Papers by Sarieh (Solmaz) Amiri
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Dec 15, 2021
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jun 27, 2017
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2020
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Sep 8, 2021
Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas XIII, 2021
Gūnespān is located in the southeastern part of Malayer, in Hamadan Province in Iran. The main oc... more Gūnespān is located in the southeastern part of Malayer, in Hamadan Province in Iran. The main occupation occurred during the Bronze Age and Late Iron Age (Median) periods. The study of archaeozoological assemblages from these peri- ods revealed that sheep/goat and cattle constitute the bulk of the exploited animal resources, showing that these human communities were highly dependent on pastoralism. During the Iron Age, the role of cattle seems to have become more predominant, which might be an indication of agricultural development in this region. Also, another feature in common with other sites in Iran is the increase of suid remains, which shows the growing importance of domestic pig during the Iron Age. In parallel, equid remains are also more numerous. The same pattern is visible when comparing Gūnespān to Godin Tepe and Nush-i Jan. The identified wild species (12%), the majority of which are herbivores, belong to wild sheep (Ovis orientalis), wild goat (Capra aegagrus), red deer (Cervus elaphus maral) or Persian fallow deer (Dama dama mesopo- tamica), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and gazelle (Gazella cf. subgutturosa). Other identified wild taxa are wild or domestic cat (Felis silvestris/catus), hare (Lepus europaeus), heron (Ardea sp.), duck (Anatidae), and tortoise (Testudo graeca).
Science, 2020
Dog domestication was multifaceted Dogs were the first domesticated animal, likely originating fr... more Dog domestication was multifaceted Dogs were the first domesticated animal, likely originating from human-associated wolves, but their origin remains unclear. Bergstrom et al. sequenced 27 ancient dog genomes from multiple locations near to and corresponding in time to comparable human ancient DNA sites (see the Perspective by Pavlidis and Somel). By analyzing these genomes, along with other ancient and modern dog genomes, the authors found that dogs likely arose once from a now-extinct wolf population. They also found that at least five different dog populations ∼10,000 years before the present show replacement in Europe at later dates. Furthermore, some dog population genetics are similar to those of humans, whereas others differ, inferring a complex ancestral history for humanity's best friend. Science , this issue p. 557 ; see also p. 522
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021
Significance Goats were among the first domestic animals and today are an important livestock spe... more Significance Goats were among the first domestic animals and today are an important livestock species; archaeozoological evidence from the Zagros Mountains of western Iran indicates that goats were managed by the late ninth/early eighth millennium. We assess goat assemblages from Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein, two Aceramic Neolithic Zagros sites, using complementary archaeozoological and archaeogenomic approaches. Nuclear and mitochondrial genomes indicate that these goats were genetically diverse and ancestral to later domestic goats and already distinct from wild goats. Demographic profiles from bone remains, differential diversity patterns of uniparental markers, and presence of long runs of homozygosity reveal the practicing and consequences of management, thus expanding our understanding of the beginnings of animal husbandry.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2021
Sasanian Persia, 2017
This chapter is based on recent investigations into the subsistence economy at a military fort in... more This chapter is based on recent investigations into the subsistence economy at a military fort in the northern Caucasus (in modern Georgia), in comparison with sites along the Gorgan Wall in the north-east of Iran. The latter include forts and settlements in the hinterland. These studies highlight the diversity of animal consumption during the Sasanian era, influenced by the environmental setting of the sites, general agro-pastoral practices in the study regions and different cultural traditions. In all cases, however, herded animals (sheep/goats and cattle) provided most of the animal protein, complemented by the exploitation of other resources such as poultry, fish and wild birds. The huge quantity of animal remains from Dariali Fort in Georgia and the other Sasanian-era sites presented here shed new light on animal exploitation at the frontiers of one of antiquity’s largest empires and provide a solid foundation for future archaeozoological studies in this part of the ancient world.
ARCHAEOZOOLOGY OF SOUTHWEST ASIAAND ADJACENT AREAS XIII, 2021
Gūnespān is located in the southeastern part of Malayer, in Hamadan Province in Iran. The main oc... more Gūnespān is located in the southeastern part of Malayer, in Hamadan Province in Iran. The main occupation occurred during the Bronze Age and Late Iron Age (Median) periods. The study of archaeozoological assemblages from these peri-ods revealed that sheep/goat and cattle constitute the bulk of the exploited animal resources, showing that these human communities were highly dependent on pastoralism. During the Iron Age, the role of cattle seems to have become more predominant, which might be an indication of agricultural development in this region. Also, another feature in common with other sites in Iran is the increase of suid remains, which shows the growing importance of domestic pig during the Iron Age. In parallel, equid remains are also more numerous. The same pattern is visible when comparing Gūnespān to Godin Tepe and Nush-i Jan. The identified wild species (12%), the majority of which are herbivores, belong to wild sheep (Ovis orientalis), wild goat (Capra aegagrus), red deer (Cervus elaphus maral) or Persian fallow deer (Dama dama mesopo-tamica), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and gazelle (Gazella cf. subgutturosa). Other identified wild taxa are wild or domestic cat (Felis silvestris/catus), hare (Lepus europaeus), heron (Ardea sp.), duck (Anatidae), and tortoise (Testudo graeca).
Tepe Qela Gap (also known as Ghala Gap ) in Azna: Lurestan, was excavated in 2009 aiming to estab... more Tepe Qela Gap (also known as Ghala Gap ) in Azna: Lurestan, was excavated in 2009 aiming to establish the chronological sequence for the Azna Plain located eastern of Central Zagros, which had been scarcely studied archaeologically until now. Considering the ecological diversity surrounding the plain, Tepe Qela Gap seems to have been an ideal place for the settlement of permanent villages but could also be suitable for nomadic and seminomadic people. The archaeozoological study of a large faunal assemblage, approximately 6500 items from this site, has provided evidence on the evolution of the subsistence economy of the site during various periods of occupation. The faunal spectra of Qela Gap from different periods, indicates that domesticated sheep/goat and cattle were the major source of animal resources. Among these domesticates it should be noted that cattle ratios are important and together with evidences of kill off patterns and osteological pathologies, we can hypothesise that...
Tengberg, Daujat, Mashkour, Decaix, Amiri, Sheikhi, Debue, Berthon, Lhuillier, Bendezu-Sarmiento 2021 Environment and Subsistence Economies at Iron Age Ulug-depe, South-eastern Turkmenistan: First Results from the Archaeobotanical and Archaeozoological Studies The Archaeology of Central Asia during the 1st Millennium BC From the Beginning of the Iron Age to the Hellenistic Period Proceedings of the Workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016, 2021
First results of the botanical and faunal remains analysis from Iron Age contexts at Ulug-depe in... more First results of the botanical and faunal remains analysis from Iron Age contexts at Ulug-depe in Turkmenistan reveal subsistence economies that primarily focused on cultivating and herding, with the presence of common plant and animal species for this period such as wheat, barley, sheep, goat and cattle. However, a large diversity of wild resources, in particular game, indicates that collecting and hunting also played an important role at the site. The presence of these wild species in the bioarchaeological record clearly shows that people from Ulug-depe had access to a variety of very different biotopes – foothill zones, riverine environments and steppe-desert. The specific context of the Middle Iron Age citadel accounts for some unexpected discoveries such as large quantities of juniper among the wood elements used for roofing and a ritual deposit involving wild animals.
Tepe Qela Gap (also known as Ghala Gap ) in Azna: Lurestan, was excavated in 2009 aiming to estab... more Tepe Qela Gap (also known as Ghala Gap ) in Azna: Lurestan, was excavated in 2009 aiming to establish the chronological sequence for the Azna Plain located eastern of Central Zagros, which had been scarcely studied archaeologically until now. Considering the ecological diversity surrounding the plain, Tepe Qela Gap seems to have been an ideal place for the settlement of permanent villages but could also be suitable for nomadic and seminomadic people. The archaeozoological study of a large faunal assemblage, approximately 6500 items from this site, has provided evidence on the evolution of the subsistence economy of the site during various periods of occupation. The faunal spectra of Qela Gap from different periods, indicates that domesticated sheep/goat and cattle were the major source of animal resources. Among these domesticates it should be noted that cattle ratios are important and together with evidences of kill off patterns and osteological pathologies, we can hypothesise that...
PNAS, 2021
The Aceramic Neolithic (∼9600 to 7000 cal BC) period in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran, provi... more The Aceramic Neolithic (∼9600 to 7000 cal BC) period in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran, provides some of the earliest archaeological evidence of goat (Capra hircus) management and husbandry by circa 8200 cal BC, with detectable morphological change appearing ∼1,000 y later. To examine the genomic imprint of initial management and its implications for the goat domestication process, we analyzed 14 novel nuclear genomes (mean coverage 1.13X) and 32 mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes (mean coverage 143X) from two such sites, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein. These genomes show two distinct clusters: those with domestic affinity and a minority group with stronger wild affinity, indicating that managed goats were genetically distinct from wild goats at this early horizon. This genetic duality, the presence of long runs of homozygosity, shared ancestry with later Neolithic populations, a sex bias in archaeozoological remains, and demographic profiles from across all layers of Ganj Dareh support management of genetically domestic goat by circa 8200 cal BC, and represent the oldest to-this-date reported livestock genomes. In these sites a combination of high autosomal and mtDNA diversity, contrasting limited Y chromosomal lineage diversity, an absence of reported selection signatures for pigmentation, and the wild morphology of bone remains illustrates domestication as an extended process lacking a strong initial bottleneck, beginning with spatial control, demographic manipulation via biased male culling, captive breeding, and subsequently phenotypic and genomic selection.
Science Vol. 370, Issue 6516, pp. 557-564, 2020
"Herding and hunting in the highlands from the Sasanian to late medieval periods". Mashkour, M., Amiri, S., Fathi, H., Khazaeli, R., Debue, K., Decruyenaere, D., Beizaee Doost, S., Clavel, B., Komijani, S., Jajanidze R., & Sauer, E. In Dariali: The ‘Caspian gates’ in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the age of the Huns and the Middle Ages. The joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations & surveys 2013-2016. Vol.2: 729-788. Oxbow Books., 2020
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Papers by Sarieh (Solmaz) Amiri