Pathways to plant domestication in Southeast Anatolia based on new data from aceramic Neolithic Gusir Höyük

Abstract

Southeast Anatolia is home to some of the earliest and most spectacular Neolithic sites associated with the beginning of cultivation and herding in the Old World. In this article we present new archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data from Gusir Höyük, an aceramic Neolithic habitation dating to the 12th-late 11th millennia cal BP. Our results show selective use of legume crop progenitors and nuts during the earlier part of this period, followed by the management of cereal and legume crop progenitors from the mid-11th millennium cal BP. This contrasts with data available from other Anatolian habitations indicating broad spectrum plant use with low crop progenitor inputs. Early aceramic Neolithic Anatolian plant and animal exploitation strategies were site-specific, reflecting distinctive identities and culinary choices rather than environmental constraints. A multivariate evaluation of wheat grain metrics alongside botanical and radiometric data indicate that early wheat domestication in southeast Anatolia occurred at a faster pace than predicted by current hypotheses for a protracted transition to farming in Southwest Asia. We argue that this phenomenon is best explained as a corollary of the increasing importance of cereals in feasting at southeast Anatolian sites characterised by increasing architectural complexity and elaboration during the 11th millennium cal BP.

Adaptions in subsistence strategy to environment changes across the Younger Dryas - Early Holocene boundary at Körtiktepe, Southeastern Turkey

“…For instance, in one of the later layers of Körtiktepe a fishing hook with two holes in it was discovered, and it has been proposed that if the two holes were connected with string the hook would be better protected from breaking when catching large fish (Coşkun et al, 2010: 62). The importance of the role of human choice, cultural preference or changes in hunting strategy is exemplified by the avifaunal assemblage at Gusir Höyük, which despite the settlement’s location on the edge of a lake and being not far from two large rivers, is almost exclusively dominated by partridges ( Alectoris chukar , Perdix perdix ) whose preferred habitats are rocky hills and grasslands respectively (Kabukcu et al, 2021: 4; Kirwan et al, 2008a: 50, 53).…”

“…Gusir Höyük is located beside Gusir lake near the intersection with the Tigris and Botan rivers, in the foothills of the Taurus mountains and, with the currently excavated remains dating to the Early Holocene, although as yet the earliest remains have yet to be excavated (Karul, 2011: 1–2, 2020: 78–79). Preliminary zooarchaeological results from Gusir Höyük provide an example for comparison of subsistence strategies from a nearby, near-contemporary community (Kabukcu et al, 2021; Neuberger et al, 2019). Göbekli Tepe is located approximately 15km NE of Şanlıurfa on top of a limestone ridge rising from the Harran Plain (Schmidt, 1995: 9, 2000: 45).…”

Wild Meets Domestic in the Near Eastern Neolithic

“…At this point, plant cultivation was well established in this area [ 81 ], and early experiments with herding seem likely, since it is evident in the zooarchaeological record in the early PPNB [ 41 ], confirmed by the evidence from Cyprus. I will not explore here the reasons that Neolithic people responded to the beginnings of domestication with a celebration of the wild, but simply note that bringing plants and animals into the human sphere created wildness [ 15 ].…”

A Time to Sow, a Time to Reap: Modifications to Biological and Economic Rhythms in Southwest Asian Plant and Animal Domestication

“…Thus, it has been estimated that following deliberate cultivation of wild wheat, full morphological domestication, i.e., spikelet non-shattering, could have evolved within 20-200 years [3]. However, the current archaeobotanical consensus view is that this process actually took millennia [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]; but see [18][19][20]. Over this time scale, various other traits related to seasonality have been selected for, affecting different stages of the plant life cycle (Figure 1).…”