Assessing the nature of early farming in Neolithic western Asia : a functional ecological approach to emerging arable weeds
Research on the origins of agriculture in western Asia has placed great emphasis on the location and pace of domestication. However, much less attention has been given to reconstructing the specific nature and social implications of early cultivation practices across the agricultural transition, and to the potentially varied land management strategies involved. By employing a functional ecological approach to the interpretation of arable 'weed' taxa associated with early cultivars, this research addresses this gap in archaeobotancial research by enabling detailed analysis of the growing conditions and farming methods involved in early plant cultivation in western Asia. The core methodology analyses the functional ecological attributes (e.g. leaf area and thickness; canopy dimensions; stomatal density and distribution) of the relevant arable weed taxa isolated from archaeological contexts to determine the specific growing conditions of early crops and hence the nature of management practices. Functional attributes are morphological or behavioural characteristics that predict species' potential in relation to major environmental variables, such as soil productivity, disturbance and moisture. Statistical analysis
Green, Laura
Archaeology ; Western Asia ; Archaeobotany ; Neolithic ; Weed ecology ; Early farming
Assessing the nature of early farming in Neolithic western Asia : a functional ecological approach to emerging arable weeds. Research on the origins of agriculture in western Asia has placed great emphasis on the location and pace of domestication. However, much less attention has been given to reconstructing the specific nature and social implications of early cultivation practices across the agricultural transition, and to the potentially varied land management strategies involved. By employing a functional ecological approach to the interpretation of arable 'weed' taxa associated with early cultivars, this research addresses this gap in archaeobotancial research by enabling detailed analysis of the growing conditions and farming methods involved in early plant cultivation in western Asia. The core methodology analyses the functional ecological attributes (e.g. leaf area and thickness; canopy dimensions; stomatal density and distribution) of the relevant arable weed taxa isolated from archaeological contexts to determine the specific growing conditions of early crops and hence the nature of management practices. Functional attributes are morphological or behavioural characteristics that predict species' potential in relation to major environmental variables, such as soil productivity, disturbance and moisture. Statistical analysis
assessing nature early_farming neolithic western_asia functional ecological emerge arable weed origin agriculture western_asia place great_emphasis location pace domestication however much_less attention_give reconstruct specific_nature social_implication early cultivation practice across agricultural transition potentially varied land management_strategy involve employ functional ecological interpretation arable weed taxon associate early address_gap detailed_analysis grow condition farm method_involve early plant cultivation western_asia core analyse functional ecological attribute leaf area thickness canopy dimension density distribution relevant arable weed taxon isolate archaeological_context determine specific grow condition early crop hence nature management_practice functional attribute morphological behavioural characteristic predict specie potential relation major environmental variable soil productivity disturbance moisture statistical_analysis