Nomadic pastoralism and long-distance transhumance are often invoked as primary explanatory mecha... more Nomadic pastoralism and long-distance transhumance are often invoked as primary explanatory mechanisms for human migrations and regional interactions in the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes cultural tradition of the West Asian highlands. Based on established archaeological proxies of pastoralism, these arguments have rendered homogenous reconstructions of a complex pastoral landscape because of the effect of site formation processes that smooth out diagnostic archaeological signatures of diverse herd mobility strategies. Overcoming this equifinality requires an interdisciplinary approach that can empirically measure animal movements in the past. In this paper we use stable oxygen (δ 18 O) and carbon (δ 13 C) isotope analyses of incrementally-sampled teeth to investigate sheep, goat, and cattle herding strategies at the Kura-Araxes settlement of Köhne Shahar. Our δ 18 O analysis reveals that cattle and caprines accessed different water sources, with cattle staying closer to the settlement and the more permanent bodies of water that it provided. Restricted intra-annual ranges in δ 13 C values also show that nearly all herd animals were managed locally, involving limited transhumance that was supplemented with dry foddering. We contextualise our observations with published zooarchaeological data to call for more nuanced interpretations of Kura-Araxes pastoral landscapes that deemphasise the role of long-distance pastoral mobilities.
Ó The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Pla... more Ó The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Plant C and N isotope values often correlate with rainfall on global and regional scales. This study examines the relationship between plant isotopic values and rainfall in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The results indicate significant correlations between both C and N isotope values and rainfall in C3 plant communities. This significant relationship is maintained when plant communities are divided by plant life forms. Furthermore, a seasonal increase in C isotope values is observed during the dry season while N isotope values remain stable across the wet and dry seasons. Finally, the isotopic pattern in plants originating from desert environments differs from those from Mediterranean environments because some desert plants obtain most of their water from secondary sources, namely water channeled by local topographic features rather than direct rainfall. From these results it can be con...
Understanding past human settlement of inhospitable regions is one of the most intriguing puzzles... more Understanding past human settlement of inhospitable regions is one of the most intriguing puzzles in archaeological research, with implications for more sustainable use of marginal regions today. During the Byzantine period in the 4th century CE, large settlements were established in the arid region of the Negev Desert, Israel, but it remains unclear why it did so, and why the settlements were abandoned three centuries later. Previous theories proposed that the Negev was a “green desert” in the early 1st millennium CE, and that the Byzantine Empire withdrew from this region due to a dramatic climatic downturn. In the absence of a local climate archive correlated to the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition, testing this theory has proven challenging. We use stable isotopic indicators of animal dietary and mobility patterns to assess the extent of the vegetative cover in the desert. By doing so, we aim to detect possible climatic fluctuations that may have led to the abandonment of the ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016
Significance The Terminal Pleistocene Younger Dryas (YD) event is frequently described as a retur... more Significance The Terminal Pleistocene Younger Dryas (YD) event is frequently described as a return to glacial conditions. In the southern Levant it has featured prominently in explanations for the transition to agriculture—one of the most significant transformations in human history. This study provides rare local measures of the YD by deriving gazelle isotopic values from archaeological deposits formed by Natufian hunters just prior to and during the YD. The results provide evidence for cooling, but not drying during the YD and help reconcile contradicting climatic reconstructions in the southern Levant. We suggest that cooler conditions likely instigated the establishment of settlements in the Jordan Valley where warmer, more stable conditions enabled higher cereal biomass productivity and ultimately, the transition to agriculture.
Isotope data from a sacrificial ass and several ovicaprines (sheep/goat) from Early Bronze Age ho... more Isotope data from a sacrificial ass and several ovicaprines (sheep/goat) from Early Bronze Age household deposits at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel provide direct evidence for the movement of domestic draught/draft and husbandry animals between Old Kingdom Egypt (during the time of the Pyramids) and Early Bronze Age III Canaan (ca. 2900-2500 BCE). Vacillating, bi-directional connections between Egypt and Canaan are known throughout the Early Bronze Age, but here we provide the first concrete evidence of early trade in animals from Egypt to Canaan.
Nomadic pastoralism and long-distance transhumance are often invoked as primary explanatory mecha... more Nomadic pastoralism and long-distance transhumance are often invoked as primary explanatory mechanisms for human migrations and regional interactions in the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes cultural tradition of the West Asian highlands. Based on established archaeological proxies of pastoralism, these arguments have rendered homogenous reconstructions of a complex pastoral landscape because of the effect of site formation processes that smooth out diagnostic archaeological signatures of diverse herd mobility strategies. Overcoming this equifinality requires an interdisciplinary approach that can empirically measure animal movements in the past. In this paper we use stable oxygen (δ 18 O) and carbon (δ 13 C) isotope analyses of incrementally-sampled teeth to investigate sheep, goat, and cattle herding strategies at the Kura-Araxes settlement of Köhne Shahar. Our δ 18 O analysis reveals that cattle and caprines accessed different water sources, with cattle staying closer to the settlement and the more permanent bodies of water that it provided. Restricted intra-annual ranges in δ 13 C values also show that nearly all herd animals were managed locally, involving limited transhumance that was supplemented with dry foddering. We contextualise our observations with published zooarchaeological data to call for more nuanced interpretations of Kura-Araxes pastoral landscapes that deemphasise the role of long-distance pastoral mobilities.
Ó The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Pla... more Ó The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Plant C and N isotope values often correlate with rainfall on global and regional scales. This study examines the relationship between plant isotopic values and rainfall in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The results indicate significant correlations between both C and N isotope values and rainfall in C3 plant communities. This significant relationship is maintained when plant communities are divided by plant life forms. Furthermore, a seasonal increase in C isotope values is observed during the dry season while N isotope values remain stable across the wet and dry seasons. Finally, the isotopic pattern in plants originating from desert environments differs from those from Mediterranean environments because some desert plants obtain most of their water from secondary sources, namely water channeled by local topographic features rather than direct rainfall. From these results it can be con...
Understanding past human settlement of inhospitable regions is one of the most intriguing puzzles... more Understanding past human settlement of inhospitable regions is one of the most intriguing puzzles in archaeological research, with implications for more sustainable use of marginal regions today. During the Byzantine period in the 4th century CE, large settlements were established in the arid region of the Negev Desert, Israel, but it remains unclear why it did so, and why the settlements were abandoned three centuries later. Previous theories proposed that the Negev was a “green desert” in the early 1st millennium CE, and that the Byzantine Empire withdrew from this region due to a dramatic climatic downturn. In the absence of a local climate archive correlated to the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition, testing this theory has proven challenging. We use stable isotopic indicators of animal dietary and mobility patterns to assess the extent of the vegetative cover in the desert. By doing so, we aim to detect possible climatic fluctuations that may have led to the abandonment of the ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016
Significance The Terminal Pleistocene Younger Dryas (YD) event is frequently described as a retur... more Significance The Terminal Pleistocene Younger Dryas (YD) event is frequently described as a return to glacial conditions. In the southern Levant it has featured prominently in explanations for the transition to agriculture—one of the most significant transformations in human history. This study provides rare local measures of the YD by deriving gazelle isotopic values from archaeological deposits formed by Natufian hunters just prior to and during the YD. The results provide evidence for cooling, but not drying during the YD and help reconcile contradicting climatic reconstructions in the southern Levant. We suggest that cooler conditions likely instigated the establishment of settlements in the Jordan Valley where warmer, more stable conditions enabled higher cereal biomass productivity and ultimately, the transition to agriculture.
Isotope data from a sacrificial ass and several ovicaprines (sheep/goat) from Early Bronze Age ho... more Isotope data from a sacrificial ass and several ovicaprines (sheep/goat) from Early Bronze Age household deposits at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel provide direct evidence for the movement of domestic draught/draft and husbandry animals between Old Kingdom Egypt (during the time of the Pyramids) and Early Bronze Age III Canaan (ca. 2900-2500 BCE). Vacillating, bi-directional connections between Egypt and Canaan are known throughout the Early Bronze Age, but here we provide the first concrete evidence of early trade in animals from Egypt to Canaan.
The Kapthurin Formation, a part of the Middle Pleistocene sedimentary sequence of the Kenyan Rift... more The Kapthurin Formation, a part of the Middle Pleistocene sedimentary sequence of the Kenyan Rift Valley in the Lake Baringo basin, documents the transition from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age (MSA) technology (Tryon and McBrearty 2002). The MSA is of particular importance, as it marks the appearance of modern behavior, and the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens (McBrearty and Brooks 2000; McDougall et al. 2005). Archaeological and paleontological sites from two time intervals, 509 ± 9 thousand years ago (ka) to 543 ± 4 ka, and 235 ± 2 ka to 509 ± 9 ka (Deino and McBrearty 2002), were sampled for stable isotope values of fossil pedogenic carbonates, useful in reconstructing environments exploited by MSA and Acheulean hominins. Sample preparation of fossil carbonate nodules followed Breecker et al. (2009) and Hartman (2011). δ13C and δ18O values derived from this study and a previous study on bovid tooth enamel (Leslie 2013) indicate that landscapes in the Lake Baringo basin were comprised of diverse micro habitats, ranging from wet forested (C3) environments to arid grassland (C4) environments between 545 ka and 235 ka. These results will be useful in determining if there is evidence for differential utilization of landscapes, environments, and resources at MSA sites when compared with Acheulean sites, as has been suggested by other researchers (Clark 1988; McBrearty and Brooks 2000; Marean 2007; Texeier et al. 2010).
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Papers by Gideon Hartman