ng, chuenyan
(2019)
SUBSISTENCE ECONOMICS AMONG BRONZE AGE STEPPE COMMUNITIES: AN ARCHAEOBOTANICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF MULTI-RESOURCE PASTORALISM IN THE SOUTHEASTERN URAL MOUNTAINS REGION, RUSSIA.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
The long-standing subsistence model for the Bronze Age communities in the Southeastern Urals region is that of a sedentary agro-pastoral strategy with the dominant use of cattle, horse and sheep/goats. In this dissertation, I describe new evidence suggesting a multi-resource pastoralism without agriculture practice as the dominant subsistence economy among Bronze Age communities in that region. Archaeological evidence in the Southeastern Urals exhibits a long-standing hunting gathering-fishing tradition before the emergence of Bronze Age settlements. In a manner, multi-resource pastoralism continues this tradition by combining different complementary systems of subsistence.
Dissertation data was collected from archaeobotanical samples, local catchment zone analysis, ethnographic studies and archaeological experiments to investigate wild resource exploitation in the Bronze Age. Results showed that wild plant species are related to specific vegetation units in each communities’ catchment zones. These communities employed a local-based subsistence economy that intensively exploited specific wild plant resources from their immediate catchment – the meadow zone, in particular. For livestock, grazing was the predominant method for nutrient intake in spring, summer, and autumn; storage fodder was the primary food in winter. The macro-botanical remains found within the enclosed areas exhibited plant resources used for both human diets and fodder collected for livestock. The ashy layer investigated in the non-enclosed areas suggests an outdoor corral; seed assemblages from this area are indicative of fodder storage, indoor corral trash and human living trash, all of which consisted of local wild plant species.
Overall, the continued practice of multi-resource pastoralism was a response to the environmental factors as well as the dynamic human-ecological relationships exhibited in the Bronze Age Southeastern Urals region. Contrary to long-standing beliefs and the tradition of equating social complexity with sedentism and agriculture, these relatively sedentary pastoralist societies show no evidence of agriculture as a mode of subsistence. The multi-resource pastoralism strategy maximized the exploitation of seasonal resources; the intensive use of specific plant resources in the local catchment zone was essential for the development of early pastoralist societies in the Southeastern Urals region.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
| Title | Member | Email Address | Pitt Username | ORCID |
|---|
| Committee Chair | HANKS, BRYAN | | | | | Committee Member | BERMANN, MARC | | | | | Committee Member | BARTON, LOUKAS | | | | | Committee Member | ULLAH, ISAAC | | | |
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| Date: |
27 September 2019 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
10 May 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
27 September 2019 |
| Submission Date: |
5 August 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
3 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 3 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
268 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
MULTI-RESOURCE PASTORALISM, SOUTHEASTERN URALS, ARCHAEOBOTANY |
| Date Deposited: |
27 Sep 2019 16:33 |
| Last Modified: |
27 Sep 2022 05:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/37286 |
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