Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian Steppe.

ABSTRACT: The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C₃ crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level

SUBMITTER: Ventresca Miller AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6557825 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature