River valleys in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan have served as corridors for human dispersal since the Palaeolithic but little information exists on the history of human occupation in this remote and inaccessible region. Here, we report the results of a multidisciplinary study of Airgyrzhal-2, a high elevation (2005 m) site in the Naryn valley in central Kyrgyzstan. Two main occupation horizons were recognized, the earliest belonging to the Mesolithic (12th millennium cal. BC) and a later one dating from the Bronze Age (first half of the 2nd millennium cal. BC). Land snail analyses from the two horizons yielded almost identical assemblages of species of dry, open environments. Archaeobotanical data, however, revealed marked differences. The greater representation of willow/poplar (Salix/Populus) in the charcoal from the Mesolithic suggests more focused activity along the river, which might have been closer to the site at this time. The occurrence of spruce (Picea) and other species in the Bronze Age charcoal indicates exploitation of resources from more distant upland locations. The occurrence of the remains of cereals, including both grains and chaff, provides unexpected evidence for both consumption and cultivation of wheat and barley at this high elevation during the Bronze Age.

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a b s t r a c tThe spread of domestic animals through time is one of the topics studied by archaeologists to assess human trade and migration. Here we present mitochondrial analysis of 42 archaeological cattle (Bos taurus) bone samples, from 16 different sites in the Iberian Peninsula and covering a broad timeframe (from the early Neolithic to the Middle Ages), to provide evidence about the origin and dispersion of the T1 cattle haplogroup in relation to human contacts and movements. The presence of the T1 haplotype in one sample from an early Neolithic site close to the Mediterranean coast of Iberia, and its continuing presence in the Peninsula during Roman and Medieval times, clearly demonstrates that T1 was not solely a Muslim or later introduction. Rather, our molecular data show evidence for a pioneer coastal colonisation of the Iberian Peninsula from the Mediterranean basin, followed by possible further colonisation, leading to a continuity of diversity through time.

In Western Europe, the transition from the middle Iron Age to the early Roman period implied changes in livestock practices, with the emergence of a specialized and selective animal husbandry. These changes have been related in Italy and south of France with changes in livestock management involving their mobility between ecologically complementary areas. The study of this question in the Iberian Peninsula has only been partially investigated through palaeoenvironmental analyses, and the information about the origin and significance of this phenomenon is very scarce. To shed new light on this topic we used an archaeozoological approach, with the application of geometric morphometrics. They were used to study size and shape variability in sheep astragali from 9 sites dating from the middle Iron Age to the early Roman period (5th c. BC-3rd c. AD) and located on the Pyrenees and on the north-eastern Iberian coast as a case study. The results we obtained, combined with Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) and kill-off patterns, showed local specificities in terms of breeding methods and sheep morphologies between the two areas during the middle Iron Age. On the contrary, sheep with similar size and the implementation and development of similar sheep husbandry practices in the Pyrenees and the north-eastern Iberian coast were documented during the early Roman period. These results suggest the existence of livestock links between these two areas during the Roman period, that could be involved a possible movement of sheep between the lowlands and the Pyrenees for the first time.