Agricultural development in western Central Asia in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages

This paper lays out archaeobotanical evidence of cereals and fruits from 5th-2nd millennium B.C. sites in Turkmenistan (Anau, Gonur) and Uzbekistan (Djarkutan). Our current research program (1989-present) focuses on systematic recovery of botanical remains in their stratigraphic context. The cereals...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vegetation history and archaeobotany 1999-06, Vol.8 (1/2), p.13-19
Main Author: Miller, Naomi F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural development
Asia
Barley
Bread
Bronze age
Cereal grains
Cereals
Chalcolithic period
Excavations
Fruits
Grains
Hexaploidy
Middle East and Indian Peninsula
Neolithic and chalcolithic
Prehistory and protohistory
Seeds
Stratigraphy
Wheat
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper lays out archaeobotanical evidence of cereals and fruits from 5th-2nd millennium B.C. sites in Turkmenistan (Anau, Gonur) and Uzbekistan (Djarkutan). Our current research program (1989-present) focuses on systematic recovery of botanical remains in their stratigraphic context. The cereals from these sites include Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare (6-row barley) and Triticum aestivum L. s.l. (bread wheat). The presence of plump grains of 6-row barley and bread wheat may indicate that small-scale irrigation was practised at Anau as early as the Chalcolithic period. The possibility is also raised that these plump-grained types may have come from the east rather than through northern Iran. Fruit pit remains of Vitis vinifera L. (grape) and Pistacia (pistachio) make their first significant appearance in Bronze Age deposits.
ISSN:0939-6314
1617-6278
DOI:10.1007/BF02042837