Agropastoralism in middle bronze through early iron age Naxçıvan: Zooarchaeological and paleoethnobotanical data from Qızqala

Lau, Hannah; Proctor, Lucas; Gopnik, Hilary; Bakhshaliyev, Veli

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102535

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Although steppe cultural elements, such as kurgans (burial mounds), had been present in the South Caucasus since the Late Chalcolithic 88 , kurgans greatly increased during the Middle Bronze Age 89 , and we next observed dairy product consumption at the Middle Bronze Age fortified agropastoral site of Qızqala, with ruminant dairy proteins present in both individuals analysed for this study. Although Middle Bronze Age cultures in both the North and South Caucasus largely became fully mobile to support their herds 90 , the inhabitants of Qızqala relied on a more flexible subsistence strategy that included both settlement occupation and seasonal movement of livestock 89 , 91 . Our results show a reliance on dairy technology for subsistence for these mobile pastoralists.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes

et al. 2022

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Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka–Volga–Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%