Shells are a visible component of archaeological middens in Central California. While coastal and bay shore sites are often dominated by shells, these food items were sometimes hauled many kilometers from their collection points and are found in appreciable numbers in inland sites as well. Using oxygen and carbon stable isotope data from 44 Mytilus sp. (mussel) shells, we reconstruct shellfish seasonality harvesting at one inland site dating to the Middle Period (ca. 2500–1000 cal yrs BP), CA-SOL-364. Data show that shells were collected from nearby Suisun Marsh and were harvested almost exclusively during winter, a pattern that contrasts with coastal and bay shore sites. Such a harvesting signature is unlike that expected for a food staple or a feasting resource. We suggest mussels were harvested as a fallback food, as a source of protein or micronutrient to complement carbohydrate-rich foods that were stored and consumed during winter, or perhaps were only exploited as opportunity costs relaxed during winter, making sessile mussels an attractive subsistence pursuit.

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human remains from two contemporaneous cemeteries in the Lake Baikal region of Russia indicate similarity in diets among some individuals buried in these two locations. Given that the Middle Holocene cemeteries are only 75 km apart, these dietary data could indicate overlap in foraging ranges between the two human cemetery populations. Incisors from Siberian marmots (Marmota sibirica) are the most abundant type of faunal remains recovered from both cemeteries. Siberian marmots are a steppe species and hibernate over much of the year, being readily accessible to humans only during the summer and early fall. They are a fat-rich and desirable food item today in adjacent portions of Central Asia. To test if the dietary similarity between the two cemetery human groups might be due to overlapping hunting areas for marmots, Barium/Calcium and Strontium/Calcium ratios in a sample of marmot teeth were examined. The results of these analyses indicate very little overlap in the trace element values for the marmot teeth from the two cemeteries, which suggests the two human groups were procuring marmots in different regions. We argue that the dietary similarity seen between the two cemeteries can be best accounted for by shared use of isotopically similar fish moving between Lake Baikal and its tributary, the Angara River. An alternative explanation is that the overlapping isotope values are a result of human migration between the two cemetery regions.

The origin of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent is among the most frequently investigated topics in Old World archaeology. Environmental pressure in relation with the Younger Dryas event is frequently discussed as a general determinant in the transition to cultivating domesticated cereals. Although there are data on the palaeoclimate and vegetation at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Fertile Crescent, the role of environmental conditions at the emergence of agriculture on the local level has rarely been investigated. Archaeobotanical data from a number of Epipalaeolithic and aceramic Neolithic sites in the northern and eastern parts of the Fertile Crescent, as well as stable carbon isotope data on wild cereals from some of these sites, are investigated for their explanatory power regarding ancient ecological conditions of early cereal production and the slow pace of emerging agriculture. The data emphasize a high diversity on the taxonomic as well as on the inter-site level in the oldest aceramic Neolithic sites, supporting opportunistic resource use. At the same time, there is a trend toward higher amounts of small-seeded taxa in older sites with lower modern mean annual precipitation, as well as a generally stronger stress signal in large-seeded progenitor species than in PPNB (Pre-pottery Neolithic B) sites. Large-seeded progenitor species, in contrast, occur in greater amounts at younger sites with higher modern mean annual precipitation. Environmental variability in space and time seem to have strongly determined human choices in plant subsistence.

Slash-and-burn cultivation (swidden) is an important and extensive strategy among agriculturalists in Oceania. The length of the fallow period, in which non-cultivated vegetation is allowed to regrow, is critical to the sustainability of this strategy in tropical environments. Long fallow periods permit greater soil recovery and higher yields over the long term whereas shorter fallow periods drive cycles of soil degradation that ultimately result in a landscape that is too degraded for continued cultivation. Anthropologists recognize that decreasing swidden fallow times is a key form of agricultural intensification that may have shaped interpolity conflict and social complexity. Although it is easy to identify the degraded landscapes that are a legacy of this pattern today, it has been a challenge for archaeologists to identify the timing and rate at which such processes took place in the past. We use alluvial stratigraphic records of charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from a small drainage in Western Viti Levu, Fiji, to reconstruct the timing and rate of intensification of swidden agriculture from long-fallow clearing of native forest, to shorter fallow burning of secondary forest and grassland, to grassland conversion. Results suggest that swidden cultivation in the lower Sigatoka Valley did not commence until centuries after Lapita colonization (ca. 2950 cal BP). Early swiddening apparently used relatively short fallow periods coupled with residential mobility to sustain horticultural yields until mobility no longer became a viable option. Archaeological indicators of resource stress co-occur with persistent swiddening after 1450 cal BP, although these precede the collapse into degraded grassland conditions at 1000 cal BP. Archaeological evidence for conflict increase after landscape degradation, although emerging social inequalities only appear after centuries of degraded conditions and conflict.

Archaeozoological remains provide a key dataset for understanding horse control in Mongolia's Deer Stone-Khirigsuur (DSK) Complex, a late Bronze Age culture dating to circa 1300–700 BC. Although no horse tack has been recovered from DSK contexts, archaeological finds from nearby areas of East and Central Asia suggest that a bridle with a noseband, soft organic bit, and rigid cheekpieces was used by late Bronze Age Mongolian herders. Osteological data from a sample of 25 ritually interred horse crania corroborate these inferences. Deformation to the bridge of the nose on several archaeological specimens suggests that DSK bridles incorporated a noseband, while limited damage to the premolars or diastema is consistent with organic mouthpiece use. A preliminary comparison between archaeological and contemporary horses ridden with known bridle equipment implies that osteological changes to the lateral margin of the premaxilla, present in the DSK sample, might have been produced by a rigid cheekpiece. This study highlights the promise of combining multiple lines of skeletal evidence with other archaeological data to reconstruct ancient equine bridles and tack.

The archaeological record of the Qinghai Lake Basin, northeast Tibetan Plateau, western China, contains charcoal-based evidence of significant changes in the distribution of local shrub land and woodland through the last 12,500 ¹⁴C yr BP. These vegetation trends correspond with regional changes in hunter-gatherer settlement and patterns of Holocene climate change. This charcoal-based record is useful to address current issues concerning the timing of anthropogenic vs. climatic factors in the development of grazing lands in the northeast Tibetan Plateau.

Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and is famous for its once extensive and now severely degraded eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations, along with a number of other important fisheries including crabs, rockfish, and menhaden. Here we explore the historical ecology of Native American subsistence and land use strategies in the Fishing Bay area of Maryland's Eastern Shore, building on our broader bay-wide analyses of oyster fisheries and human-environmental interactions. Archaeological analysis of faunal remains from shell middens dated between AD 500 to 1500, along with analysis of locally collected modern oysters, help reconstruct Fishing Bay's evolution during the late Holocene, and document shellfish harvest strategies and predation pressure. These data suggest a stable and sustainable prehistoric oyster fishery in Fishing Bay, likely due to: 1) seasonal harvest and local consumption; 2) intertidal harvest that allowed replenishment from subtidal populations; and 3) relatively low human population densities. When placed in the context of our broader bay-wide analysis, these data provide implications for managing the present day oyster fishery, lending support to increasing no-take zones and expanding oyster sanctuaries that can be rotated with areas actively being fished.

Native Sami people in northern Fennoscandia have used a wide range of native plant species for food and medicines throughout history. Plants and plant use are deeply embedded in the Sami traditions and subsistence in northern ecosystems. The overall aim of this study was to gain understanding of the Sami people's interaction with the herb Angelica archangelica in historical times and investigate if this use went beyond a pure opportunistic harvest of wild plants to include management of plants. To analyze this question, we combined studies of ethnographic information, an experimental field study, and discussions with a Sami woman with extended knowledge of Sami plant use. We suggest that the Sami people had a profound understanding of the complexity of the plant life-cycle. They dispersed seeds to favored areas and used harvest techniques intended not to deplete plant populations. The harvest experiment shows that it is possible to prolong the plant's life span by repeatedly harvesting infertile plants. A cross-disciplinary approach is needed to expand understanding of past plant use. Our results place overall Sami subsistence practices in a new light, as being cared for, managed, and sustainable.

Traditional settlements with diverse resource management strategies are important for in situ conservation of agrodiversity. Community scale perception, taxonomy, and uses of citrus (Citrus spp.) contribute to the conservation of germplasm and practices generating and maintaining diversity. I used ethnobotanical research methods, including assessment of local perceptions and criteria involved in the selection of variability, to document the uses and diversity of citrus in the south of Misiones province (Argentina) and discuss several aspects of local taxonomy. In this research, I recorded thirty ethnovarieties belonging to nine citrus ethnospecies and found that the organoleptic descriptors (both morphological and sensitive) and grafting practices are the most important in their recognition. Local people use citrus in diverse ways––as fresh fruit, to make preserves, and as fodder. Local citrus variability is related to families and individuals, as well as the presence of the native forests where ethnovarieties remain as spontaneous plants.

Using data on bird knowledge from a Zapotec community in northern Oaxaca, this paper addresses a fundamental issue in the theory of ethnobiological classification: to what extent do the ways people group and name biological organisms reflect a “natural” scheme similar to that adopted in scientific taxonomy rather than reflecting other features of an organism's ecology or behavior that are important for local people? We recorded 209 bird species, corresponding to 30 folk generics, 77 folk specifics, and 11 varietals, in the sense used by Berlin et al. (1973). However, Zapotec research subjects assigned birds to four main named groupings that cut across life-forms: nocturnal forms, forms that walk or alight on the ground, forms that fly high in the open sky, and forms that fly through the canopy or through other vegetation. Our data suggest that even if there is psychological evidence to support some separate natural way of classifying birds based primarily on morphology, Zapotec routinely and primarily think of birds in ecological and behavioral contexts from their everyday language and grouping practice.

Organic agriculture projects have advanced biodiversity as a key goal and outcome of their methods, in part by encouraging non-chemical inputs and non-genetically modified seeds. In India, organic cotton agriculture has been marketed as a specific alternative to genetically modified cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), India's only legal GM crop. However, previous work has shown that the same production pressures that drive GM agriculture to lack biodiversity do not necessarily apply to Indian cotton farms. On organic farms in the Adilabad district of Telangana, India, organic farmers are growing nearly 100 semi-managed foods, trees, and medicines belonging to 37 botanical families. However, organic groups target farmers that may be more inclined to cultivate agrobiodiversity anyway. This paper draws on household surveys, field interviews, and ethnographic research among ethnic Gond farmers participating in a corporate organic program to suggest that such alternative agriculture schemes find ways to reward farmers for biodiverse fields. Organic cotton farms contain significantly greater numbers of economic plants than GM cotton farms in Telangana and organic organizations ensure that this economic botany becomes institutionalized.