Human Ecology and the Southern Iberian Neolithic: An Approach from Archaeobotany and Archaeozoology
Archaeology has long incorporated the methods of the natural sciences and the theoretical principles of the overarching scientific framework. Most archaeologists acknowledge the importance of a systemic perspective in the study of the evolution of human behavior, with emphasis on the contexts in which individuals and populations lived and interacted. This article develops an ecological approach to the subsistence patterns and dynamics of the Neolithic populations in the westernmost regions of the Mediterranean. Methodologically, it implements a systematic quantitative exploration of the structure and evolution of the botanical and zoological taxa documented in a human settlement. Empiricall…
Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series
Summary Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse …