文档介绍：ARTICLE IN PRESS
Quaternary International 197 (2009) 93–114
Archaeobotanical evidence for the interrelationship of agricultural
decision-making and climate change in the ancient Near East
Simone RiehlÃ,1
Universita¨tTu¨bingen, Naturwissenschaftliche Archa¨ologie, Ru¨melinstrasse 23, 72072 Tu¨bingen, Germany
Available online 22 August 2007
Abstract
The potential of archaeobotanical data for investigation of environmental change was examined with a multi-site approach to tracking
changes in crop husbandry. Archaeobotanical data from 138 sites in the Levant, Syria and northern Mesopotamia were mapped with
geographical information system (GIS) software. The presence, proportions and ubiquities of the main Near Eastern crop plants
throughout a sequence spanning from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age (5000–2500 cal. BP) were analyzed for developmental
patterns related to the palaeoclimatic history of the region, modeled climate parameter, anthropological facts and the bioclimatic
properties of the crop species.
Although there are considerable methodological problems, the overall patterns emerging from this large database demonstrate how
agricultural decision-making was influenced by climate change in the past.
While a relatively favorable degree of available moisture can be recognized in the crop assemblages of Early Bronze Age sites, with the
cultivation of numerous crops paratively high water-requirements, the impact of the 4200 BP event, with an increased aridity
after 4000 BP latest, is reflected strongly in the reduction or absence of drought-susceptible crop species in the Middle Bronze Age.
The general pattern of crop proportions and ubiquities during the Late Bronze Age implies a further, although slight, increase in arid
conditions, particularly in northern Syria. However this is much less marked than that for the Early to Middle Bronze Age transition.
Regional variation is large for some crops, and an increase in arid conditions i