the bar, negatives are cut out for casting three different products. The first side has a negative for casting а slotted spearhead with roller on pen slots. The bushing is hollow, the blade is laurel-shaped. The second negative was also used for casting the short-socketed slotted spearhead. The third matrix was for casting celt-adze. The syn-chronicity of the negatives of the spearheads and the celt-adze on the cast allows dating this mould to the 15th–11th c. BC and correlating it to the time of existence of the Alekseevka-Sargary Culture.

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