New light on early caprine herding strategies from isotope analysis: a case study from Neolithic Anatolia

The measurement of stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen from the Neolithic sites of Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük in south-central Anatolia have allowed examination of exploitation and herding practices of sheep and goats. The isotope values from protodomestic caprines at Aşıklı Höyük suggests that these animals were consuming very similar foods to each other and were all confined to the same or similar environments with no access to C₄ plants. At Çatalhöyük, the results show how the caprine management strategy develops from the strategy seen at Aşıklı Höyük into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C₄ plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Aşıklı Höyük. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management strategies of caprines in the Near East.     

The combined use of oxygen isotopes and microwear in sheep teeth to elucidate seasonal management of domestic herds: the case study of Çatalhöyük,central Anatolia

This paper presents and tests a model designed to investigate how off-site herd management developed in settled pre-historic societies. The model is constructed from data collected from traditionally raised local sheep, acting as an interpretive link to published data. The modern comparator was small, but plausible results allow modelling of the archaeological data to be explored. Birth seasonality and herding location are identified through modelled patterns in oxygen isotope data in tooth enamel, and diet just before death by microwear in the same tooth. In combination, these allow aspects of seasonal management of breeding, fallow and slaughter herd sections to be interpreted. Novel practices are discussed in comparison local wild sheep ethology. The case study is Neolithic Çatalhöyük (7400–6200 cal BC) in central Anatolia. Its location provided the opportunity for different parts of the landscape to be used for herding, although choice might have been socially constrained. Data are taken from 72 specimens; the results suggest settlement-wide preference for a suite of practices that kept herds within a day of the settlement and that maintained breeding cycle synchrony with optimal resource availability. Chronological analysis suggests birth season manipulation was tried but rejected, whilst hay or cereal fodder was introduced and became increasingly important. It is argued that herding was probably on dedicated pasture on the arable fringes rather than in closer integration on ‘garden plots’, as there is no evidence of field-edge weed diets and little evidence of adjusting the birth season to accommodate the crop cycle.     

Locating Land Use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük,Turkey: The Implications of 87Sr/86Sr Signatures in Plants and Sheep Tooth Sequences

We evaluate local versus distant land‐use models at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia, using strontium isotope analysis of sheep tooth enamel and charred plant remains. Interpretation of strontium in sheep tooth sequences is constrained by previous oxygen isotope work, which largely excludes summer movement to the mountains but cannot distinguish between herding on the plain and the closest upland‐zone, Neogene limestone terraces. We establish a baseline contrast in modern plant strontium values between the plain and terraces and infer predominant herding on the plain from seven sheep tooth sequences. Archaeobotanical plant strontium values exclude the use of the terraces for cultivation and foraging. Relatively local crop and sheep management, plausibly intensive and integrated to some degree, given limited dry ground, appears likely on the basis of this pilot study.     

南宋宫廷绘画中的“谍画”之谜

本文根据宋代的文献材料,从大量的宋人册页中甄别出一些在军事上具有特殊功用的绘画。据考,在南宋出使金国的使团人员中,潜藏有擅长山水画、人马画的画院画家,他们奉命描绘金国的山川地形和女真人的军事活动,笔者称此类带有间谍用途的南宋宫廷绘画为“谍画”。本文阐述了“谍画”的发展历史,特别是南宋出现”谍画“的政治、军事等方面的历史原因,对此类“谍画“进行了详细的剖析,发现宇文虚中、萧照和陈居中等是可知的南宋”谍画“的作者。此种从军事角度认识某些宫廷绘画,尚属尝试。     

Pastoral Neolithic Settlement at Luxmanda,Tanzania

The later Holocene spread of pastoralism throughout eastern Africa profoundly changed socio-economic and natural landscapes. During the Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 5000–1200 B.P.), herders spread through southern Kenya and northern Tanzania—areas previously occupied only by hunter-gatherers—eventually developing the specialized forms of pastoralism that remain vital in this region today. Research on ancient pastoralism has been primarily restricted to rockshelters and special purpose sites. This paper presents results of surveys and excavations at Luxmanda, an open-air habitation site located farther south in Tanzania, and occupied many centuries earlier, than previously expected based upon prior models for the spread of herding. Technological and subsistence patterns demonstrate ties to northerly sites, suggesting that Luxmanda formed part of a network of early herders. The site is thus unlikely to stand alone, and further surveys are recommended to better understand the spread of herding into the region, and ultimately to southern Africa.