. 2017 Jun 5:3:17076.

doi: 10.1038/nplants.2017.76.

Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed

Affiliations

¹ School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
² Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands.
³ The National Museum of Denmark, 1471 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK.
⁵ Department of Anthropology and Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
⁶ Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3LB, UK.
⁷ Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, St. Lawrence University, New York, New York 13617, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
¹⁰ Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland.
¹¹ The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
¹² University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
¹³ School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.

PMID: 28581507
DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2017.76

Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed

Amy K Styring et al. Nat Plants. 2017.

. 2017 Jun 5:3:17076.

doi: 10.1038/nplants.2017.76.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
² Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands.
³ The National Museum of Denmark, 1471 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK.
⁵ Department of Anthropology and Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
⁶ Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3LB, UK.
⁷ Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, St. Lawrence University, New York, New York 13617, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
¹⁰ Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland.
¹¹ The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
¹² University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
¹³ School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.

PMID: 28581507
DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2017.76

Abstract

This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first urban centres in northern Mesopotamia. Using δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of crop remains from the sites of Tell Sabi Abyad, Tell Zeidan, Hamoukar, Tell Brak and Tell Leilan (6500-2000 cal bc), we reveal that labour-intensive practices such as manuring/middening and water management formed an integral part of the agricultural strategy from the seventh millennium bc. Increased agricultural production to support growing urban populations was achieved by cultivation of larger areas of land, entailing lower manure/midden inputs per unit area-extensification. Our findings paint a nuanced picture of the role of agricultural production in new forms of political centralization. The shift towards lower-input farming most plausibly developed gradually at a household level, but the increased importance of land-based wealth constituted a key potential source of political power, providing the possibility for greater bureaucratic control and contributing to the wider societal changes that accompanied urbanization.

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Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed

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Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world's first cities were fed

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