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The integration of millet into the diet of Central Asian populations in the third millennium BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2022

Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Elina Ananyevskaya
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Jorune Sakalauskaite
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy
Orozbek Soltobaev
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ethnography, Kyrgyz National University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Kubatbek Tabaldiev
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ giedre.motuzaite@gmail.com
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Abstract

Stable isotope analyses demonstrate that C4 plants played an important dietary role in Eurasian prehistory. Uncertainty remains, however, about when and how crops were integrated into the diet of Central Asian populations. Here, the authors present δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analysis of human and animal bone collagen from Kyrgyzstan, revealing C4 plant—likely broomcorn millet—consumption in the third millennium BC. Combining this evidence with AMS radiocarbon dating and animal collagen peptide fingerprinting demonstrates that broomcorn millet was consumed by humans and animals during the earliest episodes of the westward spread of this crop plant. The results contribute to debates about the timing and means by which domesticated millets were dispersed across Eurasia.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.
Figure 0

Figure 1. Map of sites analysed in Kyrgyzstan: 1) Aigyrzhal 1–3; 2) Kochkor burial grounds; 3) Baskya 1; 4) Baskya 2; 5) Boz Adyr; 6) Chalchyk-Bulak; 7) Chap I & II; 8) Chon-Alai; 9) Chechen-Bulak; 10) Kara-Tumshuk; 11) Keden; 12) Kok-Sai; 13) Kok-Tash; 14) Kyrk-Sheyit; 15) Kyzyl-Too; 16) Mechet at-Bashi; 17) Shyldyrak; 18) Uch-Kurbu; 19) Zhapyaryk (figure by the authors, using SRTM (NASA) for DEM, Digital Chart of the World (DCW) for water surface and Global Administrative Areas (GADM) for boundaries).

Figure 1

Figure 2. Scatter plot of stable isotope values of human and animal bone collagen from Kyrgyzstan (BA = Bronze Age; FBA = Final Bronze Age; EIA = Early Iron Age) (figure by the authors).

Figure 2

Figure 3. OxCal v4.4.2 calibration curves of the human and faunal bone dates from Kyrgyzstan (dates calibrated in Oxcal v4.4.2 using the IntCal20 atmospheric curve; Bronk Ramsey 2020; Reimer et al. 2020).

Figure 3

Figure 4. Box plots showing the variation of human isotope values through time (BA = Bronze Age; FBA = Final Bronze Age; EIA = Early Iron Age) (figure by the authors).

Figure 4

Figure 5. Box plots showing the variation of animal isotopic values through time (figure by the authors).

Figure 5

Table 1. Results of Mann-Whitney U test comparing human groups from chronologically different periods. EBA = Early Bronze Age; LBA = Late Bronze Age; FBA = Final Bronze Age; EIA = Early Iron Age.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Pottery vessel (A) and human burial (B–C) from Aigyrzhal-3, dated to 2460–2204 cal BC (figure by the authors).

Figure 7

Figure 7. The distribution of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) macroremains and C4 plant consumers outside China (for detailed references, see the online supplementary material (OSM D)) (figure by the authors).

Figure 8

Figure 8. Peptide fingerprinting spectrum image of the BTC-KY-F45 sample, showing the taxonomic attribution of this C4 plant-eating animal (δ13C value of −16.0‰) to the genus Bos (2287–2092 cal BC). It is likely that this individual represents domestic cattle, as other bones and horns identified as domestic Bos taurus were found in the same context (figure by the authors).

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