Early Neolithic avifaunal remains from southeast Anatolia provide insight into Early Holocene species distributions and long-term shifts in their range

Abstract

Based on the species-rich avifaunas from Early Neolithic sites across Upper Mesopotamia (southeast Türkiye, northern Syria, northern Iraq), we compared seven species' Early Holocene distribution patterns with that of their modern species ranges. The avifaunal remains from four sites were analysed by the authors and bird identifications from 10 additional sites were extracted from published reports. In the case of the Common Crane Grus grus, Grey Partridge Perdix perdix and Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus, shifts in distributions relate to significant changes in climate marking the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. In contrast, the massive decline of the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus represents a more recent phenomenon related to anthropogenic impact on their habitats and food sources. For the Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis and the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse P. alchata, changes in distributional range from the Early Holocene to the present could not be detected. Finally, a single bone of Macqueen's Bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii at Göbekli Tepe is unexpected and conceivably we are dealing with the remains of a rare vagrant, more likely to be found in dry steppe and desert habitats, which were located south of the study area at that time. This study highlights the value of archaeozoological finds in helping to understand how species distributional ranges have changed over time. Similarly, our work suggests that authors studying archaeozoological data should not assume that present-day distributional ranges of taxa of interest represent the ranges of these species in the past.