Combining functional weed ecology and crop stable isotope ratios to identify cultivation intensity: a comparison of cereal production regimes in Haute Provence, France and Asturias, Spain (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
This investigation combines two independent methods of identifying crop growing conditions and hus-bandry practices—functional weed ecology and crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis—in order to assess their potential for inferring the intensity of past cereal production systems using archaeobotanical assemblages. Present-day organic cereal farming in Haute Provence, France features crop varieties adapted to low-nutrient soils managed through crop rotation, with little to no manuring. Weed quadrat survey of 60 crop field transects in this re-gion revealed that floristic variation primarily reflects geographical differences. Functional ecological weed data clearly distinguish the Provence fields from those surveyed in a previous study of intensively managed spelt wheat in Asturias, north-western Spain: as expected, weed eco-logical data reflect higher soil fertility and disturbance in Asturias. Similarly, crop stable nitrogen isotope values distinguish between intensive man...
Environmental Archaeology, 2016
We integrate functional weed ecology with crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to assess their combined potential for inferring arable land management practices in (semi-)arid regions from archaeobotanical assemblages. Weed and GIS survey of 60 cereal and pulse fields in Morocco are combined with crop sampling for stable isotope analysis to frame assessment of agricultural labour intensity in terms of manuring, irrigation, tillage and handweeding. Under low management intensity weed variation primarily reflects geographical differences, whereas under high management intensity fields in disparate regions have similar weed flora. Manured and irrigated oasis barley fields are clearly discriminated from less intensively manured rain-fed barley terraces in southern Morocco; when fields in northern and southern Morocco are considered together, climatic differences are superimposed on the agronomic intensity gradient. Barley δ 13 C and δ 15 N values clearly distinguish among the Moroccan regimes. An integrated approach combines crop isotope values with weed ecological discrimination of low-and high-intensity regimes across multiple studies (in southern Morocco and southern Europe). Analysis of archaeobotanical samples from EBA Tell Brak, Syria suggests that this early city was sustained through extensive (low-intensity, large-scale) cereal farming.
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2008
We present a novel approach to study the sustainability of ancient Mediterranean agriculture that combines the measurement of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) and nitrogen isotope composition (δ15N) along with the assessment of quality traits in fossil cereal grains. Charred grains of naked wheat and barley were recovered in Los Castillejos, an archaeological site in SE Spain, with a continuous occupation of ca. 1500 years starting soon after the origin of agriculture (ca. 4000 BCE) in the region. Crop water status and yield were estimated from Δ13C and soil fertility and management practices were assessed from the δ15N and N content of grains. The original grain weight was inferred from grain dimensions and grain N content was assessed after correcting N concentration for the effect of carbonisation. Estimated water conditions (i.e. rainfall) during crop growth remained constant for the entire period. However, the grain size and grain yield decreased progressively during the first millennium after the onset of agriculture, regardless of the species, with only a slight recovery afterwards. Minimum δ15N values and grain N content were also recorded in the later periods of site occupation. Our results indicate a progressive loss of soil fertility, even when the amount of precipitation remained steady, thereby indicating the unsustainable nature of early agriculture at this site in the Western Mediterranean Basin. In addition, several findings suggest that barley and wheat were cultivated separately, the former being restricted to marginal areas, coinciding with an increased focus on wheat cultivation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2013 Styring et alii Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers
The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ 15 N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets. agriculture | prehistoric | husbandry | paleodiet
fn the Late Neolithic, an easy way /o fertilise soils and to prepare Iands for crop-gKJwing was developed, namely shifling cultivation with slash-and-burn, as indicated in the pollen record by cereal pollen, great amounts of charred particles, a decline of long-living shade trees, a distinct increase in short-living shrubs and /rees, but no marked increase of non-arboreal pollen (NAP). The NAP values arenot an indicator for the extension of cultivated land as they became in the Bronze Age and la/er. With the slash-and-burn method, agriculture could expand into less suitable regi'ons like the .fringes of the Alpsand the northern Pleistocene lowlands. The Iransformatton ofthefores/ was considerable: more than 95% ofthe used area was requiredfor wood productionfor slash-and-burn and crop growing was limited /o less than 5% ofthe area. This extensive and forest-consuming practise could have rapidly reached its Iimits. An improvement during the Final Neolithic was the concentration of permanent fields on the bes/ soils using the less fertile Iands to produce wood for burning, so starting a nutrient transfer. During the Bronze and lron Age, demographic and economic growth necessitated increased food production. Extended fields, ploughed, fertilised or with short fallow phases were a consequence. Fertiliser, mostly cattle dung, was produced by grazing in extended, openfores/s, turning these to grassland and again, with an increasing populatt'on, the system reached its Iimits. From the Late Bronze Age on to the 191h century AD, land use intensity can be described palynologically in terms of openland expressedas non-arboreal pollen (NAP) percentages.
Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe’s first farmers
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1305918110, 2013
The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ 15 N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets. agriculture | prehistoric | husbandry | paleodiet
Agronomic conditions and crop evolution in ancient Near
2014
The appearance of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent propelled the development of Western civilization. Here we investigate the evolution of agronomic conditions in this region by reconstructing cereal kernel weight and using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures of kernels and charcoal from a set of 11 Upper Mesopotamia archaeological sites, with chronologies spanning from the onset of agriculture to the turn of the era. We show that water availability for crops, inferred from carbon isotope discrimination (D 13 C), was two-to fourfold higher in the past than at present, with a maximum between 10,000 and 8,000 cal BP. Nitrogen isotope composition (d 15 N) decreased over time, which suggests cultivation occurring under gradually less-fertile soil conditions. Domesticated cereals showed a progressive increase in kernel weight over several millennia following domestication. Our results provide a first comprehensive view of agricultural evolution in the Near East inferred directly from archaeobotanical remains.