Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology最新文献

{"title":"Horse domestication as a multi-centered, multi-stage process: Botai and the role of specialized Eneolithic horse pastoralism in the development of human-equine relationships","authors":"A. Outram","doi":"10.3389/fearc.2023.1134068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1134068","url":null,"abstract":"For over a decade there has been general, but not universal, consensus that the earliest known evidence for horse husbandry was at Eneolithic Botai, Kazakhstan, circa 3,500 BCE. Recent ancient genomic analyses, however, indicate that Botai is not the source of modern domestic horse stock (DOM2 lineage), but is instead related to the Przewalski clade of horses. DOM2 appears to instead to have emerged in early Bronze Age (mid 3rd Mill. BCE) in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, and spread quickly replacing other horse lineages after approximately 2,000 BCE. Whilst the specific evidence for earlier husbandry at Botai is not diminished by this evidence, it has broken the consensus regarding the early stages of horse domestication, with some now viewing it as a later event. This paper argues that domestication is rarely an event, but instead a process that is ongoing. The case is made for a “prey pathway” initial phase of domestication in multiple localities during the Eneolithic, which was based around local subsistence pastoralist niche construction. This took different forms due to the presence or absence of ruminant domestic stock in the Eastern European or Central Asian steppes, respectively. Whilst “push” factors likely played a part in the development of horse specialist pastoralism at Botai, it is suggested that “pull” factors accelerated the spread of DOM2 lineages, replacing others, in the later Bronze Age. The DOM2 spread was principally driven, not by local subsistence needs, but wider social, economic and military desirability of equestrianism. The long-term process of horse domestication continues in modernity with major breed changes caused first by the post-medieval agricultural revolution and, more currently, the desire for sporting achievement.","PeriodicalId":221074,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130084247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Late Pleistocene to late Holocene palaeoecology and human foraging at Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar Island","authors":"Victor Iminjili, M. Stewart, C. Culley, Sean W. Hixon, Steven T. Goldstein, Madeleine Bleasdale, Antonio Jesús Sanchez Flores, Mary Lucas, Jana Ilgner, M. Prendergast, Alison Crowther, N. Boivin, P. Roberts","doi":"10.3389/fearc.2023.1080785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1080785","url":null,"abstract":"Background Climate change played a major role in shaping regional human-environment interactions in Africa during the late Pleistocene-Holocene, but this topic has not been exhaustively studied, particularly in eastern Africa. While there is growing evidence that the coastal and island settings in this region played a critical role in human evolution, combined archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies have tended to focus on the arid interior and show the dominance of grasslands with patches of closed and open woodlands during the last 20,000 years. Methods Here, we present stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of zooarchaeological remains (n = 229) recovered from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar Island, spanning the last glacial period and the Holocene (20,000 to 500 cal. BP). Results Our data demonstrate that the vicinity of Kuumbi Cave was consistently covered by mosaic habitats, dominated by forests and small patches of open woodland and grassland. The inhabitants of Kuumbi Cave exploited these diverse tropical habitats even after the regional arrival of agriculture. Discussion We suggest that the stable coastal forest mosaic habitats acted as a refugium for foragers during glacial periods and that the Iron Age inhabitants of Kuumbi Cave were not food producers migrating from the interior, but rather Indigenous foragers interacting with food production.","PeriodicalId":221074,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131879245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The exploitation of crabs by Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals: The evidence from Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal)","authors":"Mariana Nabais, C. Dupont, J. Zilhão","doi":"10.3389/fearc.2023.1097815","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2023.1097815","url":null,"abstract":"Hominin consumption of small prey has been much discussed over the past decades. Such resources are often considered to be unproductive in the Middle Paleolithic due to their limited meat yield and, hence, low energy return. However, ethnographic studies suggest that small prey—including shellfish—are a reliable, predictable and by no means marginal resource, and there is increasing evidence for their inclusion in hominin diets during the Middle Paleolithic and even earlier. Gruta da Figueira Brava features a MIS 5c-5b Neanderthal occupation that left behind substantial, human-accumulated terrestrial and marine faunal remains, capped by reworked levels that contain some naturally accumulated, recent Holocene material, namely the remains of small crab species and echinoderms. The brown crab Cancer pagurus (Linnaeus, 1758) predominates in the intact Middle Paleolithic deposit, and reconstruction of its carapace width, based on regression from claw size, shows a preference for relatively large individuals. The detailed analysis of the Cancer pagurus remains reveals that complete animals were brought to the site, where they were roasted on coals and then cracked open to access the flesh.","PeriodicalId":221074,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129023873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is the damage worth it? Testing handheld XRF as a non-destructive analytical tool for determining biogenic bone and tooth chemistry prior to destructive analyses","authors":"Emily M. B. Simpson, B. Crowley, D. Sturmer","doi":"10.3389/fearc.2022.1098403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2022.1098403","url":null,"abstract":"Isotopic analysis is destructive and requires that a specimen retains its original (biogenic) chemical composition. A specimen's relative abundance of calcium and phosphorous (Ca/P) or carbonate and phosphate (CO3/PO4) is often used to assess preservation. If a specimen's Ca/P or CO3/PO4 is similar to modern specimens, a specimen's isotopic composition may be biogenic. However, most methods for measuring these proxies are destructive. Moreover the relationships between Ca/P, CO3/PO4 and isotopic preservation are poorly established. In this study, we assessed the ability of handheld X-ray fluorescence (hXRF) to non-destructively evaluate a specimen's preservation by characterizing the calcium to phosphorous ratio (Ca/P). We first established that surface Ca/P (Ca/Psurface) for modern specimens was consistent with expectations for unaltered bone (1.3–2.3). Several specimens had slightly larger ratios, suggesting the currently accepted range may need to be expanded. Second, we tested the ability of Ca/Psurface to detect alteration using twenty Quaternary mammal teeth from Big Bone Lick, Kentucky. Ten specimens had Ca/Psurface between 1.3 and 2.3 and ten had larger ratios, suggesting alteration. Because most methods measure Ca/P in powder (Ca/Ppowder), we compared Ca/Psurface, Ca/Ppowder, and the enamel subsurface (Ca/Psubsurface). With two exceptions, Ca/Psubsurface and Ca/Ppowder were below 2.3, regardless of Ca/Psurface, suggesting that Ca/Ppowder and Ca/Psubsurface underestimate alteration. We next compared Ca/Psurface, CO3/PO4, and carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope values for the fossil teeth. Fourteen specimens were identified as altered or unaltered by both proxies, but six specimens only had one altered proxy. Specimens with both proxies altered had lower, less variable δ13C values than specimens with both proxies unaltered. Median δ18O values were similar between these groups. Individuals with altered Ca/Psurface but unaltered CO3/PO4 isotopically resembled specimens with both proxies altered. Conversely, specimens with unaltered Ca/Psurface and altered CO3/PO4 were similar to specimens with both proxies unaltered. Notably, all individuals with both proxies altered had relatively low δ13C values, including a horse and mammoth, which are normally considered grazers (and therefore should have higher δ13C values). These and other altered specimens may be isotopically compromised. Overall, our results suggest that Ca/Psurface is effective at detecting alteration non-destructively, quickly, and affordably, making it an attractive approach for analyzing unique specimens.","PeriodicalId":221074,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114511454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Isotope analysis in archaeology grand challenge","authors":"P. Roberts","doi":"10.3389/fearc.2022.988656","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2022.988656","url":null,"abstract":"COPYRIGHT © 2022 Roberts. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Isotope analysis in archaeology grand challenge","PeriodicalId":221074,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130505877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}