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

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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Mortuary Practices among Early Farming Communities in the Sonoran Desert

Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices ◽

10.5876/9781607320131.c006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 151-174

Author(s):

James T. Watson

Keyword(s):

Sonoran Desert ◽

Mortuary Practices ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Early Farming

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Isotopic evidence for residential mobility of farming communities during the transition to agriculture in Britain

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.150522 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 150522 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Samantha Neil ◽

Jane Evans ◽

Janet Montgomery ◽

Chris Scarre

Keyword(s):

Residential Mobility ◽

Tooth Enamel ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Way Of Life ◽

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Transition To Agriculture ◽

Early Farming ◽

Local Hunter ◽

Early Farmers

Development of agriculture is often assumed to be accompanied by a decline in residential mobility, and sedentism is frequently proposed to provide the basis for economic intensification, population growth and increasing social complexity. In Britain, however, the nature of the agricultural transition ( ca 4000 BC) and its effect on residence patterns has been intensely debated. Some authors attribute the transition to the arrival of populations who practised a system of sedentary intensive mixed farming similar to that of the very earliest agricultural regimes in central Europe, ca 5500 BC, with cultivation of crops in fixed plots and livestock keeping close to permanently occupied farmsteads. Others argue that local hunter–gatherers within Britain adopted selected elements of a farming economy and retained a mobile way of life. We use strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of tooth enamel from an Early Neolithic burial population in Gloucestershire, England, to evaluate the residence patterns of early farmers. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that early farming communities in Britain were residentially mobile and were not fully sedentary. Results highlight the diverse nature of settlement strategies associated with early farming in Europe and are of wider significance to understanding the effect of the transition to agriculture on residence patterns.

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

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2018.2347 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 286 (1894) ◽

pp. 20182347 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

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.

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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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