About
54
Publications
19,308
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
800
Citations
Introduction
My research interests are short-term and long term evolution of animal husbandry practices, land use and domesticated animal-environment interactions during prehistory. My work involves coupling traditional archaeozoological and stable isotopic analyses, as well as developing novel statistical methodologies to maximise the information extracted from faunal assemblages.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
October 2019 - December 2021
Position
- Fellow
Description
- I am a junior group research leader working with faunal material using a range of methodologies including archaeozoological, geochemical and biomolecular, to investigate prehistoric herding practices in Iberia and beyond. My work attempts to create synergy between past practices and their impacts on the societies and landscapes and the development of future sustainable food production.
December 2019 - December 2021
Position
- Coordinator of the 'Development of complex societies' research group at ICArEHB
Description
- My role is to encourage and develop integrative research projects that investigate causes of complexity, markers for this process and the long-term and short effects on societies and landscape.
February 2021 - December 2021
Position
- Coordinator for the ICAZ stable isotope working group
Description
- Newly appointed coordinator for the ICAZ stable isotope working group. Main responsibilities are: promoting recent research and new methodologies via blogs; creating database of why to buy consumables and access instrumentation; maintaining the website; organisation of working group meetings.
Education
November 2008 - May 2012
Field of study
- Osteological and Isotopic contribution to the study of dairy management during the Neolithic in Europe
September 2002 - September 2003
September 1997 - June 2001
Publications
Publications (54)
Spanning from southern Europe to central and eastern Europe, open woodlands, such as forest-steppe and garrigue, and the grasslands within, constitute protected heritage landscapes considered hotspots for biodiversity, faced with threats from climate change and the disappearance of traditional farming and herding practices. Through a review of publ...
The domestication of plants and animals permitted the development of cities and social hierarchies, as well as fostering cultural changes that ultimately led humanity into the modern world. Despite the importance of this set of related evolutionary phenomena, scholars have not reached a consensus on what the earliest steps in the domestication proc...
Zoonoses are among the greatest threats to human health, with many zoonotic pathogens believed to have emerged during prehistory. Palaeomicrobiological investigations of the zooarchaeological record hold potential to uncover the reservoirs, host ranges, and host adaptations of zoonotic pathogens but face challenges in identifying promising specimen...
During the sixth millennium bce, the first farmers of Central Europe rapidly expanded across a varied mosaic of forested environments. Such environments would have offered important sources of mineral-rich animal feed and shelter, prompting the question: to what extent did early farmers exploit forests to raise their herds? Here, to resolve this, w...
Zooarchaeological age-at-death profiles for domesticated ruminants can be inferred from tooth eruption, replacement and wear. These profiles contain important information on slaughter management, and have been used informally to infer the goals of past husbandry strategies. In principle, sex-specific survival curves could inform on various producti...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258230.].
Recent genetic studies point towards 6 th millennium BC central Europe as the core region for the emergence of the lactase persistence (LP) gene mutation -13,910 * T, making it important to understand the intensity of milk production and consumption among Linearbandkeramik (or LBK) farming groups. However, it is not known if milking was part of the...
In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years1. Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configu...
This volume originates in a conference session that took place at the 2018 International Council of Archaeozoology conference in Ankara, Turkey, entitled "Humans and Cattle: Interdisciplinary Perspectives to an Ancient Relationship." The aim of the session was to bring together zooarchaeologists and their colleagues from various other research fiel...
Late Neolithic Vinča communities, spread over much of central and northern Balkans during the late sixth to mid-fifth millennium BC and characterised by unusually large and densely population centres, would have required highly organised food production systems. Zooarchaeological analysis indicates that domesticate livestock were herded, but little...
Forests have been important source of pastures and fodder
resources in the recent past and their use as such has been
confirmed by waterlogged remains from late Neolithic Swiss
villages. This paper examines a large data set (N = 451) of δ13C
measurements in bone collagen from wild and domesticated
ruminants from archaeological sites dating to...
Public dissemination piece about ICArEHB and the importance of Archaeology (em Portugues).
Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but...
We summarise and contextualise the results of zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical and stable isotope analyses as well as the demographic patterns discussed in earlier chapters in order to reconstruct the subsistence strategies at Vráble (Nitriansky kraj, Slovakia) and discuss their social implications. While there are differences in preferences for...
Stable isotopic analysis of animal bone can elucidate how livestock were managed in the past and help define animal-environment interactions. The stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes results from wild and domestic fauna of the Late Neolithic phases of Vinča – Belo Brdo and Stubline (Serbia) suggest livestock were managed using a variet...
Schipluiden (3630–3380 cal BC), the earliest known year-round settlement in the Rhine-Meuse Delta in the Netherlands, is a key site for addressing the nature of Neolithic subsistence in the wetlands of northwestern Europe. A preliminary zooarchaeological study suggested that cattle husbandry was a major activity at Schipluiden. In contrast, stable...
Schipluiden (3630-3380 cal BC), the earliest known year-round settlement in the Rhine-Meuse Delta in the Netherlands, is a key site for addressing the nature of Neolithic subsistence in the wetlands of northwestern Europe. A preliminary zooarchaeological study suggested that cattle husbandry was a major activity at Schipluiden. In contrast, stable...
Stable isotopic analysis of samples from bone, seeds and food residues/crusts have opened new avenues of research the evolution of stock rearing and farming during prehistory as well as provided in-depth perspectives about human diets. Here we present results from stable isotopic analysis of human and animal bones, and cereal grains. These provide...
The plant and animal components of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) subsistence systems were remarkably uniform with cattle, emmer and einkorn wheat providing the primary source of sustenance for Europe's earliest agricultural communities. This apparent homogeneity in plant and animal use has been implicitly understood to indicate corresponding similarity i...
Forests dominated much of the European landscape prior to the arrival of Neolithic farmers. These environments would have varied in density and composition across Europe, which may restrict the development and spread of Neolithic cultures in some areas. Whereas in other areas where forests were more open caused by natural phenomena (for example, wi...
Objectives 1. Uncover diierences in husbandry practices at Vinča and Stubline. 2. Investigate whether local woodlands were used for stock raising Methods Bone samples were taken from domesticated and wild fauna from Vinča and Stubline. Samples were taken from the same bone for each species to reduce the eeect of age on the results. These were then...
Archaeozoological assemblages are important sources of information on past management strategies, which are influenced by cultural practices as well as the physical geography and climate. Sheep, goat and cattle arrived in Europe with early Neolithic migrants. Their distribution is believed to have been mainly influenced by the geography of European...
Dairying is an important resource for present‐day societies. Evidence from organic residue analysis of ceramics has demonstrated the antiquity of dairying. Interdisciplinary research using zooarchaeological and analytical chemical methodologies such as age at death and stable isotopic analysis, coupled with organic residue analysis, have shown that...
Age-at-death profiles constructed from archaeozoological data have been used for decades to infer the goals of prehistoric herd management strategies. Several 'ideal' profiles have been proposed as models for the optimal kill-off profiles that represent specific husbandry strategies, such as maximising milk or meat yields, which can then be compare...
Stable isotope analysis is an essential investigative technique, complementary to more traditional zooarchaeological approaches to elucidating animal keeping practices. Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope values of 132 domesticates (cattle, caprines and pigs) were evaluated to investigate one aspect of animal keeping, animal forage, at...
Mortality data based on dental eruption, replacement and wear stages.; R_code; Legge age classes for R code; Supplementary figures: Age-at-death profiles from studied sites
Cattle dominate archaeozoological assemblages from the north-central Europe
between the sixth and fifth millennium BC and are frequently considered as
exclusively used for their meat. Dairy products may have played a greater
role than previously believed. Selective pressure on the lactase persistence
mutation has been modelled to have begun between...
Le regard porté sur les sociétés du passé et leurs systèmes techno-économiques permet une mise en perspective sur le temps long de problématiques éminemment actuelles.
Significance
This unique research combines the analyses of lipid residues in pottery vessels with slaughter profiles for domesticated ruminants to provide compelling evidence for diverse subsistence strategies in the northern Mediterranean basin during the Neolithic. Our findings show that the exploitation and processing of milk varied across the r...
In southeastern Romania, the Gumelniţa culture is characterized by the appearance of tell sites. Whether this phenomenon was accompanied by increasing specialization of the economy may be investigated through the zooarchaeology of pastoral systems. The scale of herding is an important element of this framework. A case study was conducted on the tel...
The North-Western Mediterranean witnessed a rapid expansion of farmers and their livestock during the Early Neolithic period. Depending on the region, cattle played a more or less important role in these communities; however how these animals were exploited for their milk is not clear. Here we investigate calf mortality to determine indirectly whet...
For cattle (Bos taurus), age estimations using dental criteria before the eruption of the first molar (3–8 months) have large error margins. This hampers archaeozoological investigation into perinatal mortality or the putative slaughtering of very young calves for milk exploitation. Previous ageing methods for subjuveniles have focused on the lengt...
Borduşani-Popină is a Gumelniţa tell site in south-eastern Romania. The cattle mortality profile suggests a husbandry oriented towards prime meat exploitation and dairy production highlighted by the keeping of cattle to advanced age. Besides, the culling strategy also targeted young calves. A stable isotope ratio study was undertaken on dental rows...
Questions
Questions (2)
This season the ICArEHB dialogue series will explore the question, “What would you do if you had a time machine to change the world?” in light of broad social issues that affect both archaeologists and the general public. The dialogues team have invited three expert speakers for each event, one ICArEHB researcher, one international archaeologist, and one expert from a different but related field. The events will be held virtually via zoom and include a short Q&A period for registered viewers.
The series kicks off with discuss how prehistoric research and climate science in general can inform and enlighten our understanding of Humanity and Climate Change with Dr. Ceren Kabukcu, Dr. Kate Britton, and Dr. Axel Timmermann.
The 90 min event will be live streamed for registered viewers and shared via the ICArEHB YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
Register for the Humanity and Climate Change event at https://www.icarehb.com/dialogues/.
My apologies for cross-posting but this is an issue that is close to my heart. The University of Sheffield in their wisdom are proposing to close the Archaeology Department for the sole reason they are not making money!
The department has been a leading institute for prehistory research and has trained hundreds archaeologists in environmental archaeology and anthropology over the years. It is a vibrant community that has been reduced to 11 teaching staff but the University is run by accountants...
Please support our fellow archaeologists at Sheffield by signing this petition.
Also please disseminate this information through your networks. #SaveSheffieldArchaeology!
