Regular ArticleAnalysis of Goat/Sheep Faeces from Egolzwil 3, Switzerland: Evidence for Branch and Twig Foddering of Livestock in the Neolithic
Abstract
Pollen and plant macrofossil analyses are presented from two concentrations of goat faeces from the early Neolithic settlement site of Egolzwil 3, Switzerland (radiocarbon dated to c. 4300 BC). The pollen content of the faeces is totally dominated by Corylus, Alnus, and Betula, which all flower prior to leaf emergence in the period from February to May. The faeces contain numerous wood fragments and anthers of Corylus, Alnus and Quercus. Furthermore, the faeces were found in association with large numbers of twigs, mostly of Corylus and Alnus. Analyses of the development of the annual rings in the twigs show that a large proportion were gathered in early spring prior to leaf emergence. On the basis of these analyses the conclusion is reached that the Neolithic farmers at Egolzwil 3 harvested leafless twigs and branches in the early spring and brought them to the site for the purposes of foddering their livestock. Consideration is also given to palynological investigations of Neolithic settlement layers and to historical evidence for branch foddering.
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Forests and fields in the pre-pyreneean neolithic and early Bronze Age based on fumier archaeobotanical records
2024, Quaternary InternationalThe aim of this article is to present the current state of multidisciplinary archaeobotanical approaches that are being undertaken at Cova Gran de Santa Linya. Information from studies of seeds, charcoal, pollen, and NPP recovered from the Holocene levels of the site contribute to research questions regarding the anthropogenic transformation of the landscape. The signal of human activity in the environment can be detected through the bioarchaeological signatures of deforestation, forest management or agriculture practices. In this sense, the Cova Gran de Santa Linya is a cave deposit located in the northeast of Iberia used as an occupation site, recording mainly domestic activities during the Neolithic period. The settlement was also used as a pen during the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, preserving burnt and unburned dung layers that formed pen deposits, known as fumiers. The resolution provided by the multidisciplinary nature of this work shows how forests and fields created a mosaic landscape that provided crops, pastures, wood, and fuel and clearly reflects anthropogenic changes over time. The different methodological and analytical scales of this multidisciplinary approach, including taphonomic pollen alteration, provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the cave occupation and, from a broader perspective, the regional diversity related to the availability of plant resources.
Neolithic shepherds and sheepfold caves in Southern France and adjacent areas: An overview from 40 years of bioarchaeological analyses
2024, Quaternary InternationalIn southern France, the analysis of fossil dung layers from caves and shelters occupied by the first Neolithic farmers has provided a wealth of information about the lives of shepherds and their flocks, and thus on pastoral systems. Since the early 1980s, the development of sedimentological, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical studies has made possible to collect a large amount of data. More recently, the implementation of a whole range of innovative approaches allows a more detailed approach to pastoralism. This paper proposes a synthetic approach of 40 years of bioarchaeological analysis on Neolithic sheepfold caves (grottes-bergeries). Their interpretation focuses on understanding the early agropastoral system: pastoral use of wild and cultivated plant resources (fodder, litter, care and health of livestock), mobility systems, seasonality, practices and appropriation of territory.
Let me be fodder: Unravelling human and animal derived plant remains recovered from Roman Mursa, Croatia
2024, Quaternary InternationalAlthough evidence is sporadic it is becoming clear that haymaking and hay meadow management were likely indispensable elements of practices related to animal husbandry during the Roman period. As large towns begin to emerge, success in breeding large livestock such as cattle and horses would have required good quality fodder. Yet, how we distinguish fodder or other animal associated plant remains in the archaeological record can be problematic for many reasons. This paper explores this issue through the context of Roman Mursa, located in modern day Osijek, Croatia. Two pits dating to c. AD133, contained relatively large quantities of grassland and wet ground species, such as Trifolium/Melilotus sp. Prunella vulgaris and the grasses Poa sp. and Phleum sp., as well as chaff and other remains, such as dung, eggshells, and fish scales. By examining the proportion of species grouped into habitat types, we see that the composition of sample SU391 is indictive of hay meadows and could indicate nearby animal stabling in the centre of the early Roman colony.
Of browse, goats, and men: Contribution to the debate on animal traditions and cultures
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Faecal pellets, rock shelters, and seasonality: The chemistry of stabling in the Negev of Israel in late prehistory
2020, Journal of Arid EnvironmentsChemical and phytolith analyses of well-preserved goat faecal pellets from different strata of the Ramon I Rock Shelter, in the Makhtesh Ramon (Crater) in the Central Negev, Israel, show patterns of seasonal stabling and grazing among nomads from three different periods, the Late Neolithic, the Early Bronze Age, and recent times (ca. 1800 AD to date). Low faecal lignin and high protein in the ancient pellets, together with the high proportion of phytoliths from monocotyledons, but absence from grass inflorescences and seeds, reflect consumption of lush green herbage, with no browsing. In contrast, pellets from recent flocks indicate either foddering or later seasonal grazing. The chemistry of pellets collected from wild ibex grazing and browsing in spring through autumn corroborate the conclusion that ancient grazing, as reflected in the rock shelter materials, was early in the growing season. The morphometry of faecal pellets suggests that the goats were larger in the Early Bronze than in the Late Neolithic and Recent Periods. In general, the presence of rock shelter stabling spatially remote from habitation sites indicates seasonal social/economic fission, with specialized goatherds separating from the primary campsites for short periods as early as the Late Neolithic. A Near Infrared non-destructive calibration of protein in faecal pellets was implemented.