Periodic Reporting for period 5 - ASIAPAST (From herds to empire: Biomolecular and zooarchaeological investigations of mobile pastoralism in the ancient Eurasian steppe)
Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2024-12-31
The uptake and spread of mobile pastoralism in the Eurasian steppe five thousand years ago marked a unique moment in human history, when for the first time, people relied almost exclusively on herd animals of sheep, goat, cattle, and horses for their daily food. Eventually, these mundane animals came to serve as dynamic symbols of community, negotiation, and power that helped give rise to nomadic states and empires that transformed Asia and Europe alike. The overall objectives of ASIAPAST include: 1) documenting Neolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies in order to determine the role, if any, of resource stress in facilitating the uptake of domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle, 2) 1) identifying the transmission pathways via which livestock moved into the steppe, 3) isolating how the transmission of crop cultivars, in particular millet, articulated with mobile pastoralist livestock husbandry practices 4) determining the degree to which human dietary intake changed with later intensification in pastoralist production, 5) establishing how ancient pastoralist communities engaged different scales of movement and determine how mobility was informed by pasture availability, equid-mediated transport, and territoriality, 6) tracing how sheep, goats, and cattle became more than a food source but a vital means to political expression through ritual interment of livestock remains. ASIAPAST recovers these dietary, mobility, and ritual histories of pastoralists and their herd animals recorded in human and animal bones and teeth as well as ceremic vessels and unlocked using ancient zooarchaeological, isotopic, proteomic and genomic analyses.
ASIAPAST has achieved far-reaching results generated from zooarchaelogical, isotopic, proteomic, and genomic analyses carried on human and animal bones and teeth as well as high-resolution organic residue analyses carried out on ceramic vessels. Zooarchaeological and genomic analyses reveal exclusive exploitation of archaic lineage horses ca 3500 BCE by Neolithic communities across the Kalunda steppe (Altai region), a uniquely steppe adaptation that set the stage for millennia of horse-human entanglements that define steppe cultures even today. These archaic lineage equids, animals that were not the forerunners of today’s domesticated horses, were loosely husbanded for their meat and also milk. The later addition of cattle bearing wild genomes by the late fourth millennium to these horse-focused subsistence milleux suggests that local Bos populations may have been recruited and loosely managed by humans, presaging the arrival of Near Eastern lineage domesticated cattle in the steppe by several hundred years. Genetic evidence confirms the earliest domesticated sheep in the Altai at ca 3000 BC. The pastoralists associated with these earliest sheep consumed milk revealed by proteomic analyses of dental calculus, while isotope analyses of collagenous proteins indicating the diets of these early pastoralists relied almost exclusively on protein intake from terrestrial resources. Isotope analyses of animal remains reveal these livestock were carefully cared for, provided with winter fodder gathered from summer season pastures. Ancient genetic work indicate that goats spread along two transmission pathways into the Eurasian steppe, the first along a northern route along the open steppe belt (northern Kazakhstan) and the second along the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor via the Tian Shian mountain range. Ancient genomic work reveals complex population histories in caprines and cattle alike, reflecting initial translocation of Near Eastern lineage domesticates to the steppe and subsequent admixture events involving possible local recruitment of wild taxa and, later, other domesticated populations.
Stable isotopic, organic residue, and zooarchaeological analyses of human bone, faunal bones and teeth, and ceramic vessels reveals subsequent and rapid diversification in pastoralist subsistence strategies and dietary intake throughout the Bronze Age indicating the complex intersection of multiple hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, and agro-pastoralist communities with different culinary traditions, subsistence imperatives, and economic goals. These economic goals extended beyond domestic household production to include focused wool production, particularly at densely inhabited metallurgical and settlement sites in central Kazakhstan, suggesting animals fibers were an important form of wealth generation that supported nascent political structures. Multi-stable isotopic analyses of livestock revealed first insights into livestock mobility patterns from the earliest Bronze Age throughout the Iron Age, demonstrating regional topographies and winter pasturage availability strongly shaped the scale of herd movements, which not only impacted the productive potential of herds but also opportunities for socio-political negotiation. Zooarchaeological biometrical analyses have revealed a marked turnover in steppe cattle populations across the eastern and western steppe which coincides with the establishment during Iron Age of trans-regional exchange networks, suggesting that cattle were entered into those exchange networks as milk producers and also as beasts of burden. Zooarchaeological analyses also reveal a shift from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the roles of horses and bovid livestock in mortuary practices, with horses increasingly replaced by sheep, goats, and cattle, suggesting livestock, rather than horses, became a means to broadcast wealth, prestige, and political negotiation.
Isotopic results revealed a long evolution of ancient mobile pastoralist dietary intake influenced by the ebb and flow of interactions with hunter-gatherer and sedentary agro-pastoralists alike. From the third millennium BCE onward, herders across the eastern and western steppes consumed diets consisting primarily of terrestrial animal proteins from the third millennium BCE onward, although in some areas, fish also contributed to pastoralist diets. Notably, evidence for intensive dairy consumption was scarce in the proteomic record, with analyses of dental calculus from Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists from both the eastern and western steppes showing only very limited identification of dairy proteins (beta lactoglobulin). Organic residue analyses of pottery suggest that animal meats and fats had an outsized importance in the northern Kazakh steppe with little or no contribution from dairy, although dairy was an important food in the drier regions of the southern Kazakh steppe These novel findings suggests that previous findings arguing that ‘dairy pastoralism’ as a foundational component of steppe pastoralism requires revaluation. Bulk carbon isotope analyses of human remains uneven uptake of millet across the steppe with communities located in central and southeastern Kazakhstan consuming millet during the first millennium BCE, but coming into use extraordinarily late in Mongolia, coinciding with the rise of the Xiongnu empire ca 200 BCE. Strontium and oxygen isotopes analyses of human teeth from pastoralists buried in monumental mortuary monuments (i.e. kurgans), suggest elites engaged longer distance moves as part of durable political strategies to configure and negotiate the socio-political cohesion of far-flung mobile communities. For example, Xiongnu elites engaged in both small-scale and trans-regional circulation of Xiongnu intermediary elites to consolidate local power structures and knit those together with other local structures elsewhere to help configure the first 'state on horseback'.
Stable isotopic, organic residue, and zooarchaeological analyses of human bone, faunal bones and teeth, and ceramic vessels reveals subsequent and rapid diversification in pastoralist subsistence strategies and dietary intake throughout the Bronze Age indicating the complex intersection of multiple hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, and agro-pastoralist communities with different culinary traditions, subsistence imperatives, and economic goals. These economic goals extended beyond domestic household production to include focused wool production, particularly at densely inhabited metallurgical and settlement sites in central Kazakhstan, suggesting animals fibers were an important form of wealth generation that supported nascent political structures. Multi-stable isotopic analyses of livestock revealed first insights into livestock mobility patterns from the earliest Bronze Age throughout the Iron Age, demonstrating regional topographies and winter pasturage availability strongly shaped the scale of herd movements, which not only impacted the productive potential of herds but also opportunities for socio-political negotiation. Zooarchaeological biometrical analyses have revealed a marked turnover in steppe cattle populations across the eastern and western steppe which coincides with the establishment during Iron Age of trans-regional exchange networks, suggesting that cattle were entered into those exchange networks as milk producers and also as beasts of burden. Zooarchaeological analyses also reveal a shift from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the roles of horses and bovid livestock in mortuary practices, with horses increasingly replaced by sheep, goats, and cattle, suggesting livestock, rather than horses, became a means to broadcast wealth, prestige, and political negotiation.
Isotopic results revealed a long evolution of ancient mobile pastoralist dietary intake influenced by the ebb and flow of interactions with hunter-gatherer and sedentary agro-pastoralists alike. From the third millennium BCE onward, herders across the eastern and western steppes consumed diets consisting primarily of terrestrial animal proteins from the third millennium BCE onward, although in some areas, fish also contributed to pastoralist diets. Notably, evidence for intensive dairy consumption was scarce in the proteomic record, with analyses of dental calculus from Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists from both the eastern and western steppes showing only very limited identification of dairy proteins (beta lactoglobulin). Organic residue analyses of pottery suggest that animal meats and fats had an outsized importance in the northern Kazakh steppe with little or no contribution from dairy, although dairy was an important food in the drier regions of the southern Kazakh steppe These novel findings suggests that previous findings arguing that ‘dairy pastoralism’ as a foundational component of steppe pastoralism requires revaluation. Bulk carbon isotope analyses of human remains uneven uptake of millet across the steppe with communities located in central and southeastern Kazakhstan consuming millet during the first millennium BCE, but coming into use extraordinarily late in Mongolia, coinciding with the rise of the Xiongnu empire ca 200 BCE. Strontium and oxygen isotopes analyses of human teeth from pastoralists buried in monumental mortuary monuments (i.e. kurgans), suggest elites engaged longer distance moves as part of durable political strategies to configure and negotiate the socio-political cohesion of far-flung mobile communities. For example, Xiongnu elites engaged in both small-scale and trans-regional circulation of Xiongnu intermediary elites to consolidate local power structures and knit those together with other local structures elsewhere to help configure the first 'state on horseback'.
ASIAPAST pushed beyond the state of the art methodological developments that advances the archaeological sciences generally speaking as well as contribute to a new understanding of mobile pastoralist steppe communities. New protocols were developed for the chemical treatment of ancient enamel tissues to remove from tooth apatite diagenetic carbonates from the burial environment and generate in vivo carbon and oxygen isotopes ratios measured during mass spectrometry. ASIAPAST methodological advances in compound specific-analyses of amino-acids increased the accuracy of determined isotope values and sample measurement flow through a two-point normalisation method for GC-C-IRMS determination of amino acid δ15N values using three sets of mixed amino acid standards of known isotopic composition.
ASIAPAST also pushed forward the state of the art in proteomic analyses focused on the recovery of beta lactoglobulin and alpha caseins in human dental calculus through development of a new paramagnetic bead approach that tests the influence of demineralization acid on recovered proteome complexity and sequence coverages matched for significant proteins. This work found that a protocol utilizing EDTA combined with paramagnetic beads increased proteome complexity, in some cases doubling the number of unique peptides and number of proteins matched, compared to protocols involving the use of HCl and either acetone precipitation or ultrafiltration. Altogether, this development increased sequence coverage of dietary milk proteins and has further implications for the study of diseases within these ancient populations by increasing the number of proteins of bacterial origin recovered from dental calculus. ASIAPAST advanced organic residue biomarker analyses beyond the state of the art through isotopic confirmation of millet biomarkers and also their antiquity through direct radiocarbon dating of those biomarkers.
ASIAPAST also pushed forward the state of the art in proteomic analyses focused on the recovery of beta lactoglobulin and alpha caseins in human dental calculus through development of a new paramagnetic bead approach that tests the influence of demineralization acid on recovered proteome complexity and sequence coverages matched for significant proteins. This work found that a protocol utilizing EDTA combined with paramagnetic beads increased proteome complexity, in some cases doubling the number of unique peptides and number of proteins matched, compared to protocols involving the use of HCl and either acetone precipitation or ultrafiltration. Altogether, this development increased sequence coverage of dietary milk proteins and has further implications for the study of diseases within these ancient populations by increasing the number of proteins of bacterial origin recovered from dental calculus. ASIAPAST advanced organic residue biomarker analyses beyond the state of the art through isotopic confirmation of millet biomarkers and also their antiquity through direct radiocarbon dating of those biomarkers.