Investigating the scale of herding in Chalcolithic pastoral communities settled along the Danube River in the 5th millennium BC: A case study at Borduşani-Popină and Hârşova-tell (Romania)

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn southeastern Romania, the Gumelnit¸a culture is characterized by the appearance of tell sites. Whether this phenomenon was accompanied by increasing specialization of the economy may be investigated through the zooarchaeology of pastoral systems. The scale of herding is an important element of this framework. A case study was conducted on the tell sites of Hârş ova and Borduş ani-Popin a situated in the Danube River basin. Both sites, located respectively on a terrace of the river and on the island of Balta Ialomit¸ei, delivered occupations from the Gumelnit¸a A2 dated to the second half of 5th millennium cal BC. Their occupants subsisted on an economy focused to a large extent on aquatic resources but also heavily dependent on cattle, pig and caprines husbandry and agriculture. The role of riverbanks resources in herding strategies and the extent to which the island of Balta Ialomit¸ei may have sustained domestic animal stocks was addressed through stable isotope analysis of animal skeleton remains. At both sites, results revealed local herding for cattle and caprines, reflected in an unexpectedly high contribution of C 4 plants to their diet, most likely from ruderal C 4 plants that are more abundant around the settlements as well as in cultivated fields. Domestic pigs had a higher trophic status than their wild counterparts, highlighting a significant contribution of animal protein to their diet most likely provided by human activities, suggesting that they were maintained in the settlement. Overall the findings suggest domestic stocks were reared in close proximity to the settlements, rather than in an extensive system. This scheme complements the small-scale cultivation system highlighted from the archaeobotanical analysis. Gumelnit¸a tell sites have been previously described as being part of larger pastoral systems including locations with complementary functions, although functional complementarity in time was not made explicit in this model. In this regard, the results obtained at Hârş ova and Borduş ani-Popin a are not in favour of large-scale seasonal mobility.

Agricultural change in Copper Age Croatia (ca. 4500–2500 cal B.C)?

“…Similar herd mobility is also seen from a study on sheep/goat and cattle molars which indicated that the tested animals were not herded in upland areas in the Carpathian Mountains (Giblin 2014). This is supported by stable isotope research in Romania, which shows that late Copper Age domestic stocks were reared within close proximity of the settlements, rather than through large-scale seasonal mobility (Balesse et al 2015). However, herd movement may be identified from cave sites along the Dinaric Alps, which show evidence of seasonal/periodic use from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age as herd pens and camps (Mlekuž 2007;Reed 2015).…”

Amy2Bcopy number variation reveals starch diet adaptations in ancient European dogs

“…BP) and belong to two neighbouring sites in southeast Romania. The archaeozoological series also displayed identical exploitations of animals [42,43]. The Borduşani/Hârşova set includes dogs bearing either two, two to eight or more than eight Amy2B copies, indicating a strong variability in the number of copies of Amy2B that could exist concurrently in the same population.…”

All is fish that comes to the net. The exploitation of aquatic resources on the Lower Danube Valley during the 5 millennium BC

“…have yielded the existence of a now silted paleo-lake or a plateau of slow moving water bodies, extending over almost 500 km 2 . his is supported partly by the ichtyological material comprising limnophilic species, such as Cyprinidae or Percidae (Benecke et al, 2013;Hansen, 2015). Usually, the representations of species and the values are not homogenous from one site or one period to another.…”

“…Conversely, line ishing is targeted and selective, the size of the tool restricting thus the size of the prey, requiring cognition of ish behavior. he species normally responding to bait are the carnivorous ones (Radu, 2008: 415), like pike, perch, zander or catish, which are well represented in the zooarchaeological lots for the region (Bălăşescu, Radu, 2002;Benecke et al, 2013).…”

“…17), which could have gotten torn apart under the force of the prey, the copper hooks could have gotten easily lost. However, bi-point hooks (Benecke et al, 2013;Cleyet-Merle, 1990: 84-86;Rau, 1884: 13), composite hooks (Cristiani et al, 2016) or 'straight' hooks (ig. 1-2) were advocated as implements used in line ishing, none of the categories being proven to have had this purpose.…”