Early indicators to C4 plant consumption in central Kazakhstan during the Final Bronze Age and Early Iron Age based on stable isotope analysis of human and animal bone collagen

Ananyevskaya E., Aytqaly A. K., Beisenov A. Z., Dmitriev E. A., Garbaras A., Kukushkin I. A., ...More

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA, vol.15, pp.157-173, 2018 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 15
  • Publication Date: 2018
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.ara.2017.12.002
  • Journal Name: ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.157-173
  • Keywords: Stable isotope analysis, Kazakhstan, Early Iron Age, Final Bronze Age, Agriculture, C-4 plants, Millet, TASMOLA CULTURE, CENTRAL-ASIA, PHOTOSYNTHESIS, CHRONOLOGY, HORSES, RATIOS, CARBON, PERIOD, EAST, DIET
  • Akdeniz University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this paper, we present new stable isotope data from central, southern and eastern Kazakhstan (KZ) that date to the Early Iron Age. Our primary data together with results from previously published studies demonstrate that the consumption of C-4 plants, possibly millet, started in the Final Bronze Age in central KZ and continued into the Early Iron Age. Data from southern KZ, however, demonstrate that over half the human population consumed C-4 crops in the Early Iron Age as opposed to the central regions of KZ, where just a few individuals within the population, often males buried in elite kurgans, have high d13C values indicative of C-4 plant consumption. In this paper we aim first to understand if any dietary changes can be seen in the central KZ population during the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron Ages; secondly, we investigate the extent of C-4 plant consumption in central KZ during these time periods. Here we present new human isotopic data from nine central sites of the Tasmola culture (n = 11), two eastern KZ sites (n = 3) and two southern KZ sites (n = 26).