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Michael P Richards - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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stable isotope and dental caries data reveal abrupt changes in Subsistence Economy in ancient china in response to global climate change
PLOS ONE, 2019Co-Authors: Christina Cheung, Hua Zhang, Joseph C Hepburn, Dongya Y Yang, Michael P RichardsAbstract:Prior to the introduction of wheat and barley from Central Asia during the Neolithic period, northern Chinese agricultural groups subsisted heavily on millet. Despite being the focus of many decades of intensive interest and research, the exact route(s), date(s), and mechanisms of the spread and adoption of wheat and barley into the existing well-established millet-based diet in northern China are still debated. As the majority of the important introduced crops are C3 plants, while the indigenous millet is C4, archaeologists can effectively identify the consumption of any introduced crops using stable carbon isotope analysis. Here we examine published stable isotope and dental caries data of human skeletal remains from 77 archaeological sites across northern and northwestern China. These sites date between 9000 to 1750 BP, encompassing the period from the beginning of agriculture to wheat’s emergence as a staple crop in northern China. The aim of this study is to evaluate the implications of the spread and adoption of these crops in ancient China. Detailed analysis of human bone collagen δ13C values reveals an almost concurrent shift from a C4-based to a mixed C3/ C4– based Subsistence Economy across all regions at around 4500–4000 BP. This coincided with a global climatic event, Holocene Event 3 at 4200 BP, suggesting that the sudden change in Subsistence Economy across northern and northwestern China was likely related to climate change. Moreover, the substantially increased prevalence of dental caries from pre–to post–4000 BP indicates an increase in the consumption of cariogenic cereals during the later period. The results from this study have significant implications for understanding how the adoption of a staple crop can be indicative of large-scale environmental and socio-political changes in a region.
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The Wet, the Wild and the Domesticated: the Mesolithic— Neolithic Transition On the West Coast of Scotland
European Journal of Archaeology, 2002Co-Authors: R. J. Schulting, Michael P RichardsAbstract:AbstractModels of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain in recent years have tended to downplay the role of changes in the Subsistence Economy, emphasizing a very gradual adoption of new domesticated resources. This view has been particularly pervasive for the west coast of Scotland, which in the context of Britain presents a relatively marginal environment for farming. In this article, we challenge this too-quickly emerging orthodoxy through the presentation and discussion of both new and previously published stable isotope data and AMS dates. The palaeodietary information, while limited, strongly suggests a very rapid and complete change in the Subsistence Economy coincident with the earliest manifestations of the Neolithic on the west coast of Scotland early in the fourth millennium cal. BC. Whatever explanation is invoked to account for the transition needs to engage with the isotopic data. The possibility of colonization at some level needs to be seriously reconsidered. La transition du meso...
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stable isotope evidence for increasing dietary breadth in the european mid upper paleolithic
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2001Co-Authors: Michael P Richards, Paul Pettitt, Mary C Stiner, Erik TrinkausAbstract:New carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values for human remains dating to the mid-Upper Paleolithic in Europe indicate significant amounts of aquatic (fish, mollusks, and/or birds) foods in some of their diets. Most of this evidence points to exploitation of inland freshwater aquatic resources in particular. By contrast, European Neandertal collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values do not indicate significant use of inland aquatic foods but instead show that they obtained the majority of their protein from terrestrial herbivores. In agreement with recent zooarcheological analyses, the isotope results indicate shifts toward a more broad-spectrum Subsistence Economy in inland Europe by the mid-Upper Paleolithic period, probably associated with significant population increases.
R. J. Schulting - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Wet, the Wild and the Domesticated: the Mesolithic-- Neolithic Transition On the West Coast of Scotland
European Journal of Archaeology, 2002Co-Authors: R. J. Schulting, M. P. RichardsAbstract:Models of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain in recent years have tended to downplay the role of changes in the Subsistence Economy, emphasizing a very gradual adoption of new domesticated resources. This view has been particularly pervasive for the west coast of Scotland, which in the context of Britain presents a relatively marginal environment for farming. In this article, we challenge this too-quickly emerging orthodoxy through the presentation and discussion of both new and previously published stable isotope data and AMS dates. The palaeodietary information, while limited, strongly suggests a very rapid and complete change in the Subsistence Economy coincident with the earliest manifestations of the Neolithic on the west coast of Scotland early in the fourth millennium cal. BC. Whatever explanation is invoked to account for the transition needs to engage with the isotopic data. The possibility of colonization at some level needs to be seriously reconsidered
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The Wet, the Wild and the Domesticated: the Mesolithic— Neolithic Transition On the West Coast of Scotland
European Journal of Archaeology, 2002Co-Authors: R. J. Schulting, Michael P RichardsAbstract:AbstractModels of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain in recent years have tended to downplay the role of changes in the Subsistence Economy, emphasizing a very gradual adoption of new domesticated resources. This view has been particularly pervasive for the west coast of Scotland, which in the context of Britain presents a relatively marginal environment for farming. In this article, we challenge this too-quickly emerging orthodoxy through the presentation and discussion of both new and previously published stable isotope data and AMS dates. The palaeodietary information, while limited, strongly suggests a very rapid and complete change in the Subsistence Economy coincident with the earliest manifestations of the Neolithic on the west coast of Scotland early in the fourth millennium cal. BC. Whatever explanation is invoked to account for the transition needs to engage with the isotopic data. The possibility of colonization at some level needs to be seriously reconsidered. La transition du meso...
M. P. Richards - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Wet, the Wild and the Domesticated: the Mesolithic-- Neolithic Transition On the West Coast of Scotland
European Journal of Archaeology, 2002Co-Authors: R. J. Schulting, M. P. RichardsAbstract:Models of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain in recent years have tended to downplay the role of changes in the Subsistence Economy, emphasizing a very gradual adoption of new domesticated resources. This view has been particularly pervasive for the west coast of Scotland, which in the context of Britain presents a relatively marginal environment for farming. In this article, we challenge this too-quickly emerging orthodoxy through the presentation and discussion of both new and previously published stable isotope data and AMS dates. The palaeodietary information, while limited, strongly suggests a very rapid and complete change in the Subsistence Economy coincident with the earliest manifestations of the Neolithic on the west coast of Scotland early in the fourth millennium cal. BC. Whatever explanation is invoked to account for the transition needs to engage with the isotopic data. The possibility of colonization at some level needs to be seriously reconsidered
Claire Manen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Early farming Economy in Mediterranean France: fruit and seed remains from the Early to Late Neolithic levels of the site of Taï (ca 5300–3500 cal bc)
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2019Co-Authors: Laurent Bouby, Frédérique Durand, Oriane Rousselet, Claire ManenAbstract:This article presents the archaeobotanical study of Taï, a Neolithic settlement located in Languedoc, southern France. In the western Mediterranean, the Neolithization process occurred during the 6th millennium bc and is supposed to have induced a fundamental change in the Subsistence Economy, with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. Unfortunately, the Neolithic farming Economy is still poorly known in southern France, mostly from old archaeobotanical studies. At Taï, soil flotation of 127 samples provided the largest dataset available for the Early Neolithic in southern France, which testifies to the changes occurring in cultivated plants and in the Subsistence Economy during the Neolithic. Sampling also allowed comparisons between the archaeobotanical record inside the cave and from the outside settlement. Naked barley and naked wheat were the most cultivated plants throughout the Neolithic sequence. The contribution of emmer and the probable use of opium poppy during the Early Neolithic should also be highlighted. This encourages us to reconsider the role of glume wheats during the early stages of agriculture in the area. Einkorn was more common in the Late Neolithic, in agreement with results from other sites in the region. Chaff remains were always underrepresented. Remains of weeds and wild fruits were very abundant in the Early Neolithic samples from the cave. Wild plants were probably brought to the site for the tending of domestic animals or by the animals themselves (dung, fodder and/or litter). Livestock was most probably occasionally kept at the site.
Laurent Bouby - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Early farming Economy in Mediterranean France: fruit and seed remains from the Early to Late Neolithic levels of the site of Taï (ca 5300–3500 cal bc)
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2019Co-Authors: Laurent Bouby, Frédérique Durand, Oriane Rousselet, Claire ManenAbstract:This article presents the archaeobotanical study of Taï, a Neolithic settlement located in Languedoc, southern France. In the western Mediterranean, the Neolithization process occurred during the 6th millennium bc and is supposed to have induced a fundamental change in the Subsistence Economy, with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. Unfortunately, the Neolithic farming Economy is still poorly known in southern France, mostly from old archaeobotanical studies. At Taï, soil flotation of 127 samples provided the largest dataset available for the Early Neolithic in southern France, which testifies to the changes occurring in cultivated plants and in the Subsistence Economy during the Neolithic. Sampling also allowed comparisons between the archaeobotanical record inside the cave and from the outside settlement. Naked barley and naked wheat were the most cultivated plants throughout the Neolithic sequence. The contribution of emmer and the probable use of opium poppy during the Early Neolithic should also be highlighted. This encourages us to reconsider the role of glume wheats during the early stages of agriculture in the area. Einkorn was more common in the Late Neolithic, in agreement with results from other sites in the region. Chaff remains were always underrepresented. Remains of weeds and wild fruits were very abundant in the Early Neolithic samples from the cave. Wild plants were probably brought to the site for the tending of domestic animals or by the animals themselves (dung, fodder and/or litter). Livestock was most probably occasionally kept at the site.
