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Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes

MPS-Authors
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Scott,  Ashley
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Hermes,  Taylor
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Krause,  Johannes
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;
MHAAM, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Haak,  Wolfgang
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Warinner,  Christina
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;
Kostbare Kulturen, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Scott, A., Reinhold, S., Hermes, T., Kalmykov, A. A., Belinskiy, A., Buzhilova, A., et al. (2022). Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes. Nature Ecology & Evolution, s41559-022-01701-6. doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01701-6.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000A-4BB4-7
Abstract
Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka–Volga–Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium bc, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.