Stable Carbon Isotope Evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age Crop Water Management in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia

Michael P Wallace; Glynis Jones; Michael Charles; Rebecca Fraser; Tim H E Heaton; Amy Bogaard

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127085

Stable Carbon Isotope Evidence for Neolithic and Bronze Age Crop Water Management in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 10;10(6):e0127085. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127085. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Michael P Wallace¹, Glynis Jones¹, Michael Charles², Rebecca Fraser², Tim H E Heaton³, Amy Bogaard²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 4ET, United Kingdom.
² Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PG, United Kingdom.
³ NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, United Kingdom.

Abstract

In a large study on early crop water management, stable carbon isotope discrimination was determined for 275 charred grain samples from nine archaeological sites, dating primarily to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, from the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia. This has revealed that wheat (Triticum spp.) was regularly grown in wetter conditions than barley (Hordeum sp.), indicating systematic preferential treatment of wheat that may reflect a cultural preference for wheat over barley. Isotopic analysis of pulse crops (Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum and Vicia ervilia) indicates cultivation in highly varied water conditions at some sites, possibly as a result of opportunistic watering practices. The results have also provided evidence for local land-use and changing agricultural practices.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agricultural Irrigation*
Asia
Carbon Isotopes / metabolism*
Crops, Agricultural*
History, Ancient
Mediterranean Sea

Substances

Carbon Isotopes

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/), NERC standard grant, NE/E003761/1, PI Bogaard. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.