Early Animal Management Strategies during the Neolithic of the Konya Plain, Central Anatolia: Integrating Micromorphological and Microfossil Evidence

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the contribution of microscopic multi-proxy approaches to the study of early husbandry practices and animal diet by integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and calcitic dung spherulite analyses of midden deposits at the three neighbouring Neolithic sites of Boncuklu (9th–8th millennium cal BC), Pınarbaşı (7th millennium cal BC) and Çatalhöyük (8th–6th millennium cal BC) in the Konya Plain, Central Turkey.

The results reveal considerable chronological and contextual variation in human-animal inter-relations in open areas between different communities and sites. At Boncuklu, middens display well-defined areas where phytoliths and substantial accumulations of omnivore faecal matter low in spherulite content have been identified. By contrast, open spaces at the Late Neolithic campsite of Pınarbaşı comprise large concentrations of herbivore dung material associated with neonatal ovicaprine remains from spring birthing. Here, the deposits represent repeated dung-burning events, and include high concentrations of dung spherulites and phytoliths from wild grasses, and leaves and culms of reeds that, we suggest here, derive from fodder and fuel sources. Late middens at Çatalhöyük are characterised by thick sequences derived from multiple fuel burning events and rich in ashes, charred plants, articulated phytoliths – mainly from the husk of cereals, as well as the leaves and stems of reeds and sedges – and omnivore/ruminant coprolites, the abundance of the latter declining markedly in the latest levels of occupation.

The application of this integrated microscopic approach to open areas has contributed to unravelling the complexity of formation processes at these sites, providing new insights into herding practices, diet, and the ecological diversity of Neolithic communities in Central Anatolia.

KEYWORDS:

• Husbandry
• coprolite
• midden
• micromorphology
• phytoliths
• dung spherulites
• Neolithic
• Anatolia

Acknowledgements

This research was developed within the framework of the Çatalhöyük Research Project and the Boncuklu Project, and it was supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) doctoral grant and a British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA) study grant awarded to AGS. MP’s research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska Curie grant agreement H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529. We would like to thank Douglas Baird and two anonymous reviewers for providing useful comments and suggestions on a draft of this paper. Special thanks are due to Sarah Lambert-Gates for helping with the production of the figures. We are also grateful to Douglas Baird, Ian Hodder, Arkadiusz Marciniak, and Marek Z. Barański for sampling permissions and their support with this research.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Aroa García-Suárez is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading. She is a geoarchaeologist specialised in micromorphology and integrated geochemical approaches to archaeological sediments. Her research focuses on exploring local developments in sedentism through the investigation of continuity and change in the ecological strategies and social practices of Near Eastern Neolithic communities.

Dr Marta Portillo was a Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow at the University of Reading. She is an environmental archaeologist specialised in the integration of phytolith studies with geoarchaeological methods, as well as with experimental and ethnoarchaeological approaches. Her research focuses on human-environment interactions and the developments of cultural, economic and technological behaviours in the Western Mediterranean and the Near East.

Dr Wendy Matthews is an Associate Professor in Archaeology at the University of Reading. She is a specialist in micromorphology, integrated archaeobotany, and early earthen architecture and built environments. She is Co-Director of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project and the Micromorphology TeamLeader at the Çatalhöyük Research Project.

ORCID

Aroa García-Suárez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2738-6321

Marta Portillo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2703-031X

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number 1227582]; the British Institute at Ankara [Study Grant]; and the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie action [grant number H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-702529].