Neolithic farmers or Neolithic foragers? Organic residue analysis of early pottery from Rakushechny Yar on the Lower Don (Russia)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neolithic farmers or Neolithic foragers? Organic residue analysis of early pottery from Rakushechny Yar on the Lower Don (Russia)

AU - Bondetti, Manon

AU - González Carretero, Lara

AU - Dolbunova, Ekaterina

AU - McGrath, Krista

AU - Presslee, Sam

AU - Lucquin, Alexandre

AU - Tsybriy, Viktor

AU - Mazurkevich, Andrey

AU - Tsybriy, Andrey

AU - Jordan, Peter

AU - Heron, Carl

AU - Meadows, John

AU - Bondetti, Manon

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Frits Steenhuisen (Arctic Centre), who produced the map for Figure , Marise Gorton (University of Bradford) for undertaking the bulk stable isotope analyses, Matthew Von Tersch (BioArCh) for his assistance with aspects of the laboratory work and Harry Robson (BioArCh) for his insightful comments on the paper. This research was supported by the European Union EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Marie Curie Actions Grant Agreement No 676154 (ArchSci2020 program) and the ERC Advanced Grant INDUCE (The Innovation, Dispersal and Use of Ceramics in NE Europe, ERC-ADG-2015 No 695539). Funding Information: We thank Frits Steenhuisen (Arctic Centre), who produced the map for Figure 1b , Marise Gorton (University of Bradford) for undertaking the bulk stable isotope analyses, Matthew Von Tersch (BioArCh) for his assistance with aspects of the laboratory work and Harry Robson (BioArCh) for his insightful comments on the paper. This research was supported by the European Union EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Marie Curie Actions Grant Agreement No 676154 (ArchSci2020 program) and the ERC Advanced Grant INDUCE (The Innovation, Dispersal and Use of Ceramics in NE Europe, ERC-ADG-2015 No 695539). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Crown.

PY - 2021/7/26

Y1 - 2021/7/26

N2 - The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone between these two economic ‘worlds’. To investigate, organic residue analysis was conducted on 120 samples from the Early Neolithic phase (ca. mid-6th millennium BC) along with microscopic and SEM analysis of associated foodcrusts. The results showed that the earliest phase of pottery use was predominantly used to process riverine resources. Many of the vessels have molecular and isotopic characteristics consistent with migratory fsh, such as sturgeon, confrmed by the identifcation of sturgeon bony structures embedded in the charred surface deposits. There was no evidence of dairy products in any of the vessels, despite the fact these have been routinely identifed in coeval sites to the south. Further analysis of some of the mammalian bones using ZooMS failed to demonstrate that domesticated animals were present in the Early Neolithic. Nevertheless, we argue that intensive exploitation of seasonally migratory fsh, accompanied by large-scale pottery production, created storable surpluses that led to similar socio-economic outcomes as documented in early agricultural societies.

AB - The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone between these two economic ‘worlds’. To investigate, organic residue analysis was conducted on 120 samples from the Early Neolithic phase (ca. mid-6th millennium BC) along with microscopic and SEM analysis of associated foodcrusts. The results showed that the earliest phase of pottery use was predominantly used to process riverine resources. Many of the vessels have molecular and isotopic characteristics consistent with migratory fsh, such as sturgeon, confrmed by the identifcation of sturgeon bony structures embedded in the charred surface deposits. There was no evidence of dairy products in any of the vessels, despite the fact these have been routinely identifed in coeval sites to the south. Further analysis of some of the mammalian bones using ZooMS failed to demonstrate that domesticated animals were present in the Early Neolithic. Nevertheless, we argue that intensive exploitation of seasonally migratory fsh, accompanied by large-scale pottery production, created storable surpluses that led to similar socio-economic outcomes as documented in early agricultural societies.

KW - Early Neolithic hunter-gatherer

KW - Farmers

KW - Lipid residue analysis

KW - Pottery

KW - Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

KW - ZooMS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111270791&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12520-021-01412-2

DO - 10.1007/s12520-021-01412-2

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111270791

SN - 1866-9557

VL - 13

SP - 1

EP - 16

JO - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

JF - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

IS - 141

M1 - 141

ER -