Plant cultivation under climatic fluctuations during the sixth and fifth millennia BC at Tell Tawila (northern Syria)

Abstract

This paper presents the macrobotanical record, supported by stable isotope data, from the Halaf (5850–5500 BC) and Late Chalcolithic (c. 4000 BC) occupation of the village Tell Tawila, northern Syria. Drawing on this new data and prior studies of the site, we show that subsistence at Tell Tawila combined agriculture, pastoralism, and foraging, adding it to a growing list of Halaf sites which do not conform to previous established subsistence norms. Furthermore, we argue for an aridification event taking place in the Late Chalcolithic and show how the population at Tell Tawila adapted to this changing climate through increasing exploitations of wild resources.