Pasture usage by ancient pastoralists in the northern Kazakh steppe informed by carbon and nitrogen isoscapes of contemporary floral biomes

A R Ventresca Miller,Y A Abil,M M Rulyova,T M Bragina,C A Makarewicz

doi:10.1007/s12520-018-0660-4

Abstract

Identification of variation in pasture use by domesticated livestock has important implications for understanding the scale of animal husbandry and landscape use in modern and ancient societies alike. Here, we explore the influence of pasture floral composition, salinity, and water availability on the carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic composition of plants from the steppes of Kazakhstan. Our findings demonstrate geospatially defined differences in the isotopic composition of sedge marshes, saline marshes, and meadow steppes, information which we then use to inform animal management strategies used in the past. We then examine pasture usage by ancient livestock through carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen from animals that grazed in the northern Kazakh steppe. Pasturing strategies varied according to livestock taxa, with horses exhibiting lower δ13C and δ15N values relative to cattle, sheep, and goat. We argue that horses, which are highly mobile and freely graze over pastures extending over wide areas, were grazed under an extensive pasturing system. These data suggest that the isotopic composition of contemporary vegetation communities can help inform animal management strategies used in the past.

Highlights

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Pastoralists employ a diverse set of animal management strategies to ensure their subsistence and that of their herds
While the intensity of pasture usage structures pastoralist movement and has direct consequences for the health of pastoral herds, little is known about pasturing intensity for different livestock species in prehistoric pastoralist contexts
We explore pasture use by different livestock taxa during the second millennium cal BCE in the northern Kazakh steppe through carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of caprines, cattle, and horse remains recovered from MBA sites of Bestamak, Kamennyi Ambar, and Bolshekaragansky alongside the LBA site of Lisakovsk

Summary

Introduction

One important husbandry practice involves moving livestock to different pastures in order provide herd animals with a continuous source of fresh graze (Wright and Makarewicz 2015; Outram 2015). While the intensity of pasture usage structures pastoralist movement and has direct consequences for the health of pastoral herds, little is known about pasturing intensity for different livestock species in prehistoric pastoralist contexts. Contemporary pastoralists partition their herd animals into different groups depending on species, age, and animal value. These separate herds are directed to different pastures according to the quantity and quality of pasturage in order to balance graze intake and (re)productive output (Fernandez-Gimenez 2000; Fernandez-Gimenez 2002; Kerven et al 2016)

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Conclusion