Agricultural niche construction of Bronze and Iron Age societies in the Near East

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Simone Riehl
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology ; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 531072549

The major research questions of this project address the nature of relationships in and between ancient Near Eastern societies of the Bronze and Iron Age, in particular the different forms of agricultural niches and niche construction processes on the local and regional level. These comprise primary societal goals, such as sustenance of the population but also economic strategies such as gaining surpluses to sustain and expand trade networks. The main method used is stable isotope analysis on archaeobotanical remains, i.e., combined stable strontium, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from a wide range of archaeobotanical crop species deriving from different Bronze and Iron Age sites of the Levant and northern Mesopotamia. The acquired stable isotope data will allow assessing crop-specific growing conditions as relating to soil moisture and nutrient availability as well as the geographic growing locations of ancient crops. Stable isotope studies on plant remains will be conducted on 24 archaeological Bronze and Iron Age settlements with the aim to answer questions related to ancient agricultural niche construction in the Near East. These questions range from addressing the water and nutrient status of different crop species and diachronic change of theses parameters, as well as their meaning for ancient agricultural technologies (irrigation, manuring). The results of stable carbon and nitrogen measurements will also allow to assess triggers of agricultural change such as environmental/climatic change or agricultural intensification for increasing surplus production. Ideally the patterns will also allow to identify resilience in agricultural systems and compare economic interrelationships of neighboring regions. A major focus during the pilot study of 2 years – to be extended for 3 additional years - will be on strontium isotope ratios as a tool for addressing the location of ancient fields, agricultural extensification or crop imports.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants