Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia’s Silk Roads

Hermes, Taylor; Frachetti, Michael; Bullion, Elissa; Maksudov, Farhod; Mustafokulov, Samariddin; Makarewicz, Cheryl A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22995-2

Cited by 36 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…Archaeological studies complement the historical sources by illustrating how diverse economic strategies across Eurasia were at this time, surveys have identified the presence of cities, towns, and small farmsteads [ 9 , 16 , 17 ]. Stable isotope analyses of bone collagen demonstrated highly diverse diets between regions that were narrowly circumscribed within communities across this varied cultural landscape [ 18 ]. Examining previous studies of botanical remains from medieval contexts helps us understand how our new data fits into a broader Eurasian dispersal of domesticated trees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

et al. 2018

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During the first millennium A.D., Central Asia was marked by broad networks of exchange and interaction, what many historians collectively refer to as the “Silk Road”. Much of this contact relied on high-elevation mountain valleys, often linking towns and caravanserais through alpine territories. This cultural exchange is thought to have reached a peak in the late first millennium A.D., and these exchange networks fostered the spread of domesticated plants and animals across Eurasia. However, few systematic studies have investigated the cultivated plants that spread along the trans-Eurasian exchange during this time. New archaeobotanical data from the archaeological site of Tashbulak (800–1100 A.D.) in the mountains of Uzbekistan is shedding some light on what crops were being grown and consumed in Central Asia during the medieval period. The archaeobotanical assemblage contains grains and legumes, as well as a wide variety of fruits and nuts, which were likely cultivated at lower elevations and transported to the site. In addition, a number of arboreal fruits may have been collected from the wild or represent cultivated version of species that once grew in the wild shrubby forests of the foothills of southern Central Asia in prehistory. This study examines the spread of crops, notably arboreal crops, across Eurasia and ties together several data sets in order to add to discussions of what plant cultivation looked like in the central region of the Silk Road.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

et al. 2018

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“…Equally important is a stronger pastoral element to the economy in Northwest China compared to the other regions (Yang et al, 2019), which may involve the potential use of dung for manuring (Bogaard et al, 2007). So far, comparable δ 15 N values are only seen in Central Asia, which shows similar climatic conditions (Hermes et al 2018).…”

Section: Spatiotemporal Variation In Stable Carbon Isotopic Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis of stable isotopic data for human bone collagen: A study of the broad dietary patterns across ancient China

et al. 2020

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Ancient China is one of the most important regions for the development of agriculture in human history, contributing the two key crops millet and rice. Meanwhile, it was closely connected to the wider Eurasian network, receiving wheat and barley from the West. Because of the large isotopic differences between C3 and C4 crops, we are able to track their changing importance in different regions of China and underlying connections to their cultural and environmental contexts. We take a ‘big data’ approach, assembling the stable isotopic measurements on over 2000 ancient human bones. This is the first comprehensive meta-analysis of ancient Chinese human stable carbon and nitrogen isotope results and creates a more efficient tool for scholars to establish a fuller picture of dietary practices in ancient China. By charting their spatial-temporal variation, we can show that the primary crop facilitating the rise of the early Chinese state in the Central Plains was millet, particularly during the Bronze Age. The dominance of millet (C4), from an isotopic viewpoint, offers an opportunity to investigate the major changes in dietary practice through the proxy of δ13C, as a result of shifts between millet and other major C3 crops (rice, wheat and barley). More importantly, millet is probably one of the earliest examples for the existing local system in the Central Plains within which other imported elements (e.g. wheat) have to fit. This pattern, which has also been repetitively discovered with bronze and iron technology in later periods, starts to characterise some intrinsic features of Chinese prehistory.

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“…The duration of the 'stay' in each area may vary and some of the areas (but not all) may be repeated. An example of potential repeated mobility has recently been published in a study of urban versus nomadic communities along the medieval Silk Road in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan (second to sixteenth century AD) (Hermes et al, 2018). In their study, Hermes et al (2018) examined carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bone collagen as a proxy for dietary intake via isotopic niches.…”

Section: Repeated Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting Past Human Mobility Patterns: A Model

Reiter

Frei

2019

Eur. j. archaeol

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In the last decade, the exponential increase in migration studies focusing on the mobility of groups and single individuals—mostly based on aDNA and strontium isotope analyses—has provided an important extra layer of information regarding past social dynamics. The current relatively large quantity of data and their constant increase provide an opportunity to examine human mobility in unprecedented detail. In short, the course of academic dialogue is changing from producing evidence for movement to examining differences or similarities in human mobilities across temporal and geographical barriers. Moreover, the amount and type of new data are beginning to provide new kinds of information that can help us grasp why that movement first came about. We present the first potential mobility model focusing on single individuals during different life stages based on in vivo movement patterns. We draw on previous studies in recent mobility research that provide a variety of case studies to illustrate the model. We hope that this model will prove valuable for future discussions regarding human mobility by integrating the present archaeological contextual discourse with the increasing body of data being produced.

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Urban and nomadic isotopic niches reveal dietary connectivities along Central Asia’s Silk Roads

Cited by 36 publications

References 94 publications

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

Arboreal crops on the medieval Silk Road: Archaeobotanical studies at Tashbulak

Synthesis of stable isotopic data for human bone collagen: A study of the broad dietary patterns across ancient China

Interpreting Past Human Mobility Patterns: A Model

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