Periodic Reporting for period 4 - DEMETER (Eight millennia of changes in domestic plants and animals: understanding local adaptation under socio-economic and climatic fluctuations)
Período documentado: 2024-09-01 hasta 2025-07-31
The domestication of plants and animals marks a major turning point in human history, and the development of agricultural societies is closely intertwined with the evolution of their domestic species. The DEMETER project set out to understand how domestic plants and animals transformed—outside a core domestication centre, over the past 8,000 years, and to identify the socio-economic and environmental factors that shaped their diversity and evolution. DEMETER is resolutely interdisciplinary, combining concepts and approaches from zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, archaeology, evolutionary biology, palaeoclimatology, and data science.
Over the course of the project, data from more than 600 archaeological sites across the northwestern Mediterranean (Catalonia and southern France) were examined, and the largest morphometric dataset ever compiled for the region was assembled. A total of 19,879 barley grains and animal teeth were analysed through geometric morphometrics. These datasets were supported by newly developed reference collections comprising 6,397 modern and experimentally charred barley grains, 1,303 modern mammal teeth, and 12,615 archaeological specimens. This approach enabled reliable distinction between archaeological sheep and goat teeth using combined GMM and palaeoproteomic (ZooMS) analyses, and the identification of sub-species and morphotypes based on barley grain morphology, even when charred (the most common mode of preservation for archaeobotanical remains in the region).
In addition, a large-scale study was conducted on body-size evolution in a series of domestic (pig, sheep, goat, cattle, chicken) and wild (hare, rabbit, fox, deer) species in southern France. Based on 81,211 bone measurements, this analysis produced long-term trajectories of body-size change, revealing synchronous shifts across all species, both wild and domestic. For most of the past 7,000 years, wild and domestic taxa followed parallel body-size trends driven by shared environmental pressures. In the last millennium, however, their trajectories diverged: domestic animals grew larger, most likely under intensified human selection, whereas wild species became smaller, likely due to increased hunting pressure and habitat fragmentation.
DEMETER has therefore produced syntheses that fundamentally transform our understanding of the biocultural history of domestic species in the northwestern Mediterranean basin. Whether these results can be generalised to other geographic areas, characterised by different environments, palaeoclimatic histories, and socio-cultural contexts, remains to be explored. Nonetheless, the findings obtained in this ecologically and culturally coherent region provide a strong foundation for future comparative research aimed at deepening our understanding of the human past.
Over the course of the project, data from more than 600 archaeological sites across the northwestern Mediterranean (Catalonia and southern France) were examined, and the largest morphometric dataset ever compiled for the region was assembled. A total of 19,879 barley grains and animal teeth were analysed through geometric morphometrics. These datasets were supported by newly developed reference collections comprising 6,397 modern and experimentally charred barley grains, 1,303 modern mammal teeth, and 12,615 archaeological specimens. This approach enabled reliable distinction between archaeological sheep and goat teeth using combined GMM and palaeoproteomic (ZooMS) analyses, and the identification of sub-species and morphotypes based on barley grain morphology, even when charred (the most common mode of preservation for archaeobotanical remains in the region).
In addition, a large-scale study was conducted on body-size evolution in a series of domestic (pig, sheep, goat, cattle, chicken) and wild (hare, rabbit, fox, deer) species in southern France. Based on 81,211 bone measurements, this analysis produced long-term trajectories of body-size change, revealing synchronous shifts across all species, both wild and domestic. For most of the past 7,000 years, wild and domestic taxa followed parallel body-size trends driven by shared environmental pressures. In the last millennium, however, their trajectories diverged: domestic animals grew larger, most likely under intensified human selection, whereas wild species became smaller, likely due to increased hunting pressure and habitat fragmentation.
DEMETER has therefore produced syntheses that fundamentally transform our understanding of the biocultural history of domestic species in the northwestern Mediterranean basin. Whether these results can be generalised to other geographic areas, characterised by different environments, palaeoclimatic histories, and socio-cultural contexts, remains to be explored. Nonetheless, the findings obtained in this ecologically and culturally coherent region provide a strong foundation for future comparative research aimed at deepening our understanding of the human past.
DEMETER combined large-scale data acquisition, methodological innovation, and interdisciplinary synthesis across four work packages. The team built extensive modern and archaeological reference collections and developed high-throughput GMM protocols for barley and key domestic mammals, complemented by the compilation of the largest archaeozoological biometric dataset available for a single region. Experimental charring and ZooMS analyses were integrated to resolve long-standing taxonomic challenges, most notably the distinction between 2-row and 6-row barley sub-species and between naked and hulled types, as well as the reliable identification of archaeological sheep and goat teeth. All archaeological datasets were contextualised with chronology, site function, environmental proxies, and palaeoclimatic reconstructions.
Main results
DEMETER’s core outputs include:
• Precise long-term phenotypic trajectories for barley, pigs, sheep, and goats based on nearly 20,000 GMM specimens, revealing both persistent morphologies and major shifts linked to environmental and socio-economic changes.
• The first large-scale wild–domestic comparison of body-size evolution, based on 81,211 bone measurements, showing parallel size trends for most of the Holocene followed by divergence in the last millennium, with domestic species increasing in size and wild species decreasing.
• New analytical capabilities, including reliable sheep–goat discrimination and barley morphotype identification even after carbonisation.
• Three regional syntheses: on domestic pigs, sheep and goats; on barley; and on wild versus domestic species, covering a large number of archaeological sites and providing an unprecedented overview of agrobiodiversity dynamics in the study area.
These results have led to more than 30 scientific publications, including several high-impact studies that received national and international media coverage.
Exploitation and dissemination
DEMETER prioritised open science. All raw data, metadata, and analytical code are published alongside the associated papers. A dedicated GIS-based web interface (forthcoming) will provide access to site-level contextual information and morphometric summaries. The project disseminated its results through conferences, workshops, invited lectures, public outreach events, and media interviews. All methodological outputs are openly available to facilitate reuse across archaeological contexts and species.
Main results
DEMETER’s core outputs include:
• Precise long-term phenotypic trajectories for barley, pigs, sheep, and goats based on nearly 20,000 GMM specimens, revealing both persistent morphologies and major shifts linked to environmental and socio-economic changes.
• The first large-scale wild–domestic comparison of body-size evolution, based on 81,211 bone measurements, showing parallel size trends for most of the Holocene followed by divergence in the last millennium, with domestic species increasing in size and wild species decreasing.
• New analytical capabilities, including reliable sheep–goat discrimination and barley morphotype identification even after carbonisation.
• Three regional syntheses: on domestic pigs, sheep and goats; on barley; and on wild versus domestic species, covering a large number of archaeological sites and providing an unprecedented overview of agrobiodiversity dynamics in the study area.
These results have led to more than 30 scientific publications, including several high-impact studies that received national and international media coverage.
Exploitation and dissemination
DEMETER prioritised open science. All raw data, metadata, and analytical code are published alongside the associated papers. A dedicated GIS-based web interface (forthcoming) will provide access to site-level contextual information and morphometric summaries. The project disseminated its results through conferences, workshops, invited lectures, public outreach events, and media interviews. All methodological outputs are openly available to facilitate reuse across archaeological contexts and species.
DEMETER significantly advanced the state of the art by delivering the first multi-species, multi-millennial synthesis on the bio-cultural evolution of domestic plants and animals in the northwestern Mediterranean over the last 8,000 years. Throughout the project, large volumes of new data were generated and combined with existing datasets into comprehensive, integrative analyses. Archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence was systematically linked with environmental, climatic, and socio-economic contexts.
DEMETER has substantially expanded existing knowledge by opening new perspectives on long-term human–environment interactions.
Major advances include:
• High-resolution evolutionary trajectories for barley and major domestic mammals, surpassing previous regional or continental studies in both temporal depth and taxonomic breadth.
• Breakthrough methodological tools, notably the combined GMM + ZooMS framework for distinguishing sheep and goats, and protocols enabling identification of barley subspecies and types even after charring.
• Interdisciplinary integration of morphometric, archaeological, palaeoclimatic, and palaeoenvironmental datasets, providing a model for future investigations of past socio-ecological systems.
• New insights into wild–domestic relationships, demonstrating that environmental pressures shaped all species similarly for most of the Holocene, thereby challenging assumptions regarding early management strategies and domestication intensity.
• A new possibilistic model of early domestication, revealing alternative sequences of plant and animal domestication and highlighting the key role of wild resources in preventing overexploitation.
The project’s findings not only revise long-standing narratives about domestication and agrobiodiversity in southern Europe but also open avenues for comparative research in regions characterised by different environmental histories and cultural trajectories.
All major scientific work has been completed, with final analyses and publications currently underway.
DEMETER has substantially expanded existing knowledge by opening new perspectives on long-term human–environment interactions.
Major advances include:
• High-resolution evolutionary trajectories for barley and major domestic mammals, surpassing previous regional or continental studies in both temporal depth and taxonomic breadth.
• Breakthrough methodological tools, notably the combined GMM + ZooMS framework for distinguishing sheep and goats, and protocols enabling identification of barley subspecies and types even after charring.
• Interdisciplinary integration of morphometric, archaeological, palaeoclimatic, and palaeoenvironmental datasets, providing a model for future investigations of past socio-ecological systems.
• New insights into wild–domestic relationships, demonstrating that environmental pressures shaped all species similarly for most of the Holocene, thereby challenging assumptions regarding early management strategies and domestication intensity.
• A new possibilistic model of early domestication, revealing alternative sequences of plant and animal domestication and highlighting the key role of wild resources in preventing overexploitation.
The project’s findings not only revise long-standing narratives about domestication and agrobiodiversity in southern Europe but also open avenues for comparative research in regions characterised by different environmental histories and cultural trajectories.
All major scientific work has been completed, with final analyses and publications currently underway.