scholarly journals Pastoralism and Millet Cultivation During the Bronze Age in the Temperate Steppe Region of Northern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaping Zhang ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Songmei Hu ◽  
Xinying Zhou ◽  
Linjing Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Domestic Sheep ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Pastoral System ◽  
Steppe Region ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Monsoon Area ◽  
The Bronze Age

Eastern and Western Asia were important centers for the domestication of plants and animals and they developed different agricultural practices and systems. The timing, routeway and mechanisms of the exchanges between the two centers have long been important scientific issues. The development of a mixed pastoral system (e.g., with the rearing of sheep, goats and cattle) and millet cultivation in the steppe region of northern China was the result of the link between the two cultures. However, little detailed information is available about the precise timing and mechanisms involved in this mixture of pastoralism and millet cultivation. To try to address the issue, we analyzed the pollen, fungal spores and phytolith contents of soil samples from the Bronze Age Zhukaigou site in the steppe area of North China, which was combined with AMS 14C dating of charcoal, millet and animal bones. A mixed pastoralism and millet agricultural system appeared at the site between 4,000 and 3,700 cal yr BP, and the intensity of animal husbandry increased in the later stage of occupation. Published data indicate that domestic sheep/goats appeared across a wide area of the steppe region of northern China after ∼4,000 cal yr BP. A comparison of records of sheep/goat rearing and paleoclimatic records from monsoon area in China leads us to conclude that the mixture of pastoralism and millet cultivation was promoted by the occurrence of drought events during 4,200–4,000 cal yr BP. Moreover, we suggest that mixed rainfed agriculture and animal husbandry increased the adaptability and resilience of the inhabitants of the region which enabled them to occupy the relatively arid environment of the monsoon marginal area of northern China.

Bronze Age Mongolia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Houle
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article discusses the Bronze Age in Mongolia, a period when pastoralism, mobility, and interaction between regional communities increased dramatically. It also corresponds to the heyday of monumental construction and to the development of societal complexity in this region. After briefly discussing the local Bronze Age chronology, the discussion then turns to the topic of the transition to animal husbandry and to the development of mobile, equestrian pastoralism in particular—a phenomenon that seems to have taken place during the Late Bronze Age. Following this, I examine the monumental landscape as well as what is known from “settlements” before discussing the nature of Late Bronze Age social organization and societal complexity. The article ends with a brief exposé on bronze metallurgy before highlighting what are thought to be the critical issues that continue to challenge research on the Bronze Age in the region.

The impact of early trans-Eurasian exchange on animal utilization in northern China during 5000–2500 BP

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 095968362094116
Author(s):  
Guanghui Dong ◽  
Linyao Du ◽  
Wenyu Wei
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Animal Utilization ◽  
Human Subsistence ◽  
The Bronze Age

Transcontinental exchange emerged and intensified in northern China since the late fifth millennium BP (Before present), especially in the arc, which was the core area of the eastern part of the trans-Eurasian exchange during the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. In the arc, the exchange profoundly affected the human subsistence strategy and human-environment relationship. Relative to the crop patterns and human diets during the Bronze Age in northern China, systematic investigations of zooarcheological data based on broad spatial and temporal framework to understand the influence of introduced livestock and indigenous livestock on human subsistence are lacking. To show the spatial-temporal variation in animal utilization patterns and its relation to prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, the zooarcheological data from 40 sites in northern China dated between 5000 and 2500 BP were analyzed. The strategy of animal utilization in northern China changed substantially from 5000 to 2500 BP, with notable spatial features in different chronological phases. From 5000 to 4300 BP, wild mammals and indigenous livestock (pig, dog) use dominated in the arc and the North China Plain (NCP). During 4300–3500 BP, the importance of introduced livestock (cattle, sheep/goat, horse) exceeded that of indigenous livestock in the arc, whereas indigenous livestock continued to dominate in the NCP. Indigenous livestock acted as the most important animal subsistence in northern China, although the exploitation of introduced livestock increased during 3500–2000 BP. These spatio-temporal differences in animal utilization appear to be closely associated with the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange, but were also affected by local environment, agriculture development, and climate change.

scholarly journals Golden hoard from Bushtino (Ukraine)

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 331-344
Author(s):  
Josip Kobal’
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Bronze Age

The territory of the modern Transcarpathian region of Ukraine is rich in Bronze Age hoards (about 200 complexes are known). However, just a small part of them includes only gold objects. The gold items of the treasure were interpreted as Tarpa type earrings and dated to the Opaya horizon (BD). Re-analysis of the finding allowed reviewing the data of the statement. The article proposes to refer the complex to the period of the BC and, perhaps, even BB1, and to interpret gold implements as elements of a special hairstyle or headdress (crown?). The hoard from the village of Bushtino (Khust district), which is the focus of our article, also belongs to them. The hoard was discovered in 1911. It consisted of 13 jewellery items (11 gold pendants and 2 bracelets). To date, only 3 items have been saved. They are stored in Uzhgorod, in the Transcarpathian Museum of Local Lore named after Tyvodar Lehotsky. Jewellery items from Bushtino belong to two types: Tarpa type of earrings (1) and Bushtino type of pendants (2). All of them are ornamented in one technique and in one style, and also have common or close motives (paired zigzag lines, crosses, stars, etc. and their combinations) and compositions. The analysis of ornamental motifs of ornaments from Bushtino shows that most of them have analogies on products of earlier times, periods BB1 - BA2. Tarpa-type bronze earrings in the Pilin culture (Northern Hungary and Eastern Slovakia) mostly also date to an earlier time (BC period). The author of the article proposes to determine the chronology of the Bushtino hoard not later than the period of BC or even BB1. Based on archaeological and ethnographic data, as well as the number of ornaments in individual complexes, it is hypothesized that gold items from Bushtino could be either part of a special hairstyle (women?), or part of a special headdress (crown?) made of organic materials (fabric, leather). Rich headdresses (crowns) existed in the Bronze Age in Western Asia and Europe. Probably the implements from Bushtino belonged to someone from the elite unit of cultural bearers of Suciu de Sus (Stanovo). Key words: Superior Tisa Region, Bronze Age, gold hoard, chronology, interpretation.

Zebu: harbingers of doom in Bronze Age western Asia?

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (292) ◽  
pp. 438-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
The Bronze Age

The significance of zebu, or humped. cattle as potential indicators of episodes of aridification in the Bronze Age of western Asia is explored through study of figurines and faunal remains from Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia.

scholarly journals The Region of Caucasus and Central European-Carpathian Territory in the Final Eneolithic and the Bronze Age (a Contribution to the Transfer of Technologies and Knowledge)

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-548
Author(s):  
Jozef Bátora ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Steppe Region ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Danube Region ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article shows that the cultures in the Middle Danube/Carpathian territory were not just peripheral cultures of the developed Aegean-West Asian cultures, but also the western periphery of the Eurasian steppe region. From this aspect, the cultural-historical development in this area was influenced and associated with the cultural-historical development in the Caucasian and Northern Pontic regions as well. This is confirmed by several artifacts of the Caucasian character in the territory of Central Europe. First of all, we can mention single-edged copper axes, whose oldest exemplars in Europe come from the North Caucasus (the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya cultures). With the arrival of the Yamnaya culture, technology of their production emerged in the Northern Balkans and Central Europe along the Danube, through the Northern Pontic region. Their oldest exemplars in this territory are the Baniabic type axes. There are also weapons or tools; and jewellery which is represented by earrings of the so-called of Transylvania type associated mainly with the Únětice, Košťany and Otomani cultures in the Carpathian-middle Danube region. Their prototypes can be found in the North Pontic region — Yamnaya culture. The remaining cultural contacts between Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Bronze Age are confirmed by the dagger of the Srubnaya type from Sklabiňa in Central Slovakia. The existence of contacts between the Caucasian region and the territory of Central Europe as late as the final Bronze Age is proved by the finds of Cimmerian character. As a pars pro toto example, a dagger of the Kabardino-Pyatigorsk type from Malý Cetín in southwest Slovakia can be mentioned.

Rock Art of Northern, Central, and Western Asia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Rozwadowski
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
The Bronze Age

This chapter discusses the rock art traditions of Northern, Central, and Western Asia, first providing an overview of the chronological-cultural context of much of the known rock art in Northern and Central Asia before describing the main geographical concentrations of rock paintings and petroglyphs in the area. In particular, it examines the dilemmas with regards to ascertaining the age of ‘Stone Age’ rock art, along with the presence of chariots in rock art as an iconographic determinant of the Bronze Age. It also considers the association of the Bronze Age with the expansion of Indo-Iranians, expansion of Buddhism through Central Asia as reflected in the rock art, relation of Siberian rock art to shamanism, and major rock art regions of Northern and Central Asia. It concludes by assessing the rock art of Western Asia and how the advent of Islam in mid–seventh century ad changed Arabian traditions of rock art.

The marine record of the onset of farming around the Arabian Sea at the dawn of the Bronze Age

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 878-887
Author(s):  
Alexandra T Gourlan ◽  
Francis Albarede ◽  
Hema Achyuthan ◽  
Sylvain Campillo
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Arabian Sea ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Fourfold Increase ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sediment Mineralogy ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
The Bronze Age

The rise and fall of human cultures are strongly modulated by the strong environmental changes taking place during the Holocene. Here, we use the sedimentological and geochemical records of a core taken in the Arabian Sea, west of Kerala, to identify potential factors that may reflect on-land history of local civilizations, in particular the Harappan culture which appeared and collapsed in the Indus Valley during the early and middle Bronze Age. The 14C record highlights a fourfold increase in sedimentation rate at ~5380 cal. yr BP. The short duration of this event (~220 years) suggests a steep regional increase in erosion at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Factor analysis of downcore changes in geochemistry identified two distinct detrital components dominated by silt and clay, respectively, and a component characteristic of chemical erosion. This interpretation is consistent with sediment mineralogy. Comparison with the known climatic record indicates that increased erosion rate at 5380 cal. yr BP around the Arabian Sea is because of the advent of farming. The development of tillage associated with both wheat and barley crops and animal husbandry was favored by trade between Mesopotamia and India. Human activities, therefore, were the trigger of major changes in the sedimentological and geochemical records at sea at the onset of the Bronze Age.

The emergence and early utilization of domestic sheep in Xinjiang

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue You ◽  
Peng Lü ◽  
Jianxin Wang ◽  
Jian Ma ◽  
Meng Ren
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Domestic Sheep ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Ancient People ◽  
The Bronze Age

Abstract This paper summarizes current zooarchaeological research on the origin of domestic sheep and early sheep exploitation strategies in Xinjiang. The researchers analyze sheep bones excavated from the Shirenzigou ( 石人子沟, lit. Stone Human Statue Gully) Site using zooarchaeological methods, including using pelvises to identify sex, and confirm that the sheep at Shirenzigou were domesticated sheep. Previous discoveries and archaeological research in Xinjiang provide background for the researchers’ arguments that the main ways ancient people exploited domestic sheep during the Bronze Age to early Iron Age included: consuming and producing meat, wool, hide and milk; using sheep in rituals such as funerary practices; and making bone artifacts out of sheep bones.

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