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Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.)

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Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.) University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons University of Pennsylvania Museum of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Papers Archaeology and Anthropology 1997 Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.) Naomi F. Miller University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Miller, N. F. (1997). Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.). MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, 14 123-132. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/10 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/10 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.) Disciplines Archaeological Anthropology This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/10 MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology Volume 14, 1997 Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment: MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995 Preliminary Report l Series Editor Richard L. Zettler Kathleen Ryan and James A. Armstrong, Andrew Bell, Matthew Braithwaite, Michael D. Danti, Naomi F. Miller, Peter N. Peregrine, Jill A. Weber Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology University of Pennsylvania Museum. of Archaeology and Anthropology 1997 Tell es-Sweyhat: Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment 1 SWEYHAT FLOTATION 199 7 Tag no. Op. Locus Lot Other Prov. Type Date Excavator's comment: FARMING AND HERDING ALONG THE EUPHRATES: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINT AND CULTURAL CHOICE CollDt Flt Dt id T Vol. Vol. (cc) Charcoal,>2mm Seed>2mm Misc>2 1>seed>2mm sort (FOURTH TO SECOND MILLENNIA B.C.) Lt . Hv Lt . Hv Lt ' Hv Lt ; Hv I I I / / " I I I I " " " ; ; I .I I I " ; " " ' ' " " " HEAVY FRACTION CHECK LIST Naomi F. Miller GRAIN/NUT >2 <2 <1 SEEDS (charred) >2 <2 <1 ct __ Bone Botanical wtwhl Shell wt frg -- Metal ct -- wtwhl Ceramic wt frg -- Other: Determining the degree to which environmental con­ Sweyhat, Hacmebi Tepe, Kurban Hoyiik, and Hassek ct -- ditions constrained agriculture and pastoral production Hoyiik (Fig. 7.1). These sites date between the late wtwhl in ancient times is no easy task. To approach this topic fourth and early second millennia B.c., though the time wt frg LIGHT FRACTION MISC. with archaeological materials, it helps to be able to com­ periods are not equally represented. The longest ct removed tossed pare sites from the same time period in different but archaeobotanical sequence comes from Kurban Hoyiik. wtwhl Snail shell -- adjacent environmental zones, or different time periods The assemblages of plant remains from the other sites wt frg -- -- of one site. The present chapter examines some of these each represent a single time period: late fourth millenni­ Bone ct -- issues as they relate to the agropastoral economy at a um for Hacmebi and Hassek, and late third/early second wtwhl -- Other few sites along a 200 km stretch of the Euphrates River millennium for Sweyhat. The last of these is the only wt frg in northwestern Syria and southeastern Turkey: Tell es- one that can be considered a city. ct -- Rootlets wtwhl -- -- wt frg SEEDS (uncharred, >2 <2 <1 Fig. 7 .1. Sites discussed >2 <2 <1 modern?) ct MISC. PLANT PARTS in the text. wtwhl wtfrg ct wtwhl wt frg • .. ct -- wtwhl wt frg GRAIN etc. NUTSHELL & GRAPE COMMENTS LEGUME etc. t 0 4001<m N 122 MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, Vol. 14 ( 1997) T • Tell es-Sweyhat: Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates 600 The data discussed here come from archaeobotanical remains excavated and analyzed between 1981and1994, 500 during which time excavation and recovery strategies and my own laboratory procedures changed (Miller 1986, a. KURBAN HOYOK 400 1994a,b, 1996b; see also Chapter 6, this volume).34 There are also inevitable gaps in the sequence sampled, 1200 E 300 which make it very difficult to do controlled comparisons E between sites and time periods. Several explicit but 200 arguable assumptions also require some discussion. 1000 All of the botanical material discussed here is charred, and except for the Hassek remains, none of it E 100 <U 800 comes from burnt structures. Rather, the archaeological ~ O> contexts of the material include hearths, ash lenses, ~ Q) 0 trashy deposits, and other cultural fill. The first assump­ c. 600 Hassek Kurban Hac1nebi Sweyhat ~ tion, therefore, is that the material comes primarily from Fig. 7.4a-c. Wild seed:cereal Q) (number per gram). .0 Fig. 7.2. Modern annual precipitation. fuel remains, either from wood or, in the case of seeds, E Sources: Sweyhat: Chapter 6, ::> 400 from animal dung. A corollary is that the seeds of culti­ this volume. All Operation 1 c vated cereals as well as wild plants came from dung. samples except SW 2261 A key variable for life in the four Euphrates commu­ Many archaeobotanists working in the Near East do not (unmeasurable cereal), SW 200 nities was precipitation, which increases from south to accept these premises, and consider crop-processing 2351 (outlier), and Jar 3. Hac1- nebi: Miller (1996b). Charcoal north (Fig. 7 .2). Sweyhat is near the lower limit of debris a more significant source of seed remains (see sample HN 2149 and "Uruk" 0 where rainfall agriculture is possible, and in any given also Hillman 1984). Note that fuel is frequently and samples omitted. Kurban Hoyuk: time period, it would have experienced the driest condi­ intentionally burned, whereas crop-processing debris is unpublished data, samples with Late 4 Early 3 Mid3 Late 3/Early 2 tions. Precipitation is a major non-cultural limiting fac­ only episodically produced, and even if it were burned no cereal omitted n=27 n=31 n=51 n=4 tor for vegetation, but people and their domesticated ani­ would be of comparatively small volume. It therefore mals have a strong influence, too, through fuel-gathering seems unlikely that a large proportion of charred debris and grazing. from hearths and trashy deposits would be from crop­ With a higher moisture requirement, woody vegeta­ processing. Arguments summarized in the previous tion would be more densely distributed toward the north. chapter and presented in detail in other publications The vegetation around Sweyhat would have been steppe, explain why these are plausible assumptions (Miller or steppe with a few trees, whereas oak woodland would l984a, l984b; Miller and Smart 1984). Further non­ c. LATE 3RD/EARLY 2ND have surrounded the sites in present-day Turkey. None of quantified support can be gleaned from reported seed b. LATE 4TH MILLENNIUM B.C. MILLENNIUM B.C. these sites is more than a few kilometers from the river, and charcoal assemblages; those from forested regions which would have supported the growth of willow, 1200 1200 poplar, and tamarisk. Climate fluctuations over the past 6000 years cannot 1000 1000 be totally discounted as influences on natural'vegetation and agricultural economies. Indeed, there is some evi­ E dence for a moister climate than today ·in the Negev and e! 800 ~ 800 elsewhere in the Near East during the late fourth millen­ O> O> ~ Q) nium (Goldberg and Rosen 1987). And some researchers c. 600 ~ 600 ~ ~ claim there was a sudden and catastrophic drought Q) Q) .0 .0 toward the end of the third millennium in northern Syria, E if not in the entire Near East (Weiss et al. 1993 ). ::> 400 § 400 c c Unfortunately, archaeobotanical evidence by itself is not that useful for identifying climate fluctuations, because 200 200 the reasons people change agricultural strategies and patterns of plant use are too complex to be reduced to rainfall. For example, the rapid spread of agriculture out 0 of the Levant during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period Kurban Hac1nebi Kurban Sweyhat was a result of migration and/or cultural transmission n=27 n=21 n=4 n= 14 rather than climate change in the source or receiving Fig. 7.3. Kurban Hoyuk, seed:charcoal. areas (Byrd 1992:53). Source: unpublished data 124 125 T) Tell es-Sweyhat: Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment ' Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates a. KURBAN HOYOK 100 KURBAN HACINEBI SWEYHAT 90 4% BO 70 60 O wheat LATE 3RD/ if 50 l1ll'I barley EARLY2ND 40 30 78% 20 Fig. 7.5a-<:. Wheat and barley 96% frequency. Total wt.=0.18 g 10 Sources: Sweyhat: Chapter 6, Total wt.=4.56 g this volume. All Operation 1 0 samples except SW 2261 and Late4 Early 3 Mid 3 Late 3/Early 2 Jar 3. Hacmebi: Miller (1996b). n=B1 n=94 n=71 n=50 Charcoal sample HN 2149 and "Uruk" samples omitted. Kur­ b. HACINEBI c. SWEYHAT ban H6yuk: unpublished data MID3RD 100 100 68% 90 90 BO BO Total wt.=6.03 g 70 70 60 60 0 wheat if 50 if 50 barley 40 l1ll'I 40 45% 30 30 EARLY 3RD 55% 20 20 types. Even today, two relict oaks 10 10 on a bluff above Kurban and unir­ 0 0 ~ rigated pistachio orchards which n=21 n= 15 ' '"- -""' dot the land around Hacmebi show Total wt.=9.11 g that full-grown trees can grow in tend to have high concentrations of wood charcoal and the region with rainfall alone. low concentrations of seeds, whereas the converse holds A major deforestation episode occurred between the in assemblages from the steppe (see Miller 1991: early and mid-third millennium; a sharp increase in the 154-155 for sites and references).
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