Neolithic herding practices in the Southern Caucasus: Animal management in the early 6th millennium BCE at Masis Blur in Armenia’s Ararat Valley

Abstract

The Southern Caucasus is traditionally an important area of livestock production and a key region in the spread of herding from southwestern Asia to Eurasia’s western steppe. Neolithic settlements appeared across the Southern Caucasus in the early 6th millennium BCE. How these communities used the landscape and managed livestock in the context of mixed farming is not well understood. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analysis of bone collagen and stable carbon and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis of tooth enamel from faunal remains from Masis Blur, one of the earliest Neolithic sites in the Southern Caucasus, clarify how communities maintained herds in this topographically varied region. δ13C and δ15N values indicate hunting wild fauna in diverse environments. δ13C and δ18O values from sequentially sampled livestock teeth demonstrate markedly different strategies for managing cattle and caprines. Negative covariation in δ18O and δ13C values in most caprines suggest seasonal mobility to C3-dominated high elevation pastures in the summers, and/or winter foddering with water-stressed C3 or wild C4 plants. These seasonal strategies were in place in the earliest known phase of occupation at Masis Blur, indicating that Southern Caucasus Neolithic communities likely exploited a range of environments linking the lowland plains and mountainous zones.