Using Avifaunal Trends to Evaluate Environmental Shifts on the Eurasian Forest-Steppe with the Expansion of Agropastoralism

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Expansion of agricultural communities during the Eneolithic in Europe likely had an impact on the environment due to a need for land, wood for building houses, and agricultural practices (e.g., slash-and-burn). We focus on the Trypillians (an Eneolithic, forest-steppe group) from Southeastern Europe, and how their agropastoral lifestyles impacted their environment. Bird remains associated with human activity can provide key insights into past environments. Reports on avifaunal remains from archaeological sites were collected to examine changes in bird species availability over three environmental zones (forest, forest-steppe, and steppe) from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Data suggests that at sites in forested environments, there are relative decreases in woodland species (19% / 198 MNI in the Neolithic to 6% / 47 MNI of the Iron Age), with small relative increases in steppe species (10% / 198 MNI in the Neolithic to 11% / 47 MNI of the Iron Age). At forest-steppe sites, there are relative increases in domestic and synanthropic species with no marked changes in forest or steppe dwelling species. Our results suggest that groups living in forested environments had more of an impact on their local environment than the Trypillians living in the forest-steppe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24022