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Orfanou E, Zach B, Rohrlach AB, Schneider FN, Paust E, Lucas M, Hermes T, Ilgner J, Scott E, Ettel P, Haak W, Spengler R, Roberts P. Biomolecular evidence for changing millet reliance in Late Bronze Age central Germany. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4382. [PMID: 38388679 PMCID: PMC10883991 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54824-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The Bronze Age of Central Europe was a period of major social, economic, political and ideological change. The arrival of millet is often seen as part of wider Bronze Age connectivity, yet understanding of the subsistence regimes underpinning this dynamic period remains poor for this region, in large part due to a dominance of cremation funerary rites, which hinder biomolecular studies. Here, we apply stable isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating and archaeobotanical analysis to two Late Bronze Age (LBA) sites, Esperstedt and Kuckenburg, in central Germany, where human remains were inhumed rather than cremated. We find that people buried at these sites did not consume millet before the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (ca. 1600 BCE). However, by the early LBA (ca. 1300-1050 BCE) people consumed millet, often in substantial quantities. This consumption appears to have subsequently diminished or ceased around 1050-800 BCE, despite charred millet grains still being found in the archaeological deposits from this period. The arrival of millet in this region, followed by a surge in consumption spanning two centuries, indicates a complex interplay of cultural and economic factors, as well as a potential use of millet to buffer changes in aridity in a region increasingly prone to crop failure in the face of climate change today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleftheria Orfanou
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany.
| | - Barbara Zach
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany
- Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Adam B Rohrlach
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005, Australia
| | - Florian N Schneider
- Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Enrico Paust
- Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Mary Lucas
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT-the Arctic University of Norway, Lars Thørings Veg 10, 9006, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Taylor Hermes
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 72701, USA
| | - Jana Ilgner
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Erin Scott
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Peter Ettel
- Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Haak
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Robert Spengler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- Institut Für Ur- Und Frühgeschichte, Philosophische Fakultät, Universität Zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
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