Cattle and People: Interdisciplinary approaches to an ancient relationship

Banner image credit: Pedro Salvador Mendes

Cattle and People: Interdisciplinary approaches to an ancient relationship (Lockwood Press, forthcoming) is an edited volume presenting current research on the relationship between humans and cattle through time, from the late Pleistocene, through to the post-Medieval period, and across the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. Almost all involve the study of archaeological cattle remains and use different archaeozoological methods, but the combination of these with other approaches such as ethnography and genetics is also featured.

The volume originates from a conference session which took place at the 2018 International Council of Archaeozoology conference in Ankara, Turkey, entitled Humans and Cattle: interdisciplinary perspectives to an ancient relationship. The aim of the session was to bring together archaeozoologists and their colleagues from various other research fields, working on human cattle interactions.

This data publication hosts supplementary material related to the printed volume. In particular it hosts colour versions of images which can only be included in greyscale in the printed volume. Additionally there is one primary dataset that is included as part of the project.

Supplementary Material

Chapter 3:

Origin and diffusion of cattle herding in Northeastern Africa (JOSÉPHINE LESUR)

• Figure 3: Painted cow from Laas Geel rockshelter, Somaliland (photo by the author)
• Figure 4: Decorated cattle from Hamar, Omo valley, Ethiopia (photo by the author)

Chapter 5:

On the improvement of cattle (Bos taurus) in the cities of Roman Lusitania: Some preliminary results (CLEIA DETRY, SILVIA VALENZUELA-LAMAS, SIMON DAVIS, ANA ELISABETE PIRES AND CATARINA GINJA)

• Figure 3: Boxplots calculated with log-ratios of the bone widths referred in this article. Each dot reflects one measurement. Mesolithic – Late Mesolithic; CHA – Chalcolithic; EIA – Early Iron Age; MIA1 – Middle Iron Age 1; MIA2 – Middle Iron Age 2; RR – Roman Republican; ERE – Early Roman Empire; LRE – Late Roman Empire; Islamic – Medieval Islamic; Medieval – Medieval Christian.
• Figure 4: Boxplots calculated with log-ratios of the bone lengths referred in this article. Each dot reflects one measurement. Mesolithic – Mesolithic; CHA – Chalcolithic; EIA – Early Iron Age; MIA1 – Middle Iron Age 1; MIA2 – Middle Iron Age 2; RR – Roman Republican; ERE – Early Roman Empire; LRE – Late Roman Empire; Islamic – Medieval Islamic; Medieval – Medieval Christian.

Chapter 6:

Change and regionalism in British cattle husbandry in the Iron Age and Roman Period: An osteometric approach (COLIN DUVAL AND UMBERTO ALBARELLA)

• This project has an associated database for browsing and download. Click here to access the "Cattle Husbandry in the Iron Age and Roman Britain" database.

Chapter 8:

An Archaeogenetic Study of Cattle Bone from seventeenth century Carnide, Lisbon, Portugal (IRENE UREÑA, SÍLVIA GUIMARÃES, SIMON J. M. DAVIS, CLEIA DETRY, GÜLŞAH M. KILINÇ, RUTE DA FONSECA, NICOLAS DUSSEX, LUCIANA SIMÕES, LUDMILLA BLASCHIKOFF, UMBERTO ALBARELLA, JOSÉ MATOS, ANDERS GÖTHERSTRÖM, ANA ELISABETE PIRES AND CATARINA GINJA)

• Table S1: Metacarpals with osteometric measurements from Carnide published by (Davis et al. 2018). Measurements in tenths of a millimeter follow the criteria defined by von den Driesch (1976) and Davis (1996). Of all 96 metacarpals, 12 were sampled for genomic analysis and six of these contained enough endogenous DNA which allowed us to generate whole-genome resequencing data (shown in italics with the corresponding ancient DNA laboratory label and the molecular sex as inferred in Figure 5). SU = stratigraphic unit. Side = side of the animal.
 
• Figure S1 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR002, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S1 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR002, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S2 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR008, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S2 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR008, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S3 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR009, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S3 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR009, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S4 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR014, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S4 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR014, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S5 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR016, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S5 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR016, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S6 A: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR021, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 
• Figure S6 B: Typical ancient DNA deamination patterns for sample CAR021, i.e.: an excess of cytosine to thymine misincorporations at 5′ ends, and complementary guanine to adenine misincorporations at 3′ ends (A); and greater frequency of read lengths below 80 base pairs at both ends (B).
 

Chapter 11:

Cattle for the Ancestors at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey (NERISSA RUSSELL)

• Figure 3: Bucranium and aurochs horns in bench in burnt Building 52 (photo by Jason Quinlan, Çatalhöyük Research Project)
• Figure 4: Aurochs horns on pillars on northeast platform in burnt Building 77 (photo by Jason Quinlan, Çatalhöyük Research Project)
• Figure 5: Tightly grouped stack of at least 13 aurochs horns (most or all righthand side) in burnt Building 52 (photo by Jason Quinlan, Çatalhöyük Research Project)
• Figure 6: Painting on north wall of Building F.V.1 from Mellaart excavation (photo by Ian Todd, courtesy of Çatalhöyük Research Project)

Chapter 12:

The bovine deposits from the Chalcolithic ditched enclosure of Camino de las Yeseras (Madrid, Spain) (CORINA LIESAU, PATRICIA RÍOS, JORGE VEGA, CONCEPCIÓN BLASCO, ROBERTO MENDUIÑA, MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES DE CHORRO, CRISTINA CABRERA, EVA-MARIA GEIGL AND CARLOS ARTEAGA)

• Figure 1: A. Map showing the location of Camino de las Yeseras in Central Iberia and other Chalcolithic sites in the Madrid region (grey dots) (mdt EU-DEM v1.0 European Environment Agency-EEA) (Camino de las Yeseras Research Group-UAM). B. Planimetry of Camino de las Yeseras with indication of the faunal deposits under study and Bell Beaker tombs in the southern area of the site (Camino de las Yeseras Research Group-UAM, Argea Consultores, S.L. and Miguel Rodriguez Cifuentes).
• Figure 2: Excavation of the bovine deposits in process. A. Aurochs cranium in pit A-60. B. Bovine deposit documented in A-22.
• Figure 3: A. Radiocarbon dating of bovine skulls, A-60 (in black) and A-22 (in red). Aurochs deposit A-60: B. Photogrammetry; C. Planimetry; D. Profile; E. Basioccipital of the specimen. B. Bovine deposit A-22: F. Cranium over an ashy filling of other faunal remains; G. Planimetry; H. Profile; I. Detail of red spots on the horn core of the specimen; J. D-Stretch image, digital processing carried out by the software of John Harman. Red ochre traces are visible on almost all horn core fragments.
• Figure 4: Histograms with relative NISP (green) and WISP (black) values for the main taxa in the Camino de las Yeseras site: A. Access area to the enclosure 4; B. Central Area; C. Southern Area
• Figure 5: Selection of remains recovered from the Aurochs deposit A-60. A. Two left frontal bones with horn cores from cattle of small size. B. Less modified bone artefacts. C. Retouched Flint blade. D. Granite millstone fragment supporting the horn core of the skull. E. Types of pottery sherds recovered in the filling around and over the skull. F. Reconstruction of a ceramic spoon, fragmented in two pieces (handle and vessel).
• Table 1. Characteristics of the features and results of the archaeological, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and sedimentological studies of two bovine deposits.

Chapter 14:

Cattle and People in China: From the Neolithic to the Present (KATHERINE BRUNSON, BRIAN LANDER AND MINDI SCHNEIDER)

• Figure 1: A) Cow sacrifice from Dahezhuang, Gansu Province (Zhongguo 1974); B) Shang Dynasty oracle bone (National Museum of China [CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0]); C) Han Dynasty stone carving depicting cattle pulling a plow (Zhongguo 2000).
• Figure 2: Cultural Revolution era propaganda poster that reads “be determined to be a farmer for life”, “立志做一辈子农民Lizhi zuo yibeizi nongmin.” (Zuster Mart Nienhuis Stichting, 1968, International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), https://hdl.handle.net/10622/E8DFF798-6ADF-4785-8921-969A9A6CFA67; https://search.iisg.amsterdam/Record/1283486

Chapter 15:

Cattle, yaks, traction and the Bronze Age spread of pastoralism into the Mongolian steppe (TUVSHINJARGAL TUMURBAATAR AND CHERYL A. MAKAREWICZ)

• Figure 1: Distribution of main sites discussed in the chapter: 1 – Chernovaya; 2 - Znamenka; 3 – Ust Byur; 4 - Sholde Tey; 5 - Biziktig Khaya; 6 - Saamchyr; 7 – Chaylag Khem; 8 – Mojoo; 9 - Tushaat/Khad Uzuur; 10 - Kalbak Tash-1; 11 - Elengash; 12 – Khuurai Gobi; 13 – Tsagaan Salaa and Baga Oigor; 14 – Shiveet Khairkhan; 15 – Dalan Turgenii Khos Tolgoi; 16 – Aral Tolgoi; 17 - Khar Chuluut; 18 - Kaynar; 19 – Karatas; 20 – Bar Dakur; 21 – Zuragt; 22 – Nariin Zaag; 23 – Taishir; 24 – Chuluut Gol; 25 – Bichigt Us
• Figure 8: Cattle riding image from unnamed rock art site in Taishir sum, Gobi-Altai aimag. Photo credit: Photo Bayar Banzragch

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