How ‘Pastoral’ is Pastoralism? Dietary Diversity in B ronze A ge C ommunities in the Central K azakhstan Steppes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8353054
AutoresE Lightfoot (0000-0002-0823-4720, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER UK, autor correspondente), G Motuzaite Matuzeviciute (0000-0001-9069-1551, Vilnius University), G Motuzaite‐Matuzeviciute (History Faculty/Department of Archaeology Vilnius University Universiteto 7 01513 Vilnius Lithuania), T C O''Connell (0000-0002-4744-0332, University of Cambridge), I A Kukushkin (0000-0002-4798-8496, Saryarka Archaeological Institute Karaganda State University named after EA Buketov 28 University Street Karaganda 100028 Kazakhstan), G Loman (0000-0001-6951-0509, Karaganda Buketov University), V Loman (Saryarka Archaeological Institute Karaganda State University named after EA Buketov 28 University Street Karaganda 100028 Kazakhstan), V Varfolomeev (0000-0002-3598-2345, Saryarka Archaeological Institute Karaganda State University named after EA Buketov 28 University Street Karaganda 100028 Kazakhstan), X Liu (0000-0002-1848-116X, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER UK), M K Jones (0000-0003-0930-8012, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3DZ UK)
Ano2015
Volume57
FascículoS1
Páginas232-249
Data de publicação2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoArchaeometry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0003-813X • E-ISSN: 1475-4754
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/arcm.12123
OpenAlexW1727695764
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas45
Referências citadas48

Steppe communities have traditionally been viewed as pastoralist groups with similar herd‐based economies. Recent scholarship, however, warns against assumptions of homogeneity and new scientific techniques are providing a more nuanced approach to steppe archaeology, with increasing indications of diversity. This recent evidence further suggests that considering these communities as primarily pastoralist may hide a variety of subsistence strategies, such as fishing and cultivation. Here, we consider direct evidence for diet (in the form of stable isotope analysis) from B ronze A ge communities from central K azakhstan, in the semi‐arid steppe zone. We find that the diversity recently suggested for communities across the steppe zone can be found within sites in the K araganda region. This suggests that individuals exercised choice in their dietary habits that led to dietary differences large enough to be detectable isotopically. The results also highlight the inclusion of fish in the diet of these ‘pastoral’ populations, with indications that some individuals in the F inal B ronze A ge consumed notable amounts of millet. This shows that these ‘pastoralist’ economies also engaged in fishing throughout the B ronze A ge, with millet cultivation becoming increasingly important in the F inal B ronze A ge. As such, our understanding of what it means, in this context, to be a pastoralist requires further consideration

Agriculture · Archaeology · Biology · Context (archaeology) · Dietary diversity · Food security · Geography · Livestock · Pastoralism · Steppe · Subsistence agriculture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology