Substantial intensity of millet agriculture during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Kazakhstan is revealed in δ13C and δ18O time series of incrementally sampled livestock teeth

Summary

This paper presents carbon and oxygen isotopic values incrementally sampled from mandibular molars of domesticated livestock from pastoralists sites in eastern, central, and northern Kazakhstan with Bronze and Iron Age occupations. The intra-tooth patterning of δ13C and δ18O values are used to characterize millet consumption from foddering and grazing on stubble in harvested fields. Results indicate that some animals were seasonally consuming large proportions of C4 plants as early as 2400 cal BC. Seasonal variation in diverting this resource to animals is observed across sites and into the Iron Age. This finding elucidates the scale of millet consumption by livestock and builds upon paleobotanical documentation of inhabitants of the sites using domesticated grains. Evidence for limited access to high-elevation pasturage and the seasonality of stress marked by tooth enamel hypoplasias that formed during the harsh winters indicate that pastoralists likely required or, at least, preferred subsistence strategies that depended on farmed grains. This finding suggests that Central Asian pastoralists had an intimate relationship with intensive agriculture and might have been relatively sedentary.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17438