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International audience; In this case study, we analyze stable isotope signatures of ancient charred plant and faunal bone remains from Middle-Late Neolithic Kouphovouno in order to investigate the crop cultivation and animal husbandry practices employed by the early farmers. Previous work on the nature of Neolithic agriculture has shed light on the symbiotic relationship in which plant and animal husbandry strategies may function. For example, the by-product of crop cultivation can be used as fodder to feed the animals and the by-product of the animals, dung, can be used to fertilize the soils in which the crops are grown.1 But just how this inter-dependent strategy was maintained remains to be investigated on a case-by-case basis. Our aim is to use isotopic evidence to address questions of how intensively the cereal and pulse crops were managed, what the diets of the livestock were and how the farmers at Kouphovouno made use of the surrounding landscape for the grazing of animals. These results are interpreted in light of dental micro- and mesowear analysis carried out on the same faunal assemblage. Together, the two strands of information enable us to make inferences about which foods the animals may and which they may not have consumed

The movements of ancient crop and animal domesticates across prehistoric Eurasia are well-documented in the archaeological record. What is less well understood are the precise mechanisms that farmers and herders employed to incorporate newly introduced domesticates into their long-standing husbandry and culinary traditions. This paper presents stable isotope values (δ13C, δ15N) of humans, animals, and a small number of plants from the Hexi Corridor, a key region that facilitated the movement of ancient crops between Central and East Asia. The data show that the role of animal products in human diets was more significant than previously thought. In addition, the diets of domestic herbivores (sheep/goat, and cattle) suggest that these two groups of domesticates were managed in distinct ways in the two main ecozones of the Hexi Corridor: the drier Northwestern region and the wetter Southeastern region. Whereas sheep and goat diets are consistent with consumption of naturally available vegetation, cattle exhibit a higher input of C4 plants in places where these plants contributed little to the natural vegetation. This suggests that cattle consumed diets that were more influenced by human provisioning, and may therefore have been reared closer to the human settlements, than sheep and goats.

The movements of ancient crop and animal domesticates across prehistoric Eurasia are well-documented in the archaeological record. What is less well understood are the precise mechanisms that farmers and herders employed to incorporate newly introduced domesticates into their long-standing husbandry and culinary traditions. This paper presents stable isotope values (δ13C, δ15N) of humans, animals, and a small number of plants from the Hexi Corridor, a key region that facilitated the movement of ancient crops between Central and East Asia. The data show that the role of animal products in human diets was more significant than previously thought. In addition, the diets of domestic herbivores (sheep/goat, and cattle) suggest that these two groups of domesticates were managed in distinct ways in the two main ecozones of the Hexi Corridor: the drier Northwestern region and the wetter Southeastern region. Whereas sheep and goat diets are consistent with consumption of naturally available vegetation, cattle exhibit a higher input of C4 plants in places where these plants contributed little to the natural vegetation. This suggests that cattle consumed diets that were more influenced by human provisioning, and may therefore have been reared closer to the human settlements, than sheep and goats.