Zoogenic deposits are among a few promising sources of information on the history of arid ecosystems. To reconstruct the former vegetation of the Negev Desert, we performed palynological analysis of the Atzmaut zoogenic deposit that had been formed over the past 6000 years. The results made it possible to reveal seasonality in the use of this rockshelter, to reconstruct the dynamics of vegetation, and to estimate the effect of climatic changes and livestock grazing on the vegetation in the central part of the Negev Desert.

Since the early 7th millennium BC, when ceramics had become widespread in the Eastern Fertile Crescent, specifically in central valleys and the western foothills of the Zagros, they were tempered exclusively with organic plant remains. Here, we outline the findings of the study of this temper using microscopic technological analysis, X-ray tomography and spherulite analysis, upholding the suggestion that dung was present in the paste. The samples fall in the interval from late 9th to 6th millennia BC; originating from the piedmont of the Taurus, Upper Mesopotamia, the highlands and foothills of the Zagros, and the Armenian Highland. The use of dung as temper provides additional evidence of an early beginning of animal domestication in this region. It can be assumed that this tradition spread as a large-scale phenomenon from the Zagros and its foothills northward to Upper Mesopotamia, the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, and further west and east. In the 7th millennium BC pottery, the dung was likely that of sheep and goats; from the late 6th millennium BC onward, that of cattle. Since the early 6th millennium, dung had been less and less widely used for tempering tableware while being still in use with regard to utility ware. One possible reason is a worsened attitude to dung; another, improved firing conditions.

The article presents the results of archaeoparasitological and palynological research of the cultural layers located in the ancient Artesian settlement in the Eastern Crimea. The study revealed the species composition of parasites and palynological spectrum in the cultural layers. Parasite eggs distribution over the layers indicates high content of eggs in almost all periods of the citadel’s existence. High abundance of geohelminth eggs in the studied samples, which might belong to both humans and domestic animals, indicates the unsatisfactory sanitary state of the settlement and the constant risk of infection with geohelminthiasis and intestinal infections possessing the same fecal-oral route of transmission. Features of the studied spore-pollen spectra do not allow a detailed reconstruction of the vegetation dynamics in the vicinity of the Artezian fortress at the turn of the millennium. The major reason is complexity of spectra formation: in addition to pollen deposited from the air (pollen rain), a significant proportion consists of pollen grains brought from other sources. Furthermore, interpretation of the spore-pollen spectra is complicated by presence of a large number of microcharcoals and burnt pollen grains. Despite the above-mentioned challenges in the study of samples from the cultural layers of the Artezian archaeological site using spore-pollen method, we have determined that the inhabitants of the settlement probably used animal dung as fuel, and that at the turn of the millennium, forestless open landscapes covered with steppe vegetation were predominant around the settlement. An important result of the study is the demonstration of unexplored opportunities to investigate cultural layers by archaeoparasitological and palynological methods and of the obtained data use as a source of bioarchaeological information.

Системы расселения и хозяйствования населения предгорий Центрального Кавказа в железном веке и раннем Средневековье отражают сложные региональные культурные процессы. Палеоэкологические подходы, основанные на анализе изотопного состава углерода и азота в местных экосистемах, являются новой перспективой изучения природно-климатических условий, антропогенного воздействия, традиций землепользования и питания. Рассмотрен изотопный состав коллагена костей 19 человек и 11 животных из могильника Кичмалка II, оставленного носителями кобанской и аланской культур, а также населением сарматского времени. Изотопный состав углерода погребенных аланской эпохи указывает на практически исключительное использование людьми и домашними животными растений С3-типа фотосинтеза. Люди кобанского и сарматского времени включали в свой рацион С4-растения (просо, Panicum miliaceum), что обусловило превышение трофического шага по углероду (Δδ13Счеловек–животное). Установлены статистически достоверные различия в составе углерода, отражающие, вероятно, две пищевые модели в среде кобанского населения. Значения Δδ15Nчеловек–животное находятся в пределах трофического шага и свидетельствуют о значительном потреблении мясо-молочной продукции всеми рассматриваемыми группами. Сравнение с данными по могильнику Клин-Яр III выявило различия в изотопных подписях людей и домашних животных кобанского времени. К основным причинам этого можно отнести изменение климата в раннем железном веке и разную долю проса в питании кобанцев. Низкое содержание δ15N (менее 4 ‰) в коллагене костей коз, овец и лошадей аланского времени, возможно, отражает практику отгонного альпийского скотоводства.

The purpose of this article is to study the place of Neolithic ceramics of the Chokh settlement among the cultural and technological traditions of the Neolithic ceramics of the Caucasus, as well as its role in the formation of ceramic production of Central Dagestan. In this regard, in the course of this work, using technological, photographic, XRD and spherulite analyzes, a comparative study of Neolithic ceramics from Chokh settlement was carried out with products from the closest Neolithic settlement of Transcaucasia – Göytepe, located in the middle reaches of the Kura River, as well as with later ceramic materials from the Chalcolitic and Bronse Age periods of Central Dagestan. The analysis of Neolithic ceramics from the Chokh settlement, on the one hand, showed that it is entirely an item of local production, which is determined by the characteristics of the raw materials, and the admixture of grog in the pottery paste. On the other hand, connections with one of the types of Transcaucasian ceramics from the settlements of the early 6-th millennium BCE, Haci Elamxanli Tepe and Gadachrili Gora – products with mineral admixture and, possibly, dung in the pottery paste, fired mostly in reducing atmosphere with applique buttons on the surface are presumably recorded. This type continued to exist in later Göytepe materials with some changes. Further, in the pottery production of Central Dagestan during the Chalcolitic – Bronze Age period, on the one hand, we can talk about the gradual development – the replacement of mineral admixtures, the appearance of polishing tradition and improvement of firing conditions.