Abstract The beginning of agriculture marks major changes in food acquisition technology in human... more Abstract The beginning of agriculture marks major changes in food acquisition technology in human history. In the southern Caucasus, agricultural villages emerged around 6000 cal. BC, 2000 to 3000 years later than in the Fertile Crescent despite their geographical closeness to each other. This study aims to provide isotopic evidence indicative of animal herding strategies in the early farming communities in the southern Caucasus. To analyze intra-individual sequential carbon and oxygen isotope variations, we used tooth enamel of five goats, four sheep, and three cattle from the Neolithic settlements, Goytepe and Haci Elamxanli Tepe (Azerbaijan). The analyses also included reference samples of modern domestic goat and sheep that are known to have grazed in the vicinity of the sites. As a result, the sequential carbon and oxygen isotope variations of the modern goat and sheep samples showed large amplitude and a synchronous pattern during the whole enamel maturation period. The same pattern was observed in some of the Neolithic goat and sheep samples, suggesting they may have grazed in the vicinity of the lowland site throughout the year. Other Neolithic goat and cattle samples exhibited relatively small amplitudes and inverse cyclical variation patterns. While these patterns may have been caused by multiple factors, such as drinking water and food/fodder, vertical transhumance has also been proposed for the similar isotope patterns. Despite the difficulty in specifying exact causes for the observed isotopic patterns, their diversity within/among the species implies multiple pastoral strategies that may have had adaptive advantages in new agricultural frontiers in the southern Caucasus.
Page 1. Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant Introduc... more Page 1. Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant Introduction The prehistoric site of Dhrac lies near the south end of the Dead Sea, on the road from Mazra to Karak, five metres below ...
53 The demography and social organization of early agricultural communities are among major resea... more 53 The demography and social organization of early agricultural communities are among major research problems in archaeological investigations of the Neolithic Levant (e.g., Banning 1996; 2003; Byrd 1994; 2000; Flannery 1972; 1993; 2002; Garfinkel 2002; Kuijt 2000a; 2000b; Saidel 1993; Verhoeven 1999; Wright 2000). These sociological approaches to Neolithic communities have successfully added new insights into the developmental processes of early agricultural communities from a different perspective than those that emphasize ecological factors (e.g., Köhler-Rollefson 1988; 1992; Moore 1985: 52; Moore et al. 2000; Rollefson et al. 1992). Nonetheless, these social investigations have tended to focus on settlements in the Mediterranean environmental zone, or “Levantine Corridor”, where a number of early agricultural communities cluster. In contrast, such social examinations have been underdeveloped for settlements in arid, marginal areas. There, archaeological research has focused on i...
A chrono-cultural term, Initial Upper Palaeolithic (hereafter IUP), has been widely used in archa... more A chrono-cultural term, Initial Upper Palaeolithic (hereafter IUP), has been widely used in archaeological studies of cultural changes from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic period as wel as in paleoanthropological discussions about behavioral changes around 50–40 ka in relation to geographic expansions of Homo sapiens. As described by Kuhn and Zwyns [2014], a definition of the term IUP has been broadened and applied to lithic assemblages from various regions, including the Levant, central Europe, the southern Altai, Mongolia, and northwest China, on the basis of apparent similarity in general characteristics of lithic techno-typology, such as Levalois-like blanks, robust pointed blades, and the presence of Upper Palaeolithic tool types (e.g., end scrapers and burins). At the same time, researchers have been aware of regional and temporal diferences among various IUP assemblages in several techno-typological features, such as the presence or absence of characteristic tool types (e.g....
... BANNING EB, RAHIMI D., SlGGERS J. and TA' ANI H. 1996 The 1992 Season of Excavations in ... more ... BANNING EB, RAHIMI D., SlGGERS J. and TA' ANI H. 1996 The 1992 Season of Excavations in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan ... and GOPHER A. 1 999 The Last Neolithic Flint Industry : A study of the technology, typology and social implications of the Lithic Assemblage from Nahal Zehora I ...
Abstract The beginning of agriculture marks major changes in food acquisition technology in human... more Abstract The beginning of agriculture marks major changes in food acquisition technology in human history. In the southern Caucasus, agricultural villages emerged around 6000 cal. BC, 2000 to 3000 years later than in the Fertile Crescent despite their geographical closeness to each other. This study aims to provide isotopic evidence indicative of animal herding strategies in the early farming communities in the southern Caucasus. To analyze intra-individual sequential carbon and oxygen isotope variations, we used tooth enamel of five goats, four sheep, and three cattle from the Neolithic settlements, Goytepe and Haci Elamxanli Tepe (Azerbaijan). The analyses also included reference samples of modern domestic goat and sheep that are known to have grazed in the vicinity of the sites. As a result, the sequential carbon and oxygen isotope variations of the modern goat and sheep samples showed large amplitude and a synchronous pattern during the whole enamel maturation period. The same pattern was observed in some of the Neolithic goat and sheep samples, suggesting they may have grazed in the vicinity of the lowland site throughout the year. Other Neolithic goat and cattle samples exhibited relatively small amplitudes and inverse cyclical variation patterns. While these patterns may have been caused by multiple factors, such as drinking water and food/fodder, vertical transhumance has also been proposed for the similar isotope patterns. Despite the difficulty in specifying exact causes for the observed isotopic patterns, their diversity within/among the species implies multiple pastoral strategies that may have had adaptive advantages in new agricultural frontiers in the southern Caucasus.
Page 1. Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant Introduc... more Page 1. Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant Introduction The prehistoric site of Dhrac lies near the south end of the Dead Sea, on the road from Mazra to Karak, five metres below ...
53 The demography and social organization of early agricultural communities are among major resea... more 53 The demography and social organization of early agricultural communities are among major research problems in archaeological investigations of the Neolithic Levant (e.g., Banning 1996; 2003; Byrd 1994; 2000; Flannery 1972; 1993; 2002; Garfinkel 2002; Kuijt 2000a; 2000b; Saidel 1993; Verhoeven 1999; Wright 2000). These sociological approaches to Neolithic communities have successfully added new insights into the developmental processes of early agricultural communities from a different perspective than those that emphasize ecological factors (e.g., Köhler-Rollefson 1988; 1992; Moore 1985: 52; Moore et al. 2000; Rollefson et al. 1992). Nonetheless, these social investigations have tended to focus on settlements in the Mediterranean environmental zone, or “Levantine Corridor”, where a number of early agricultural communities cluster. In contrast, such social examinations have been underdeveloped for settlements in arid, marginal areas. There, archaeological research has focused on i...
A chrono-cultural term, Initial Upper Palaeolithic (hereafter IUP), has been widely used in archa... more A chrono-cultural term, Initial Upper Palaeolithic (hereafter IUP), has been widely used in archaeological studies of cultural changes from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic period as wel as in paleoanthropological discussions about behavioral changes around 50–40 ka in relation to geographic expansions of Homo sapiens. As described by Kuhn and Zwyns [2014], a definition of the term IUP has been broadened and applied to lithic assemblages from various regions, including the Levant, central Europe, the southern Altai, Mongolia, and northwest China, on the basis of apparent similarity in general characteristics of lithic techno-typology, such as Levalois-like blanks, robust pointed blades, and the presence of Upper Palaeolithic tool types (e.g., end scrapers and burins). At the same time, researchers have been aware of regional and temporal diferences among various IUP assemblages in several techno-typological features, such as the presence or absence of characteristic tool types (e.g....
... BANNING EB, RAHIMI D., SlGGERS J. and TA' ANI H. 1996 The 1992 Season of Excavations in ... more ... BANNING EB, RAHIMI D., SlGGERS J. and TA' ANI H. 1996 The 1992 Season of Excavations in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan ... and GOPHER A. 1 999 The Last Neolithic Flint Industry : A study of the technology, typology and social implications of the Lithic Assemblage from Nahal Zehora I ...
Eco-cultural niche modelling (ECNM) is a computer-based method to extrapolate past human niche ba... more Eco-cultural niche modelling (ECNM) is a computer-based method to extrapolate past human niche based on the location of known archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental factors such as temperature, precipitation and elevation. It has been applied to study spatial distribution of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs) in Europe (Banks et al. 2008a, 2008b, 2013). However, there is still room for improving scientific reliability of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental inputs and models (Kondo et al. 2012). This paper presents the preliminary results of ECNM for Palaeolithic populations in Europe and Siberia at 50–46 kya, the time period during which the first AMHs are presumed to have appeared in Europe.
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Papers by Seiji Kadowaki