Some like it hot: environmental determinism and the pastoral economies of the later prehistoric Eurasian steppe

Bendrey, Robin

doi:10.1186/2041-7136-1-8

Cited by 56 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Disparate areas of available resources (e.g., water, herd forage, trees) condition different economic uses and strategies from region to region, especially among mobile pastoralists (Bendrey 2011). This is largely attributable to the biodiversity of vegetation and its usefulness to ruminant herds (Frachetti 2008a).…”

Section: The Mountain/steppe Ecotonementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotopes and Herd Foraging Practices In the Steppe/Mountain Ecotone of Central Asia During the Bronze and Iron Ages

Spengler¹,

Frachetti

Fritz

2013

Journal of Ethnobiology

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Eurasian mobile pastoralists living in semiarid environments focus on specific locations on the landscape where pasture resources and water are available. Ecotones –or intermediary zones between the mountain and steppe environments– create mosaic landscapes composed of forage-rich patches and other discrete enclaves of useful biota for pastoralist communities. Ecotopes (ecological patches) provide vital resources for the herding systems used in Central Asia today as well as in the past. We document and discuss wild seed composition of archaeobotanical samples from the Bronze and Iron Age site of Begash in southeastern Kazakhstan noting that much of the archaeobotanical assemblage represents carbonized animal dung, which is currently and historically used as fuel in this region by mobile pastoralists. The seeds offer a window into prehistoric herding patterns and provide a nuanced view of prehistoric land use, social interaction, and community formation across discrete ecological nodes in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

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Section: The Mountain/steppe Ecotonementioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotopes and Herd Foraging Practices In the Steppe/Mountain Ecotone of Central Asia During the Bronze and Iron Ages

Spengler¹,

Frachetti

Fritz

2013

Journal of Ethnobiology

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“…Sheep and goats can graze on agricultural stubble and fallow while manuring fields, thus articulating well with cereal cultivation (Koster 1977). Cattle were also abundant; as Bendrey (2011) notes, cattle are effectively pastured in riparian environments or in alpine meadows. In addition, horses, donkeys, camels, and dogs were present in small percentages, indicating that inhabitants of the region maintained a variety of domesticated animals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural production in the Central Asian mountains: Tuzusai, Kazakhstan (410–150b.c.)

Spengler

Chang

Tourtellotte

2013

Journal of Field Archaeology

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“…Variation in the topography of Iraqi Kurdistan significantly influences rainfall distribution, with precipitation rates decreasing from the mountains of the north-east to the desert-steppe of the south-west (Maran and Stevanovic 2009: 21-22). The significance of water availability on pastoral and arable farming is not just a question of the quantity of precipitation, but also evaporation rates, amongst other variables (Lioubimtseva and Henebry 2009;Bendrey 2011). Table 1 presents average temperature, evaporation rate and rainfall for the region.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understanding the interplay of the varying environmental factors at a local and regional level, and their influences on animal husbandry (e.g. Bendrey 2011) and arable farming practices (e.g. Dreslerová et al 2013) are essential for developing understanding of animal and plant use and economies at archaeological sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: Integrating animal, plant and environmental data

Elliott

Bendrey

Whitlam

et al. 2014

Environmental Archaeology

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This paper presents preliminary results from an ethnoarchaeological study of animal husbandry in the modern village of Bestansur, situated in the lower Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. This research explores how modern families use and manage their livestock within the local landscape and identifies traces of this use. The aim is to provide the groundwork for future archaeological investigations focusing on the nearby Neolithic site of Bestansur. This is based on the premise that modern behaviours can suggest testable patterns for past practices within the same functional and ecological domains. Semistructured interviews conducted with villagers from several households provided large amounts of information on modern behaviours that helped direct data collection, and which also illustrate notable shifts in practices and use of the local landscape over time. Strontium isotope analysis of modern plant material demonstrates that a measurable variation exists between the alluvial floodplain and the lower foothills, while analysis of modern dung samples shows clear variation between sheep/goat and cow dung, in terms of numbers of faecal spherulites. These results are specific to the local environment of Bestansur and can be used for evaluating and contextualising archaeological evidence as well as providing modern reference material for comparative purposes.

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Some like it hot: environmental determinism and the pastoral economies of the later prehistoric Eurasian steppe

Cited by 56 publications

References 28 publications

Ecotopes and Herd Foraging Practices In the Steppe/Mountain Ecotone of Central Asia During the Bronze and Iron Ages

Ecotopes and Herd Foraging Practices In the Steppe/Mountain Ecotone of Central Asia During the Bronze and Iron Ages

Agricultural production in the Central Asian mountains: Tuzusai, Kazakhstan (410–150b.c.)

Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: Integrating animal, plant and environmental data

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