Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables
Agriculture is a complex and dynamic socio-ecological system shaped by environmental, economic, and social factors. The crop resource pool is its key component and one that best reflects environmental limitations and socio-economic concerns of the farmers. This pertains in particular to small-scale...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Quaternary |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/5/1/6 |
| _version_ | 1797442964770783232 |
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| author | Anne de Vareilles Dragana Filipović Djurdja Obradović Marc Vander Linden |
| author_facet | Anne de Vareilles Dragana Filipović Djurdja Obradović Marc Vander Linden |
| author_sort | Anne de Vareilles |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agriculture is a complex and dynamic socio-ecological system shaped by environmental, economic, and social factors. The crop resource pool is its key component and one that best reflects environmental limitations and socio-economic concerns of the farmers. This pertains in particular to small-scale subsistence production, as was practised by Neolithic farmers. We investigated if and how the environment and cultural complexes shaped the spectrum and diversity of crops cultivated by Neolithic farmers in the central-western Balkans and on the Hungarian Plain. We did so by exploring patterns in crop diversity between biogeographical regions and cultural complexes using multivariate statistical analyses. We also examined the spectrum of wild-gathered plant resources in the same way. We found that the number of species in Neolithic plant assemblages is correlated with sampling intensity (the number and volume of samples), but that this applies to all archaeological cultures. Late Neolithic communities of the central and western Balkans exploited a large pool of plant resources, whose spectrum was somewhat different between archaeological cultures. By comparison, the earliest Neolithic tradition in the region, the Starčevo-Körös-Criş phenomenon, seems to have used a comparatively narrower range of crops and wild plants, as did the Linearbandkeramik culture on the Hungarian Plain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:49:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8ca0e13f9ef4df6b69efebb9013bf04 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-550X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:49:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Quaternary |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8ca0e13f9ef4df6b69efebb9013bf042023-11-30T22:08:45ZengMDPI AGQuaternary2571-550X2022-01-0151610.3390/quat5010006Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural VariablesAnne de Vareilles0Dragana Filipović1Djurdja Obradović2Marc Vander Linden3Historic England, Portsmouth PO4 9LD, UKInstitute for Pre- and Protohistory, Kiel University, D-24118 Kiel, GermanyInstitute of Archaeology in Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, SerbiaDepartment of Archaeology & Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UKAgriculture is a complex and dynamic socio-ecological system shaped by environmental, economic, and social factors. The crop resource pool is its key component and one that best reflects environmental limitations and socio-economic concerns of the farmers. This pertains in particular to small-scale subsistence production, as was practised by Neolithic farmers. We investigated if and how the environment and cultural complexes shaped the spectrum and diversity of crops cultivated by Neolithic farmers in the central-western Balkans and on the Hungarian Plain. We did so by exploring patterns in crop diversity between biogeographical regions and cultural complexes using multivariate statistical analyses. We also examined the spectrum of wild-gathered plant resources in the same way. We found that the number of species in Neolithic plant assemblages is correlated with sampling intensity (the number and volume of samples), but that this applies to all archaeological cultures. Late Neolithic communities of the central and western Balkans exploited a large pool of plant resources, whose spectrum was somewhat different between archaeological cultures. By comparison, the earliest Neolithic tradition in the region, the Starčevo-Körös-Criş phenomenon, seems to have used a comparatively narrower range of crops and wild plants, as did the Linearbandkeramik culture on the Hungarian Plain.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/5/1/6agricultureNeolithiccentral-western BalkansHungarian Plaincropswild plants |
| spellingShingle | Anne de Vareilles Dragana Filipović Djurdja Obradović Marc Vander Linden Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables Quaternary agriculture Neolithic central-western Balkans Hungarian Plain crops wild plants |
| title | Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables |
| title_full | Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables |
| title_fullStr | Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables |
| title_full_unstemmed | Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables |
| title_short | Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables |
| title_sort | along the rivers and into the plain early crop diversity in the central and western balkans and its relationship with environmental and cultural variables |
| topic | agriculture Neolithic central-western Balkans Hungarian Plain crops wild plants |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/5/1/6 |
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