From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

ABSTRACT

We integrate functional weed ecology with crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to assess their combined potential for inferring arable land management practices in (semi-)arid regions from archaeobotanical assemblages. Weed and GIS survey of 60 cereal and pulse fields in Morocco are combined with crop sampling for stable isotope analysis to frame assessment of agricultural labour intensity in terms of manuring, irrigation, tillage and hand-weeding. Under low management intensity weed variation primarily reflects geographical differences, whereas under high management intensity fields in disparate regions have similar weed flora. Manured and irrigated oasis barley fields are clearly discriminated from less intensively manured rain-fed barley terraces in southern Morocco; when fields in northern and southern Morocco are considered together, climatic differences are superimposed on the agronomic intensity gradient. Barley δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values clearly distinguish among the Moroccan regimes. An integrated approach combines crop isotope values with weed ecological discrimination of low- and high-intensity regimes across multiple studies (in southern Morocco and southern Europe). Analysis of archaeobotanical samples from EBA Tell Brak, Syria suggests that this early city was sustained through extensive (low-intensity, large-scale) cereal farming.     

Cultivation of Naked Barley by Early Iron Age Agro-pastoralists in Xinjiang,China

ABSTRACT

We report an archaeobotanical analysis of flotation samples taken from Shirenzigou, an Early Iron Age agro-pastoralist site dated between the fourth and first century BC, located on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, China. The charred macro-botanical assemblage is dominated by naked barley grains with a few broomcorn and foxtail millet grains. In the context of Trans-Eurasian exchange of cereal crops, southwest Asian crops (wheat and barley) and two Asian millets (broomcorn and foxtail) were introduced to Xinjiang a few centuries to a millennium before Shirenzigou was occupied. The choice of barley cultivation in preference to wheat and millet may have been possibly driven by the relatively extreme local environment and the scheduling requirements of mobile pastoralism. Barley is well suited to this environment, and the choice of naked barley in preference to hulled barley may have been driven by the whole grain tradition prevailing in East Asia.     

Animal Exploitation in the Early Prehistory of the Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands were the last large islands in the Mediterranean to be settled, with colonization not occurring until the third millennium cal BC. The richest assemblages of zooarchaeological data for reconstructing patterns of animal exploitation and management come from Mallorca, Menorca, and Formentera and date to the late third and second millennia cal BC. In this article, I consider these exploitation and management strategies from the perspective of human ecodynamics. In general, the early settlers of the Balearic Islands adopted economic strategies which remained very conservative throughout the Early and Mid Bronze Age (i.e., 2500/2300–1200 cal BC). On Mallorca and Menorca, animal resources were derived mainly from domesticated fauna, with the evidence supporting a mixed-farming model wherein cultivation is complemented by small-scale and relatively unspecialized animal husbandry. In contrast, on Formentera there is a diversification of the faunal economy, with fish and wild birds providing an important contribution to the diet; this probably relates to the extreme marginality of the Formenteran environment. This case of initial human settlement and flexible adaptation to the Balearics highlights one of the core aspects of human ecodynamics: the ability for colonizing populations to both uniquely respond to and affect ecological conditions in island environments.     

Lead Isotope Analysis of Tooth Enamel from a Viking Age Mass Grave in Southern Britain and the Constraints it Places on the Origin of the Individuals

Lead analysis of tooth enamel from individuals recovered from a Viking Age burial pit in southern England provides further evidence for their childhood origins outside Britain. All except one of the men have very low Pb concentrations that exclude anthropogenic Pb exposure. Strontium and oxygen isotope compositions identify a core group of men who have Pb isotope compositions of ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb = 2.065 ± 0.021 (n = 20, 2SD) that, when compared with data from European soils, appear to exclude a childhood in the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland, whereas areas of Northern continental Europe cannot be excluded.     

Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirm ochre residues on 71 000‐year‐old bifacial tools from Sibudu,South Africa

Micro‐residue analysis of stone tools is generally performed with optical light microscopy and the visual observations are then compared with experimental, replicated pieces. This paper complements such archaeological research by providing physico‐chemical evidence. Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy have been used to confirm the presence of hematite on red‐stained medial and proximal parts of 71 000‐year‐old Still Bay bifacial tools from Sibudu Cave. Our results confirm the conclusion from optical light microscopy that the tools were hafted with an ochre‐loaded adhesive. However, we point to some instances when hematite residues are incidental or may be inclusions in the rock used to make the stone tools.     

Socio‐cultural innovations of the Final Umm an‐Nar period (c.2100–2000 BCE) in the Oman peninsula: new insights from Ra's al‐Jinz RJ‐2

The Early Bronze Age site of RJ‐2, located close to the coastal village of Ra's al‐Jinz on the eastern Omani coast (Niyabat Ra's al‐Hadd), was the focus of archaeological investigations for over two decades. The latest campaigns of excavation unearthed an architectural complex (Building XII) dated to the very end of the Umm an‐Nar period (Final UaN, c.2100–2000 BCE), previously attested on site by poorly preserved remains. This paper presents the remains explored during the most recent fieldwork, focusing on the stratigraphic‐structural sequence and the spatial layout. It also considers the transformations affecting structural evidence and material culture during this period, at both local and regional level, highlighting their significance for a comprehensive assessment of the last occupations related to the Early Bronze Age in south‐eastern Arabia. The paper concludes by showing how the Final Umm an‐Nar phase represents an age of substantial socio‐cultural innovations, which most likely shaped the transition towards the following Wadi Suq period.     

The Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland (ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100): An overview

Those communities that lived in Britain and Ireland ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100 represent particularly well-researched examples of the complex agrarian, nonurban, societies with high population densities that characterize the Pre-Roman Iron Age across temperate Europe. This paper provides a critical introduction to the extensive recent literature on the Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland. Evidence from the large number of salvage excavations and surveys, the application of a wide range of analytical techniques, and important changes in interpretative frameworks are transforming understandings of this period. After reviewing these developments, a chronological account of the period is outlined which attempts to integrate these new results. This suggests that current interpretations of social processes across Iron Age Europe in terms of state formation, urbanization, and core-periphery relations with Mediterranean civilization need revision.     

The neolithic and early bronze age of the Lake Baikal Region: A review of recent research

Rich settlement and burial evidence from the Baikal/Angara region in Central Siberia provides one of the most promising opportunities in the global boreal forest for studying Holocene foragers. The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age prehistory of the region is known to western scholars only through a few English translations of the works of A. P. Okladnikov. Since the publication of Okladnikov's model, the region has witnessed large-scale archaeological fieldwork that has produced abundant quantities of new evidence. Moreover, the model has been partly invalidated by extensive radiocarbon dating. Research advances over the last couple of decades have augmented the area's previous reputation but have also revealed the need for new theoretical perspectives and modern analytical techniques.     

Iron age occupation in the Méma region,Mali

The recent archaeological campaign (regional site survey and excavations at the mound complex of Akumbu) has demonstrated that the Méma, a dry Sahelian region with a scattered population, was intensively occupied during the Iron Age. This intense occupation, certainly associated with better environmental conditions, extends back to the Late Stone Age. During the regional survey more than 100 Iron Age sites and nearly 30 Late Stone Age sites were identified; their size, surface material and features, and location on geomorphological zones were recorded. A series of radiocarbon dates spanning the fourth to fourteenth centuries ad obtained from the excavations at the Iron Age mound complex of Akumbu and a preliminary analysis of the pottery from both the excavations and the survey permitted the determination of a broad chronology of occupation. Numerous slag heaps (associated with smelting furnace remains) found during the survey and imported goods uncovered during the excavations at Akumbu indicate that both iron production and long-distance trade played an important role in the Méma economy.

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Résumé Une campagne archéologique (reconnaissance et fouilles) exécutée en 1989–1990 a montré que le Méma, une région sahelienne de grande sécheresse à population actuellement éparse, était intensément peuplé pendant la période de l'Age du Fer. Cette intense occupation, certainement liée à de meilleures conditions climatiques, semble remonter à la période du néolithique. Au cours de la reconnaissance, conduite à l'échelle régionale, plus d'une centaine de sites datant de l'Age du Fer et environ une trentaine de sites néolithiques furent identifiés, enregistrés et décrits en termes de leurs dimensions, matériels et caractéristiques de surface, et environnement. Une série de datations au radiocarbone, obtenue lors de la fouille sur le complexe de buttes d'habitat de Akumbu, dans la partie ouest du Méma, indique une occupation s'étendant du quatrième siècle au quatorzième siècle de notre ère. La découverte d'imposants amas de scories, associés à des restes de hauts fourneaux, et objets exotiques trouvés lors des fouilles à Akumbu, attestent que la production de fer et le commerce à longue distance jouaient tous les deux un important rôle dans l'économie du Méma.

     

Prehistoric exchange and interaction in southeastern southern africa: Marine shells and ostrich eggshell

The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of southeastern southern Africa is used to infer several areas of social interaction. The inferred patterns are supported by comparisons with preferences for lithic raw materials and the distribution of bifacial stone arrows. Plusiers zones de l'interaction sociale sont déduites des distributions chronologiques et spatiales de la coquillage et de la coquille de'autruche de l'Age de la Pierre Récent au sud- est de l'Afrique australe. Ces distributions sont soutenues des préférences pour des matières premières lithiques et de la distribution des flèches bifaciales de la pierre. Provincial names and boundaries are as given on May 1, 1994