Ungulate domestication and early animal husbandry in the Upper Euphrates basin

在新月沃地的大部分地区，更新世末期草原的扩张对人类的生存产生了深远的影响，包括sedentism的出现。虽然在这个阶段，放牧或混合放牧-浏览野生食草动物的狩猎提供了大部分动物蛋白质，但全新世早期见证了Ovra，Capra，Sus和Bos的驯化，因此出现了畜牧业。该地区最近被公认为新石器时代革命的关键地区之一，我们的项目旨在更好地了解从纳图夫时期到PPN时期北部肥沃新月地区的经济和环境（前）条件，特别关注幼发拉底河上游盆地有蹄类动物驯化和畜牧业的早期阶段。目标：（1）建立研究区人-反刍动物关系变化的年代学;（2）重建上幼发拉底河流域新石器时代前陶器时代的环境特征;（3）从考古学背景中追溯PPN人类、狩猎物种和早期驯化动物的活动范围和地理起源;（4）考察早期畜牧业在幼发拉底河上游盆地以外的扩展。为了回答这些问题，宏观，微观和生物分子分析将应用于更新世末和全新世早期的人类和动物遗骸从网站在东南安纳托利亚和北叙利亚，以跟踪历时和区域变化有蹄类动物的开发模式，草食动物的体重，稳定同位素签名，和早期牲畜和野生亲属的mtDNA多样性。骨骼样本将提交给 * C-测年，为食用动物的生命周期受到显著的人为影响提供更精确的时间框架。在项目的头两年，考古动物学研究将包括对在东南安纳托利亚的Göbekli Tepe、Gürcütepe（遗址II和III）和Mezraa-Teleilat以及叙利亚的Baaz和Kaus Kozah挖掘的组合进行分析。将把实地以及慕尼黑和蒂宾根实验室产生的动物数据输入兼容的数据库。在这方面，实地记录方法的兼容性也被认为是一个重要的必要条件，目前正在计划举办一个讲习班，以召集在近东从事Natufian直到PPN动物群遗迹工作的主要小组。最后，将与法国、西班牙和其他在研究领域工作的小组密切合作，为安纳托利亚和叙利亚从纳图夫时代到新石器时代的有蹄类动物建立一个共同的计量数据库，生物分子研究将包括稳定同位素分析和线粒体DNA研究。稳定同位素（C、O、N）分析将用于确定所有主要脊椎动物类群（包括人类）的食性，并重建畜牧业纳入人类生计之前、期间和之后的当地环境和气候条件。锶同位素分析将提供关于动物和人类的流动性的信息。在头两年，将对来自东南安纳托利亚和叙利亚北部关键地点的300个骨样品进行胶原蛋白C/N/0和结构碳酸盐C/O分析，并对70个样品进行Sr标记，以确定选定分类群的起源地。在后者中，将分析来自同一个体的牙釉质和牙本质（或密质骨），以评估动物是否在死亡前不久或（更早）到达该地点。为了验证现存品种，新石器时代早期的家畜和野生牛之间的密切关系的假设。绵羊、山羊和猪居住在幼发拉底河上游盆地，线粒体DNA研究将从牛开始进行。

In large parts of the Fertile Crescent, the expansion of grasslands at the end of the Pleistocene had a profound impact on human subsistence, including the emergence of sedentism. While at this stage, hunting of grazing or mixed grazing-browsing wild herbivores provided the bulk of animal proteins, the early Holocene witnessed the domestication of Ov«, Capra, Sus, and Bos, and hence the emergence of livestock husbandry. Recognised recently as one of the key regions with respect to the Neolithic Revolution , our project aimed at a better understanding of the economic and environmental (pre)conditions prevailing in the northem Fertile Crescent from Natufian until PPN times, with a particular research focus on the early stages of ungulate domestication and livestock husbandry in the Upper Euphrates basin.Objectives: To (1) establish a more precise chronology for changes in the human-ruminant relationship in the study area, (2) reconstmct the environmental conditions characterising the Upper Euphrates basin during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, (3) trace the radius and geographic origin of PPN humans, game species and early domesticates from archaeological contexts; and (4) investigate the spreading of early animal husbandry beyond the Upper Euphrates basin. To answer these issues, macroscopic, microscopic, and biomolecular analyses would be applied to fmal Pleistocene and early Holocene human and animal remains from sites in SE-Anatolia and N-Syria in order to trace diachronic and regional changes in ungulate exploitation pattems, herbivore body mass, stable isotope signatures, and mtDNA diversity in early livestock and their wild relatives. Bone specimens would be submitted for *C-dating to provide a more precise timeframe for marked anthropogenic influences on the life cycles of food animals.In the first two years ofthe project, archaeozoological research would comprise yäiz/ia/ analysis ofthe assemblages excavated at Göbekli Tepe, Gürcütepe (sites II and III) and Mezraa-Teleilat in SE-Anatolia and Baaz and Kaus Kozah in Syria. Faunal data generated in the field and in the Munich and Tübingen labs would be entered into compatible databases. In this respect, compatibility of field recording methods was considered an important desideratum as well, a workshop being planned in order to assemble the major teams working on Natufian till PPN faunal remains in the Near East. Finally, a common metrical database for ungulates from Natufian till Neolithic contexts in Anatolia and Syria would be created, in close collaboration with the French, Spanish and other teams working in the study area.Biomolecular research would include stable isotope analysis and mtDNA research. Stable isotope analysis (C, O, N) would be applied to specify the feeding habits of all major vertebrate taxa (including humans) and to reconstmct the local environmental and climatic conditions prevailing prior, during and after the incorporation of animal husbandry into human subsistence. Strontium isotope analysis would supply information on mobility in animals and humans. In the first two years, 300 bone samples fi^om key sites in SE-Anatolia and North-Syria would be analysed for C/N/0 in collagen and for C/O in the stmctural carbonate, and 70 samples m terms of Sr signatures to define the place of origin of selected taxa. In the latter, both tooth enamel and dentine (or compact bone) from the same individual would be analysed to assess whether animals had arrived at the site shortly before their death, or (much) earlier. To test the hypothesis of a close relationship between extant breeds, early Neolithic domestic animals, and wild Bos. Ovis, Capra, and Sus inhabiting the upper Euphrates Basin, mtDNA research would be carried out, starting with Bos.