Neolithic farmers or Neolithic foragers? Organic residue analysis of early pottery from Rakushechny Yar on the Lower Don (Russia)
Bondetti, Manon (University of Groningen. Arctic Centre and Groningen Institute of Archaeology)
González Carretero, Lara (The British Museum. Department of Scientific Research)
Dolbunova, Ekaterina (The State Hermitage Museum. Department of Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia)
McGrath, Krista Michelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Presslee, Sam (University of York. Environment Building)
Lucquin, Alexandre (University of York. Environment Building)
Tsybriy, Viktor (Don Russian Federation. Archaeological Society)
Mazurkevich, Andrey (The State Hermitage Museum. Department of Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia)
Tsybriy, Andrey (Russian Federation. Don Archaeological Society)
Jordan, Peter (Lund University. Department of Archaeology and Ancient History)
Heron, Carl (The British Museum. Department of Scientific Research)
Meadows, John (Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation. Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology)
Craig, Oliver E. (University of York. Environment Building)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone between these two economic 'worlds'. To investigate, organic residue analysis was conducted on 120 samples from the Early Neolithic phase (ca. mid-6th millennium BC) along with microscopic and SEM analysis of associated foodcrusts. The results showed that the earliest phase of pottery use was predominantly used to process riverine resources. Many of the vessels have molecular and isotopic characteristics consistent with migratory fish, such as sturgeon, confirmed by the identification of sturgeon bony structures embedded in the charred surface deposits. There was no evidence of dairy products in any of the vessels, despite the fact these have been routinely identified in coeval sites to the south. Further analysis of some of the mammalian bones using ZooMS failed to demonstrate that domesticated animals were present in the Early Neolithic. Nevertheless, we argue that intensive exploitation of seasonally migratory fish, accompanied by large-scale pottery production, created storable surpluses that led to similar socio-economic outcomes as documented in early agricultural societies.
Grants:	European Commission 676154 European Commission 695539
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Pottery ; Early Neolithic hunter-gatherer ; Farmers ; Lipid residue analysis ; ZooMS ; Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Published in:	Archaeological and anthropological sciences, Vol. 13, Issue 8 (August 2021) , art. 141, ISSN 1866-9565

Adreça alternativa: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12520-021-01412-2
DOI: 10.1007/s12520-021-01412-2
PMID: 34777611

16 p, 2.8 MB

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