An international team of researchers has shown in unprecedented detail that prehistoric farmers took their animals away from permanent settlements to graze in more fertile areas – probably because of high demand for land locally.
Analysis of strontium isotopes in the teeth of Neolithic cattle suggests that early Europeans used specialised strategies to manage herding, according to a study by the universities of Basel, Southampton, Bristol and the The Curt-Engelhorn-Centre for Archaeometry. It’s thought these strategies helped to maintain larger herds, and may have contributed to increased social inequality.
Modern day cattle grazing in Switzerland where the study was conducted. Credit: C Gerling, University of Basel
Findings are published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
Southampton Archaeologist Professor Alistair Pike who worked on the study explained:
Over the course of the Neolithic period, cattle became increasingly important for milk, manure and animal power rather than just for meat. This led to larger herds, and greater demand for grazing resources. To accommodate these larger herds, it has always been speculated that farmers needed to find grazing grounds further away from permanent settlements – however, until our study, there has been little direct evidence for this.
Strontium isotopes are found in bones and teeth and its geochemical signature can be used to infer geographic location. Scientists can relate findings from their analyses to the isotopic composition of local soils and plants (which can vary over relatively short distances), thus, in this case, indicating different areas the cattle may have been led to for grazing.
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