Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia

Gron, Kurt J.; Larsson, Monica; Gröcke, Darren R.; Andersen, Niels Holmark; Andreasen, Marianne Høyem; Bech, Jens Henrik; Henriksen, Peter Steen; Hilton, Robert; Jessen, Mads Dengsø; Møller, Niels; Nielsen, Finn Ole Sonne; Nielsen, Poul Otto; Pihl, Anders; Sørensen, Lasse; Westphal, Jørgen; Rowley‐Conwy, Peter; Church, Mike J.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106762

Cited by 32 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The grains were well preserved, and the samples were reanalysed to ensure accuracy, so charring at high temperatures or analytical error is unlikely, although contamination cannot be ruled out (see OSM2). Similarly high δ 15 N isotope values for Neolithic naked barley were obtained from Frydenlund in Denmark (13.8‰) (Gron et al 2021) and Oldenburg LA77 in Germany (13.9‰) (Filipović et al 2019), which the latter authors suggest might reflect the use of seaweed fertiliser or manure from seaweed-eating herbivores. The impact of fertilising crops with manure from herbivores with marine diets has yet to be assessed, and crop trials of hulled barley in Orkney using seaweed fertiliser have not produced δ 15 N crop isotope results above 5.6‰ (Blanz et al 2019).…”

Section: Crop-growing Conditions In Neolithic Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 70%

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

et al. 2022

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Thirty years after the discovery of an Early Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie in Scotland was reported in Antiquity, new analysis of the site's archaeobotanical assemblage, featuring 20 000 cereal grains preserved when the building burnt down in the early fourth millennium BC, provide new insights into early farming practices. The results of stable isotope analyses of cereals from Balbridie, alongside archaeobotanical and stable isotope results from three other sites, indicate that while cereals were successfully cultivated in well-established plots without manuring at Balbridie, a variety of manuring strategies was implemented at the other sites. These differences reinforce the picture of variability in cultivation practices across Neolithic North-west Europe.

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Section: Crop-growing Conditions In Neolithic Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 70%

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

et al. 2022

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“…An established protocol for stable isotope analysis is not available for seeds. Different methods have been applied: acid-base-acid pre-treatment protocol (Bogaard et al 2013; Fraser et al 2013b) and crushing and powdering raw seeds (Heaton et al 2009; Gron et al 2017, 2020) were the most applied approaches in recent attempts. Considering the results obtained by Vaiglova et al (2014), we crashed the seeds in a mortar and the powder was inlet into the isotope ratio mass spectrometer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The analysis of the plant remains has often supported the archeological identification of horticultural practices, which were critical for developing farming strategies. Specifically, fertilization and irrigation practices, recognizable with changes in carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes ratios, are two of the most significant technological improvements for boosting soil exploitation, supporting both sedentary lifestyles and the market economy (Wallace et al 2015; Styring et al 2016; Gron et al 2017, 2020; Knipper et al 2020; Mnich et al 2020; Varalli et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic reconstruction of the subsistence strategy for a Central Italian Bronze Age community (Pastena cave, 2^nd millennium BCE)

Cortese

Angelis

Achino

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The Pastena cave is located in central Italy and its best-preserved sector is Grotticella W2, which is dated radiometrically to the Early-Middle Bronze Age. The aim of this paper is to explore human diet, animal husbandry, and plant management analyzing the findings there discovered. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis have been carried out on 40 charred seeds, 6 faunal remains and 4 human specimens, investigating the whole bio-archaeological samples available. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first papers presenting stable isotope analysis on carpological remains dated to the Italian Early-Middle Bronze Age. The obtained results are consistent with a diet based on terrestrial protein, mainly on plants and secondly on meat and animal products. The data suggest that plants, especially broad beans, were partially subjected to human management, while livestock was managed through different husbandry strategies. The cooperation between archaeological studies and molecular analysis allows us to contribute to clarify the economic strategies for a Central Italian community in a scenario that is still poor in published data.

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“…For example, the farming system now suggested for the Funnel Beaker culture could involve a considerable degree of mobility through a reliance on slash-and-burn cultivation (Schier 2009) and the movement of cattle be-tween communities, sometimes even across bodies of water (Gron et al 2016). However, as manuring was also practised (Gron et al 2021), there appears to have been diversity in economic strategies between and perhaps within groups. Dietary isotopes also show different proportions of marine resource consumption in burial populations as late as the Middle Neolithic (Fraser et al 2018;Terberger et al 2018).…”

Section: An Unsettled Neolithicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muddying the Waters

Cummings

Hofmann

Bjørnevad-Ahlqvist

et al. 2022

DJA

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This paper explores the current narratives of migration for the start and spread of the Neolithic with a particular focus on the role that the new ancient DNA data have provided. While the genetic data are important and instructive, here it is argued that archaeologists should also consider other strands of evidence. More nuanced appreciations of migration as a long-term process can be created by exploring modern mobility studies alongside considerations of continued mobility throughout the Neolithic in Europe. We can also re-interpret the material evidence itself in the light of these approaches to help trace multiple possible links and migrations from multiple different origin points. This involves the investigation of complex, but connected, practices, such as monument construction and deposition across wider areas of northern Europe than are currently normally investigated. Such an approach will enable us to address long-term processes of movement, migration and interaction and investigate how new, shared social experiences emerged in a setting in which mobility and migration may have been the norm.

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Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia

Cited by 32 publications

References 34 publications

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

Isotopic reconstruction of the subsistence strategy for a Central Italian Bronze Age community (Pastena cave, 2^nd millennium BCE)

Muddying the Waters

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Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia

Cited by 32 publications

References 34 publications

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

Scotland's first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in North-west Europe

Isotopic reconstruction of the subsistence strategy for a Central Italian Bronze Age community (Pastena cave, 2nd millennium BCE)

Muddying the Waters

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Product

Resources

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Isotopic reconstruction of the subsistence strategy for a Central Italian Bronze Age community (Pastena cave, 2^nd millennium BCE)