Drought stress variability in ancient Near Eastern agricultural systems evidenced by δ13C in barley grain

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

Volumn 111, Issue 34, 2014, Pages 12348-12353

  Riehl, Simone ^a,b   Pustovoytov, Konstantin E ^c   Weippert, Heike ^c   Klett, Stefan ^a   Hole, Frank ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TÜBINGEN   (Germany)

^b Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology   (Germany)

^c UNIVERSITY OF HOHENHEIM   (Germany)

^d YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Agricultural societies; Archaeobotanical crop species; Aridity stress; Holocene climate change; Middle east

Indexed keywords

CARBON 13; DELTA C 13; UNCLASSIFIED DRUG; CARBON;

ARTICLE; BARLEY; BRONZE AGE; CEREAL; CLIMATE CHANGE; DEMOGRAPHY; DESERT; DROUGHT STRESS; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; HOLOCENE; IRON AGE; MESOPOTAMIA; MIDDLE EAST; NEOLITHIC; PRECIPITATION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEASHORE; WATER AVAILABILITY; WATER STRESS; WATER SUPPLY; AGRICULTURE; ARCHEOLOGY; CHEMISTRY; DROUGHT; HISTORY; HORDEUM; PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS;

AGRICULTURE; ARCHAEOLOGY; CARBON ISOTOPES; CLIMATE CHANGE; DROUGHTS; HISTORY, ANCIENT; HORDEUM; MIDDLE EAST; STRESS, PHYSIOLOGICAL;

EID: 84906660465     PISSN: 00278424     EISSN: 10916490     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1409516111     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Weiss H, Bradley RS (2001) Archaeology. What drives societal collapse? Science 291(5504):609-610. (Pubitemid 32150413)
2. Yoffee N (2010) Collapse in Ancient Mesopotamia. What Happened, What Didn't? Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability and the Aftermath of Empire, eds McAnany PA, Yoffee N (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK), pp 176-203.
3. Geyer B (2002) Expansion and decline of Syria 's arid margin. Arab World Geographer 5(2):73-84.
4. Riehl S (2012) Variability in ancient Near Eastern environmental and agricultural development. J Arid Environ 86:113-121.
5. Bar-Matthews M, Ayalon A, Kaufman A (1997) Late Quaternary paleoclimate in the Eastern Mediterranean region from stable isotope analysis of speleothems at Soreq Cave, Israel. Quat Res 47:155-168.
6. Enzel Y, et al. (2003) Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall. Quat Res 60:263-273. (Pubitemid 38012831)
7. Robinson SA, Black S, Sellwood BW, Valdes PJ (2006) A review of palaeoclimates and palaeoenvironments in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean from 25000 to 5000 cal BP: Setting the environmental background for the evolution of human civilisation. Quat Sci Rev 25:1517-1541. (Pubitemid 44037128)
8. Weninger B, et al. (2006) Climate forcing due to the 8200 cal yr BP event observed at Early Neolithic sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Quat Res 66(3):401-420. (Pubitemid 44815264)
9. Bar-Matthews M, Ayalon A (2011) Mid-Holocene climate variations revealed by high-resolution speleothem records from Soreq Cave, Israel and their correlation with cultural changes. Holocene 21(1):163-171.
10. Finné M, Holmgren K, Sundqvist HS, Weiberg E, Lindblom M (2011) Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years: A review. J Archaeol Sci 38(12):3153-3173.
11. Roberts N, Brayshaw D, Kuzucuoglu C, Perez R, Sadori L (2011) The mid-Holocene climatic transition in the Mediterranean: Causes and consequences. Holocene 21(1):3-13.
12. Weiss H, et al. (1993) The genesis and collapse of third millennium north mesopotamian civilization. Science 261(5124):995-1004. (Pubitemid 24385899)
13. Dalfes HN (1997) Environmental vulnerability of early societies: some reflections on modeling issues. Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse, NATO ASI Series I, eds Dalfes HN, Kukla G, Weiss H (Springer, Berlin), Vol 49, pp 691-698.
14. Cullen HM, et al. (2000) Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: Evidence from the deep sea. Geology 28(4):379-382. (Pubitemid 32836090)
15. Staubwasser M, Weiss H (2006) Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late pre-historic-early historic West Asia. Quat Res 66:372-387. (Pubitemid 44804182)
16. Kuzucuoglu C, Marro C, eds (2007) Sociétés Humaines et Changement Climatique à la Fin du Troisième Millénaire: Une Crise a-t-Elle eu Lieu en Haute Mésopotamie? (Diffusion De Boccard, Paris), Vol XIX.
17. Wilkinson TJ (1997) Environmental fluctuations, agricultural production and collapse: A view from Bronze Age upper Mesopotamia. Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse, NATO ASI Series I, eds Dalfes HN, Kukla G, Weiss H (Springer, Berlin), Vol 49, pp 67-106.
18. Wilkinson TJ (2004) On the Margin of the Euphrates: Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and the Upper Lake Assad Area, Syria (Oriental Institute, Chicago).
19. Riehl S (2009) Archaeobotanical evidence for the interrelationship of agricultural decision-making and climate change in the ancient Near East. Quat Int 197:93-114.
20. Kaniewski D, Van Campo E, Weiss H (2012) Drought is a recurring challenge in the Middle East. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(10):3862-3867.
21. Araus JL, et al. (1997) Changes in carbon isotope discrimination in grain cereals from different regions of the western Mediterranean basin during the past seven millenia: Palaeoenvironmental evidence of a differential change in aridity during the late Holocene. Glob Change Biol 3:107-118.
22. Ferrio JP, Araus JL, Buxó R, Voltas J, Bort J (2005) Water management practices and climate in ancient agriculture: Inferences from the stable isotope composition of archaeobotanical remains. Veg Hist Archaeobot 14:510-517. (Pubitemid 43329721)
23. Riehl S, Bryson RA, Pustovoytov K (2008) Changing growing conditions for crops during the Near Eastern Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC): The stable carbon isotope evidence. J Archaeol Sci 35(4):1011-1022.
24. Fiorentino G, et al. (2008) Third millennium B.C. climate change in Syria highlighted by Carbon stable isotope analysis of 14C-AMS dated plant remains from Ebla. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 266(1-2):51-58.
25. Aguilera M, Ferrio JP, Pérez G, Araus JL, Voltas J (2012) Holocene changes in precipitation seasonality in the western Mediterranean Basin: A multi-species approach using δ13C of archaeobotanical remains. J Quaternary Sci 27(2):192-202.
26. Caracuta V, Fiorentino G, Martinelli MC (2012) Plant remains and AMS: Dating climate change in the Aeolian Islands (North Eastern Sicily) during the 2nd millennium BC. Radiocarbon 54(2-3):689-700.
27. Hartman G, Danin A (2010) Isotopic values of plants in relation to water availability in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Oecologia 162(4):837-852.
28. Stewart GR, Turnbull MH, Schmidt S, Erskine PD (1995) 13C natural abundance in plant communities along a rainfall gradient: A biological intergrator of water availability. Aust J Plant Physiol 22:51-55.
29. Araus JL, et al. (1999) Crop water availability in early agriculture: Evidence from carbon isotope discrimination of seeds from a tenth millennium BP sites on the Euphrates. Glob Change Biol 5:201-212. (Pubitemid 29311866)
30. Riehl S (2010) Maintenance of agricultural stability in a changing environment: The archaeobotanical evidence at Emar. Late Roman and Medieval Cemeteries and Environmental Studies. Emar After the Closure of the Tabqa Dam: The Syrian-German excavations 1996-2002, Subartu Book 25, eds Finkbeiner U, Sakal F (Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium), Vol 1, pp 177-224.
31. Araus JL, et al. (1997) Identification of ancient irrigation practices based on the carbon isotope discrimination of plant seeds: A case study from the South-East Iberian Peninsula. J Archaeol Sci 24(8):729-740.
32. Riehl S (2008) Climate and agriculture in the ancient Near East: A synthesis of the archaeobotanical and stable carbon isotope evidence. Veg Hist Archaeobot 17(1):43-51.
33. Flohr P, Müldner G, Jenkins E (2011) Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: Preliminary results. Water Hist 3(2):121-144.
34. Kühne H (1990) The effects of irrigation agriculture: Bronze and Iron Age habitation along the Khabur, Eastern Syria. Man's Role in the Shaping of the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape, eds Bottema S, Entjes-Nieborg G, van Zeist W (Balkema, Rotterdam), pp 15-30.
35. Bond G, et al. (2001) Persistent solar influence on North Atlantic climate during the Holocene. Science 294(5549):2130-2136. (Pubitemid 33150664)
36. Haug GH, Hughen KA, Sigman DM, Peterson LC, Röhl U (2001) Southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone through the Holocene. Science 293(5533):1304-1308. (Pubitemid 32777417)
37. Mayewski P, et al. (2004) Holocene climate variability. Quat Res 62:243-255. (Pubitemid 39499957)
38. Wanner H, et al. (2008) Mid- to Late Holocene climate change: An overview. Quat Sci Rev 27(19-20):1791-1828.
39. Hole F (1997) Evidence for Mid-Holocene environmental change in the western Khabur drainage, Northeastern Syria. Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse, NATO ASI Series I, eds Dalfes HN, Kukla G, Weiss H (Springer, Berlin), Vol 49, pp 39-66.
40. Vannière B, et al. (2011) Circum-Mediterranean fire activity and climate changes during the mid-Holocene environmental transition (8500-2500 cal. BP). Holocene 21(1):53-73.
41. Ur J (2012) Spatial scale and urban collapse at Tell Brak and Hamoukar at the end of the third millennium BC. Looking North: The Socioeconomic Dynamics of Northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian Regions During the Late Third and Early Second Millennium BC, eds Laneri N, Pfälzner P, Valentini S (Harrassovitz, Wiesbaden, Germany), pp 25-35.
42. Höflmayer F, Dee MW, Genz H, Riehl S (2014) Radiocarbon evidence for the Early Bronze Age Levant: The site of Tell Fadous-Kfarabida (Lebanon) and the end of the Early Bronze III period. Radiocarbon 56(2):1-14.
43. Sandweiss DH, Maasch KA, Anderson DG (1999) Transitions in the Mid-Holocene. Science 283(5401):499-500.
44. Riehl S, Pustovoytov KE, Hotchkiss S, Bryson RA (2009) Local Holocene environmental indicators in Upper Mesopotamia: Pedogenic carbonate record vs. archaeobotanical data and archaeoclimatological models. Quat Int 209:154-162.
45. Roberts N, Eastwood WJ, Kuzucuoglu C, Fiorentino G, Caracuta V (2011) Climatic, vegetation and cultural change in the eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene environmental transition. Holocene 21(1):147-162.
46. Wilkinson TJ, et al. (2014) Contextualizing early urbanization: Settlement cores, early states and agro-pastoral strategies in the Fertile Crescent during the fourth and third millennia BC. J World Prehist 27:43-109.
47. Araus JL, Ferrio JP, Buxó R, Voltas J (2007) The historical perspective of dryland agriculture: Lessons learned from 10,000 years of wheat cultivation. J Exp Bot 58(2):131-145. (Pubitemid 46204201)
48. Geyer B, et al. (2007) The arid margins of northern Syria: Occupation of the land and modes of exploitation in the Bronze Age. Urban and Natural Landscapes of an Ancient Syrian Capital: Settlement and Environment at Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and in Central-Western Syria, ed Bonacossi DM (Forum, Udine, Italy), pp 269-339.
49. Cremaschi M, Trombino L, Sala A, Valsecchi V (2003) Under fitted streams and the Holocene palaeo-environment in the region of Tell Mishrifeh-Qatna (Central Syria). Akkadica 124(1):71-77.
50. Litt T, et al. (2009) 'PALEOVAN', International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP): Site survey results and perspectives. Quat Sci Rev 28:1555-1567.
51. Langgut D, Finkelstein I, Litt T (2013) Climate and the Late Bronze collapse: New evidence from the southern Levant. Tel Aviv 40:149-175.
52. Kuzucuoǧlu C, Dörfler W, Kunesch S, Goupille F (2011) Mid- to late-Holocene climate change in central Turkey: The Tecer Lake record. Holocene 21(1):173-188.
53. Heaton THE, Jones G, Halstead P, Tsipropoulos T (2009) Variations in the 13C/12C ratios of modern wheat grain, and implications for interpreting data from Bronze Age Assiros Toumba, Greece. J Archaeol Sci 36(10):2224-2233.
54. 2. Nature 329:408-414.
55. Wagner F, Bohncke SJ, Dilcher DL, Kurschner WM, van Geel B, Visscher H (1999) Century-scale shifts in early holocene atmospheric CO2 concentration. Science 284(5422):1971-1973. (Pubitemid 29309440)
56. Indermühle A, Stauffer B, Stocker TF, Raynaud D, Barnola J-M (1999) Early Holocene atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Science 286(5446):1815.
57. 2 from 16.100 BCE to 2.010 CE. Available at http://web.udl.es/usuaris/x3845331/AIRCO2-LOESS.xls. Accessed February 20, 2014.
58. Ferrio JP, Voltas J, Araus JL (2003) Use of carbon isotope composition in monitoring environmental changes. Manage Environ Qual 14(1):82-98.
59. Moran PAP (1950) Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena. Biometrika 37(1-2):17-23.
60. Burrough PA, McDonnell R (1998) Principles of Geographic Information Systems (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford).
61. Conolly J, Lake M (2006) Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK).
62. Terzopoulos D (1988) The computation of visible-surface representations. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 10(4):417-438.
63. Burns ER, Morgan DS, Peavler RS, Kahle SC (2011) Three-Dimensional Model of the Geologic Framework for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington (US Geological Survey, Reston, VA), Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5246, p 44.
64. Berenbrock C, Mason RR, Jr, Blanchard SF (2009) Mapping Hurricane Rita inland storm tide. J Flood Risk Manage 2:76-82.