The earliest evidence of domesticated wheat in the Crimea at Chalcolithic Ardych-Burun

Matuzevičiūtė, Giedrė Motuzaitė; Telizhenko, Sergey; Jones, Martin K.

doi:10.1179/0093469013z.00000000042

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In contrast, pastoral communities were more mobile and dominant in the Eurasian steppes. Meat, fat, and dairy products from domestic animals encompassed most of the produced food items, despite the general availability of cultivated crops [27][28][29][30][31]. A wide range of edible wild plants from steppe biomes contributed carbohydrates and vitamins [32][33][34][35].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and subsistence in Bronze Age pastoral communities from the southern Russian steppes and the North Caucasus

et al. 2020

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The flanks of the Caucasus Mountains and the steppe landscape to their north offered highly productive grasslands for Bronze Age herders and their flocks of sheep, goat, and cattle. While the archaeological evidence points to a largely pastoral lifestyle, knowledge regarding the general composition of human diets and their variation across landscapes and during the different phases of the Bronze Age is still restricted. Human and animal skeletal remains from the burial mounds that dominate the archaeological landscape and their stable isotope compositions are major sources of dietary information. Here, we present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of bone collagen of 105 human and 50 animal individuals from the 5 th millennium BC to the Sarmatian period, with a strong focus on the Bronze Age and its cultural units including Maykop, Yamnaya, Novotitorovskaya, North Caucasian, Catacomb, post-Catacomb and late Bronze Age groups. The samples comprise all inhumations with sufficient bone preservation from five burial mound sites and a flat grave cemetery as well as subsamples from three further sites. They represent the Caucasus Mountains in the south, the piedmont zone and Kuban steppe with humid steppe and forest vegetation to its north, and more arid regions in the Caspian steppe. The stable isotope compositions of the bone collagen of humans and animals varied across the study area and reflect regional diversity in environmental conditions and diets. The data agree with meat, milk, and/or dairy products from domesticated herbivores, especially from sheep and goats having contributed substantially to human diets, as it is common for a largely pastoral economy. This observation is also in correspondence with the faunal remains observed in the graves and offerings of animals in the mound shells. In addition, foodstuffs with elevated carbon and nitrogen

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and subsistence in Bronze Age pastoral communities from the southern Russian steppes and the North Caucasus

et al. 2020

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“…7-5 ka BP that intense human disturbance becomes traceable, indicated, for example, by the establishment of the phrygana vegetation (the Mediterranean type vegetation dominated by xerophilous low shrubs) (Cordova and Lehman, 2006). Significant changes in human ways of life around that time are also suggested by -Matuzeviciute et al, 2013). Along with a primitive bone hoe found at Laspi 7 (Telegin, 1985), this might be seen as evidence of an expansion of the local Chalcolithic population's economy beyond the conventionally assumed pastoralism, hunting and exploitation of marine resources.…”

Section: Archaeological Setting and Human Impact On The Landscapementioning

confidence: 86%

“…Fossil wheat grains found at Ardych-Burun and AMS 14 C dated to 3652–3349 cal. BC represent the earliest reported evidence of cereal consumption in Crimea (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al, 2013). Along with a primitive bone hoe found at Laspi 7 (Telegin, 1985), this might be seen as evidence of an expansion of the local Chalcolithic population’s economy beyond the conventionally assumed pastoralism, hunting and exploitation of marine resources.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Late-Holocene palaeoenvironments of Southern Crimea: Soils, soil-climate relationship and human impact

2017

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Occupying 4% of Crimea’s territory, the sub-Mediterranean landscapes of Southern Crimea stand out for their distinct soil-climatic conditions and record of human activity. This paper presents the results of study of the newly formed and well-dated soils from 21 archaeological sites, making it possible to build a soil chronosequence covering the last 2.3 ka. To study the natural processes on an intra-secular scale, short series of instrumental meteorological observations were extended, based on dendrochronological records, to a total of 160 years, and the time series of solar activity and energy for pedogenesis were correlated. These data are collated with a 4.2-ka Lake Saki varve record, which was re-analysed applying the DFT spectrum analysis method, with three distinct phases in relative secular variations in precipitation being identified. The phase of a relative climatic stability with moderate variations in precipitation (3.2–1.25 ka BP) was followed by the period of increased moisture (from 1.25 ka BP), unparalleled since the Late Bronze Age. Given the decisive role of increased moisture in the climate-controlled energy expenditures for pedogenesis, in the dynamics of vegetation cover and human ways of life, the identification of these periods contributes to a better understanding of soil–climate relationship and cause-and-effect for nonlinear change in the settlement and landscape history of the region.

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“…The first evidence of agricultural practices in the Taman Peninsula (i) appears chronologically after domestication and early cultivation in Armenia (Hovsepyan and Willcox, 2008), (ii) is quite similar to the emergence of agro-pastoral farming in the Eastern European Plain, and (iii) precedes cereal cultivation in Crimea (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al, 2013).…”

Section: Onset Of Agricultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…A statistical analysis, based on Early Neolithic sites distributed from the Eastern European Plain to Central Europe, shows a concentration of radiocarbon dates in the 5300e4900 cal yr BC (7250e6850 cal yr BP) time-window, but with a high heterogeneity and a maximum at 6910 cal BC (8860 cal yr BP) for the Yelshanian Culture (Dolukhanov et al, 2005). The earliest evidence of domesticated wheat in the Crimea (site Ardych-Burun) dates back to the Chalcolithic (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al, 2013), at 4772 ± 51 14 C yr BP (2s calibration: 5600e5445 cal yr BP). In the northern Pontic area, it has been suggested that the gradual transition to pottery-making occurred at 8950 cal yr BP and that early farming cultures appeared around 7150 cal yr BP (Dolukhanov and Shilik, 2007).…”

Section: Onset Of Agricultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

First evidence of agro-pastoral farming and anthropogenic impact in the Taman Peninsula, Russia

Kaniewski

Giaime

Marriner

et al. 2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

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The earliest evidence of domesticated wheat in the Crimea at Chalcolithic Ardych-Burun

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Diet and subsistence in Bronze Age pastoral communities from the southern Russian steppes and the North Caucasus

Diet and subsistence in Bronze Age pastoral communities from the southern Russian steppes and the North Caucasus

Late-Holocene palaeoenvironments of Southern Crimea: Soils, soil-climate relationship and human impact

First evidence of agro-pastoral farming and anthropogenic impact in the Taman Peninsula, Russia

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