Diverse dietary practices across the Early Bronze Age ‘Kura-Araxes culture’ in the South Caucasus

Nyree Manoukian*, Helen L Whelton, Julie B Dunne, Ruben Badalyan, Adam T. Smith, Hakob Simonyan, Mitchell S. Rothman, Arsen Bobokhyan, Roman Hovsepyan, Pavel Avetisyan, Richard P Evershed, Mark Pollard

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
141 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3600-2300 BCE) is primarily characterized by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and material culture in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East. It has been argued that KA societies practiced pastoralism, despite lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery, to determine the organic products produced, consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet and cuisine across settlements, comprising plant processing, dairying, and pottery use; these findings question the nature and fabric of the prescribed EBA homogenous communities. The findings reveal striking evidence in re-examining whether the KA, in fact, represents a homogenous culture in the Caucasus and Ancient Near East, providing wider implications for prehistoric research.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0278345
Number of pages18
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume17
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Manoukian et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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