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Combined osteomorphological, isotopic, aDNA, and ZooMS analyses of sheep and goat remains from Neolithic Ulucak, Turkey

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Abstract

The site of Ulucak is pivotal in exploring the Neolithic of the eastern Aegean and western Anatolia. It has an impressive stratigraphic sequence stretching from the first half of the seventh millennium BC to the first half of the sixth millennium BC. Recent zooarchaeological analyses have provided insight into the importance of animal husbandry practices and dairying at the site throughout the Neolithic but also raised questions about the changing nature of herd management strategies and whether these differed for sheep and goat. The faunal data, coupled with the significance of the site and condition of the assemblage, prompted the application of a number of methodological techniques to assess differences between sheep and goat. In this paper, we combine traditional osteomorphological analysis, ancient DNA, collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, or ZooMS), and stable isotope analysis of δ18O and δ13C from tooth enamel carbonate as well as δ13C and δ15N from bone collagen. As such, this is the first study of its kind. We evaluate the juxtaposition of these four approaches and their application in this important case, with relevance for future studies in the region.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been funded by the Institute of Aegean Prehistory and the University of Groningen, Faculty of Arts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch

  2. Institute for Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology, Palaeogenetics Group, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Amelie Scheu

  3. Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Michael Buckley

  4. Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Canan Çakırlar

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  1. Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch
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Correspondence to Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch.

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Pilaar Birch, S.E., Scheu, A., Buckley, M. et al. Combined osteomorphological, isotopic, aDNA, and ZooMS analyses of sheep and goat remains from Neolithic Ulucak, Turkey. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 1669–1681 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0624-8

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