Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers

Amy Bogaard; Rebecca Fraser; Tim H.E. Heaton; Michael Wallace; Petra Vaiglova; Michael Charles; Glynis Jones; Richard P. Evershed; Amy K. Styring; Niels H. Andersen; Rose Marie Arbogast; László Bartosiewicz; Armelle Gardeisen; Marie Kanstrup; Ursula Maier; Elena Marinova; Lazar Ninov; Marguerita Schäfer; Elisabeth Stephan

doi:10.1073/pnas.1305918110

Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers

Amy Bogaard^*, Rebecca Fraser, Tim H.E. Heaton, Michael Wallace, Petra Vaiglova, Michael Charles, Glynis Jones, Richard P. Evershed, Amy K. Styring, Niels H. Andersen, Rose Marie Arbogast, László Bartosiewicz, Armelle Gardeisen, Marie Kanstrup, Ursula Maier, Elena Marinova, Lazar Ninov, Marguerita Schäfer, Elisabeth Stephan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

486 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ¹⁵N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	12589-12594
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	110
Issue number	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305918110
Publication status	Published - 30 Jul 2013
Externally published	Yes

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Bogaard, A., Fraser, R., Heaton, T. H. E., Wallace, M., Vaiglova, P., Charles, M., Jones, G., Evershed, R. P., Styring, A. K., Andersen, N. H., Arbogast, R. M., Bartosiewicz, L., Gardeisen, A., Kanstrup, M., Maier, U., Marinova, E., Ninov, L., Schäfer, M., & Stephan, E. (2013). Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(31), 12589-12594. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305918110

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title = "Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers",

abstract = "The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ15N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets.",

keywords = "Agriculture, Husbandry, Paleodiet, Prehistoric",

author = "Amy Bogaard and Rebecca Fraser and Heaton, {Tim H.E.} and Michael Wallace and Petra Vaiglova and Michael Charles and Glynis Jones and Evershed, {Richard P.} and Styring, {Amy K.} and Andersen, {Niels H.} and Arbogast, {Rose Marie} and L{\'a}szl{\'o} Bartosiewicz and Armelle Gardeisen and Marie Kanstrup and Ursula Maier and Elena Marinova and Lazar Ninov and Marguerita Sch{\"a}fer and Elisabeth Stephan",

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doi = "10.1073/pnas.1305918110",

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Bogaard, A, Fraser, R, Heaton, THE, Wallace, M, Vaiglova, P, Charles, M, Jones, G, Evershed, RP, Styring, AK, Andersen, NH, Arbogast, RM, Bartosiewicz, L, Gardeisen, A, Kanstrup, M, Maier, U, Marinova, E, Ninov, L, Schäfer, M & Stephan, E 2013, 'Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 110, no. 31, pp. 12589-12594. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305918110

TY - JOUR

T1 - Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers

AU - Bogaard, Amy

AU - Fraser, Rebecca

AU - Heaton, Tim H.E.

AU - Wallace, Michael

AU - Vaiglova, Petra

AU - Charles, Michael

AU - Jones, Glynis

AU - Evershed, Richard P.

AU - Styring, Amy K.

AU - Andersen, Niels H.

AU - Arbogast, Rose Marie

AU - Bartosiewicz, László

AU - Gardeisen, Armelle

AU - Kanstrup, Marie

AU - Maier, Ursula

AU - Marinova, Elena

AU - Ninov, Lazar

AU - Schäfer, Marguerita

AU - Stephan, Elisabeth

PY - 2013/7/30

Y1 - 2013/7/30

N2 - The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ15N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets.

AB - The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca. 5900-2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farmers used livestock manure and water management to enhance crop yields. Intensive manuring inextricably linked plant cultivation and animal herding and contributed to the remarkable resilience of these combined practices across diverse climatic zones. Critically, our findings suggest that commonly applied paleodietary interpretations of human and herbivore δ15N values have systematically underestimated the contribution of crop-derived protein to early farmer diets.

KW - Agriculture

KW - Husbandry

KW - Paleodiet

KW - Prehistoric

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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1305918110

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1305918110

M3 - Article

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 110

SP - 12589

EP - 12594

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 31

ER -

Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers

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