Lecture 10 Morphological Markers and the Emergence of Agriculture Flashcards by maria posvolsky

MORPHOLOGICAL MARKERS: PLANTS

Domestication syndrome

 Increase seed size

 Non-shattering (broken rachis)

 Starch granules/phytoliths

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INCREASING SEED AND RIND SIZE –SQUASH

 Several squash varieties domesticated throughout the Americas:
-Cucurbita pepo pepo: pumpkin lineage, Mexico, 10kBP
-Cucurbita pepo ovifera: acorn-summer lineage, eastern US, 5k BP

 Guilá Naquitz cave (10,500 BP -1,200BP) spans the transition from H-G to incipient agriculture

 Visualise changes in fruit colour from green-and-white– striped (wild squash) to bright orange (domestic)

 Requires an excellent time series, good morphological preservation, and comprehensive wild reference collection

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PHYTOLITH EVIDENCE

 Phytoliths: rigid, silicate microscopic structures deposited within different plant cellular

 Provide evidence for plant size and shape in absence of plant remains

 Phytoliths from stocks, leaves and grains provide evidence for different aspects of plant use (harvesting, winnowing, pounding, etc.)

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BEHAVIOURAL MARKERS: ANIMALS

Archaeological/Artifact evidence (technologies)
Biogeography and abundance
Demographic profiles
Biomolecular evidence (isotopes)
Historical Sources, Iconography

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

 Context: The physical location in which archaeological materials are found and the relationships they have to each other.

New human-dog relationships:

 Late Paleolithic (early Natufian) burial with elderly woman whose left hand is resting on a puppy (12,300-10,800 BC)

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CHANGE IN ABUNDANCE

 Changes in the overall abundance of
animals at archaeological sites.

Camelid domestication in the Andes

 Long-term trend for camelid
intensification in S. Central Andes
 Greater variation in fibre colour and
thickness

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DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES

 Changes in the age and sex
profiles of animals at archaeological sites.

 Hunting: random distribution, or focus on prime age individuals

 Managed herds: overabundance of subadult male remains
-Males killed for meat, females
kept for breeding

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CHANGE IN
ANIMAL DIET

 Isotope analysis can demonstrate a shift from a ‘wild’ diet to human provisioning

 Detect shift from C3 to C4 plants:
millet, maize

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ICONOGRAPHY

 Imagery depicting interactions between humans and animals

 Uses of animals:
- Traction, milk, meat, eggs

 Physical appearance of domestic ‘breeds’

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MORPHOLOGICAL MARKERS: ANIMALS

‘Domestication syndrome’

 Change in body size (genetic)

 Change in cranial morphology

 Change in tooth size & number

 Change in horn size

Result of genetic change

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Plastic responses

 Change in body size (malnutrition)

 Bit wear, dental anomalies

 Tethering, penning injuries

 Draught labour injuries

 Infectious diseases

Result of behavioural change

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CHANGE IN BODY SIZE

 Changes in animal size can be
confounded by sexual dimorphism or climatic change ( a wild male is both bigger then wild female and domesticated male which can cause confusion if a domesticated male is a wild female)

 Overlap in the size ranges of
wild and domestic animals

 Kill-off patterns can confound
estimations of size change

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CHANGES IN BODY SHAPE

 Tracking changes in shape can reveal
domestication syndrome

 Geometric Morphometrics (GMM) : assesses shape independent of size using various landmarks (2D/3D).

 GMM can be used to detect paedomorphy in crania of domestic pigs.

 Requires well preserved and complete specimens

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PLASTIC RESPONSES

Plastic or ‘ecophenotypic’ responses reflect nongenetic characteristics acquired within an individual’s lifetime as a response to diet, lifestyle or environment.

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CRIBBING IN ANCIENT
HORSES

 Bar-biting and cribbing can occur when animals are tethered or penned

 Crib wear present on European Upper Pleistocene horses, 20,000BP – human management?

 Also present on fossil equids from the Americas that predates human presence

 Could result from entirely wild behaviour

BIT WEAR IN HORSES shows human and man interactions (it can show in their teeth)

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DRAUGHT
ANIMALS

 Pathologies on cattle phalanges can suggest draught labour

 Horn core size and shape can identify the presence of castrated
males (oxen) - due to reduced testosterone

MULTIPLES MARKERS ARE
REQUIRED TO DOCUMENT THE
DIFFERENT AXES OF DOMESTICATION

EMERGENCE OF
AGRICULTURE

PROTRACTED
ENTANGLEMENT

CHANGING VIEW OF DOMESTICATION

Then…
 Limited number of centres (Vavilov)
 Rapid process (Neolithic Revolution)
 Sedentary communities
 Emergence of ‘Agricultural package’

Now…
 Multiple regionally distinct histories
 Protracted process(a process that lasts longer than expected or desired)
 Mobile hunter-gatherers
 “Regional mosaics” (not just sedantary communities)

SOUTHWEST ASIA
(“NEAR EAST”):
FERTILE CRESCENT

 Emmer and Einkorn wheat
 Barley
 Chickpea, pea
 Lentils,Vetch, Broad bean
 Dates, grapes, pistachios

 Goat
 Sheep
 Cattle
 Pigs
 Cats

FERTILE
CRESCENT

a crescent-shaped region in Western Asia

 Levant
 Mesopotamia
 Zagros Mountains

HOLOCENE ECOLOGY

Resource rich, biodiverse area
 Warmer, wetter climate from 13kBP

 Ample alluvial soils, (reliable) winter
rainfall

 Improved growing conditions for wild
grasses

 Open forests and grasslands expanded

 Grazers (sheep, onagers, gazelles,
aurochs) and browsers (deer, goats)

STAGES OF FOOD PRODUCTION

 Upper Paleolithic: Kebaran (25,000 – 14,000 BP), hunter-gatherer-foragers

 Mesolithic: Natufian (14,000 – 12,000 BP), complex hunter-gather-foragers

 Early Neolithic: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (12,000 – 10,800 BP )
- Small villages; Pre-domestic cultivation; Farming with hunting-gathering

 Early Neolithic: Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10,800 – ca. 8500 BP)
- Towns; Productive strains of plants, animals; Farming economies

 Late Neolithic (ca. 8500 -7000 BP)
- Ceramics, economic dependence on agriculture.

BP: before present, set
at 1950
————-
B.C. or B.C.E – calendar
date

**KEBARAN PERIODS** (25-14,000 BP)

**Logistical mobility:**  summer dispersal to uplands  winter aggregation in caves, rock shelters in lowlands  Wild grasses, fruits, nuts & animal species; **no evidence of domestication.**  Microblades (sickles), grinding & pounding stone tools (intensified plant collecting & processing) hunting and gathering

**NATUFIAN PERIOD**

 Reduced mobility, **semi-sedentary settlement,** stone architecture.  **Broad-spectrum subsistence:** hunting focus on gazelle, wide range of wild plants  Bladelets and composite tools (e.g., lunates, sickles, projectiles) - sign of domestication

**EARLY NEOLITHIC**

 **Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)** - 12,000-10,800 BP - Corresponds to end of Younger Dryas stadial (the “Big Freeze”) **Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)** - 10,800-8,500 BP - Corresponds to a period of improved climate - towns

**PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC A (PPNA)**

 **Increase in proportion and seed size of founder crops over small wild seeds** - Barley, emmer, einkorn, lentil and pea likely cultivated  **Appearance of species outside their natural range/region (broad bean, chickpea)**  Querns, sickle blades storage structures  Grain chaff incorporated into daub architecture  **Increase in settlement size (small villages**

**PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC B (PPNB)**

 **Farming village:** planned settlements, with plastered, rectangular houses  Established **mixed-farming communities** (animals and managing field)  Loss of seed dispersal in wheats and barley(domestication syndrom?)  **Still a large reliance on hunted animals** compared to domesticated livestock

**DOMESTICATED GRAINS (PPNB) examples** (know 1 or 2)

 **Yiftah'el, Israel, Levant (8,800BP)** -1.4 million lentil hoard at with Galium tricornutum, weed found in present-day lentil fields  **Jericho / Anatolia (8,350BP)** - Domesticated chickpeas (smooth testa, outside wild range)

**LATE NEOLITHIC (8,500-7,000 BP)**

 **Agricultural economies** integrating plants and animals - Cattle, sheep, goats, pig  **Reliance on full range of domesticates** (einkorn, emmer wheat, barley, legumes)  **Reduced hunting**  **Development of ceramic technology**

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIES

 Emmer and Einkorn wheat widely adopted throughout the Levant by 9000BP  Barley widely adopted by 8,000BP  6-rowed forms of barley emerging  **Protein-rich legumes** - Lentils, peas, fava bean, chick pea, bitter vetch, grass pea, fenugreek

SUMMARIZING THE FERTILE CRESCENT

 **Kebaran:** H-G exploit wild grasses during late Pleistocene  **Natufian:** Gradual decline in importance of big game, stepwise increases in importance of energy-rich plants  **Early Neolithic**: Large-scale cultivation is established in Levant and slowly spreads across the region - Farming villages typically depended on wild game, followed introduction of pig, goat, sheep, then cattle  **Late Neolithic:** Agricultural economies in central Fertile Crescent combining domestic plants and animals