Data sharing reveals complexity in the westward spread of domestic animals across Neolithic Turkey

TY - JOUR

T1 - Data sharing reveals complexity in the westward spread of domestic animals across Neolithic Turkey

AU - Arbuckle, Benjamin S.

AU - Kansa, Sarah Whitcher

AU - Kansa, Eric

AU - Orton, David

AU - Çakirlar, Canan

AU - Gourichon, Lionel

AU - Atici, Levent

AU - Galik, Alfred

AU - Marciniak, Arkadiusz

AU - Mulville, Jacqui

AU - Buitenhuis, Hijlke

AU - Carruthers, Denise

AU - De Cupere, Bea

AU - Demirergi, Arzu

AU - Frame, Sheelagh

AU - Helmer, Daniel

AU - Martin, Louise

AU - Peters, Joris

AU - Pöllath, Nadja

AU - Pawłowska, Kamilla

AU - Russell, Nerissa

AU - Twiss, Katheryn

AU - Würtenberger, Doris

N1 - (c) 2014 The Authors. This content is made available by the publisher under a Creative Commons CC-BY Licence

PY - 2014/6/13

Y1 - 2014/6/13

N2 - This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set 'package' comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).

AB - This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set 'package' comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902807505&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0099845

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0099845

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84902807505

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 9

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 9

M1 - e99845

ER -