Suchergebnisse

Livestock dung is a suitable material for delineating the complexity of interactions between people, plants and animals as it contains critical information on environmental and ecological issues as well as socio-economic dynamics and cultural lifeways. However, animal faecal remains and other coprogenic materials are commonly overlooked in most archaeological research programs due, in part, to methodological challenges in its recovery and identification. This paper evaluates the contribution of integrated geoarchaeological approaches, together with comparative reference ethnoarchaeological records, to interdisciplinary microscopic analyses on the identification of animal dung and its archaeological significance within farming built environments. It brings together records from a selection of recent geo-ethnoarchaeological case studies across the Near East, one of the heartlands of plant and animal domestication, and from northern Africa, an understudied key area with critical implications for neighbouring regions such as the Sahara. This article examines the state-of-the-art of dung material identifications within agricultural and pastoral settlements and their potential for tracing ecological diversity, animal management strategies, penning, grazing and foddering, seasonality, and dung use. This review highlights the value of modern reference frameworks of livestock dung as a primary source of information for disentangling human–plant–animal dynamics through time and space ; The MICROARCHEODUNG project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the grant agreement No. H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. A.G.-S.'s work was supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) doctoral grant, a University of Reading Research Studentship and Travel Award, a British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA) study grant, a NERC LSMSF grant BRIS/86/1015, a John Templeton Foundation Award No 52003 (P.I. I. Hodder, Stanford University), and a Wainwright Early Career Fellowship at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. She has been awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship under M.P.'s supervision at the Institución Milà y Fontanals de Investigación en Humanidades (IMF), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (PATIOS, grant agreement No. H2020-MSCA-IF-2020-101031925). ; Peer reviewed

Livestock dung is a valuable material for reconstructing human and animal inter-relations and activity within open areas and built environments. This paper examines the identification and multi-disciplinary analysis of dung remains from three neighbouring sites in the Konya Plain of Central Anatolia, Turkey: Boncuklu (ninth–eighth millennium cal BC), the Çatalhöyük East Mound (eighth–sixth millennium cal BC), and the Late Neolithic occupation at the Pınarbaşı rockshelter (seventh millennium cal BC). It presents and evaluates data on animal management strategies and husbandry practices through the simultaneous examination of plant and faecal microfossils and biomarkers with thin-section micromorphology and integrated phytolith, dung spherulite, and biomolecular analyses, together with comparative reference geo-ethnoarchaeological assemblages. Herbivore dung and other coprogenic materials have been identified predominantly in open areas, pens and midden deposits through micromorphology and the chemical signatures of their depositional contexts and composition. Accumulations of herbivore faecal material and burnt remains containing calcitic spherulites and phytoliths have provided new information on animal diet, fodder and dung fuel. Evidence from phytoliths from in situ penning deposits at early Neolithic Çatalhöyük have provided new insights into foddering/grazing practices by identifying highly variable herbivorous regimes including both dicotyledonous and grass-based diets. This review illustrates the variability of dung depositswithin early agricultural settlements and their potential for tracing continuity and change in ecological diversity, herd management strategies and foddering, health, energy and dung use, as well as the complexity of interactions between people and animals in this key region during the early Holocene. ; We are grateful to all the archaeological team members and to the project directors Prof. Ian Hodder and Prof. Douglas Baird for their support and helpful discussions, as well as to the government representatives and the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Museums and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism for permission to export samples and support. Special thanks are due to Dr. Seona Anderson and Dr. Füsun Ertuğ for the samples for micromorphological analysis fromtheir ethnographic research.MP's work has been funded by the European Union's MICROARCHEODUNG project. The project has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. AGS is a Wainwright Early Career Fellow at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. Her research has been supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) doctoral grant, a University of Reading Research Studentship and Travel Award, a British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA) study grant, and a John Templeton Foundation Award (No 52003, P.I.: I. Hodder) that also supported research conducted by W. Matthews on Çatalhöyük. The GC/MS analyses referred to briefly here and more fully elsewhere and in forthcoming publications, were supported by NERC LSMSF grant BRIS/86/1015, and we are very grateful to Dr. Ian D. Bull for all his support. ; Peer reviewed

This study illustrates the contribution of plant and faecal microfossil records to interdisciplinary approaches on the identification, composition, taphonomy and seasonality of livestock dung materials. The focus is on the taphonomy of opal phytoliths and calcitic dung spherulites embedded within modern faecal pellets collected from pasture grounds and pens from a range of animals, including cattle, sheep and pigs from three different farms and seasons of the year in Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Modern reference materials provide comparative plant and dung microfossil indicators on factors affecting the formation, composition, preservation and decay of animal faeces, as well as on the diverse environmental and anthropogenic aspects influencing these. The reported results show relevant changes in phytolith and spherulite composition according to animal species and age, livestock management, seasonality, and grazing and foddering regimes. Both microfossil records provide fundamental information on taphonomic issues that are understudied, such as the variation in the digestibility among different species, including under investigated animals such as pigs, as well on the seasonality of plant and faecal microfossils that are excreted with dung as an important material for reconstructing human-environment interactions which is commonly overlooked in archaeology ; This study was made possible by support from the Consell Insular de Menorca and the Museu de Menorca. M.P. was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie at the University of Reading. The MICROARCHEODUNG project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. K.D.'s research was supported by an AHRC South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership PhD studentship and placement at the University of Reading. She was a visiting research fellow at the Laboratory of Archaeobotany, Department of Prehistory, Autonomous University of Barcelona supervised by M.P. We are very grateful to Raquel Piqué and Karen Hardy (Department of Prehistory), as well as to Joan Manuel Soriano (Department of Geography) for access and further support at the laboratories of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Special thanks are due to the families of Algendaret Nou, Talatí de Dalt and Es Capell de Ferro that welcomed us into their farms and homes and provided access to the samples and key information for this research. ; Peer reviewed

Over the last few decades a variety of geoarchaeological methods and ethnoarchaeological and experimental approaches have demonstrated the fundamental importance of animal dung deposits for reconstructing past human life-ways. Through simultaneous examination in micromorphological thin-section and integrated phytolith and faecal spherulite analyses, this study provides direct evidence for animal management and organisation of space at Neolithic Çatalhöyük by examining livestock penning deposits across the settlement. The identification of new extensive areas of penning distributed within the boundaries of the early occupation of the site suggests greater proximity to and management of herds immediately prior to a phase of settlement expansion, access to wider networks and resources, and increased exploitation of the wider landscape. Phytolith assemblages from in situ dung accumulations also provide new insights into foddering/grazing practices showing highly variable herbivorous regimes, including both dicotyledonous and grass-based diets with an important proportion of grasses used as fodder and/or grazing during the early occupation of Çatalhöyük. This study provides direct evidence of the proximity of humans and herds, continuity and change in animal management strategies and farming practices, and concepts of space at the site. ; The study was carried out within the framework of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, the John Templeton Foundation Grant Consciousness and Creativity and the Dawn of Settled Life: The Test-case of Çatalhöyük (award No 52003), and EU Horizon 2020 MICROARCHEODUNG project. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. ; Peer reviewed

Morphometric analysis offers an alternative or augmentation to traditional archaeobotanical methods to address differences within and between plant species and their remains, refining and enhancing taxonomic resolution. Morphometrics, the measurement of size and shape, and the multivariate statistical analysis of generated quantitative variables, have long played a major role in biological research, including plant taxonomy and systematics, although its application in archaeobotany is relatively recent. Over the last few decades, there has been an increasing interest in the use of morphometrics for analysing a varied range of archaeological plant materials (mainly seeds, pollen, phytoliths, and starch grains). In particular, morphometrics have contributed to the study of the domestication and spread of many cereals world-wide, as well as that of other taxa including legumes, underground storage organs (USO), and fruits (such as olives, grapes, and dates). This paper reviews current methodologies, recent applications, and advances in the use of morphometrics in archaeobotanical research, discusses its role in exploring major research questions, and suggests possible future directions for its use. ; MP work was carried out within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 MICROARCHEODUNG project. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. MW is funded by an anonymous donation to the University of Sheffield matched by the Alumni Office – DARE. CM research is funded by European Research Council advanced grants (ComPAg no. 323842). SPD and MRA were funded by the 'Programa Estatal de Promoción del Talento y su Empleabilidad en I + D+i Juan de la Cierva'. ; Peer reviewed