Isotope evidence for agricultural extensification reveals how the world’s first cities were fed

Journal article

This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first urban centres in northern Mesopotamia. Using δ13C and δ15 26 N values of crop remains from the sites of Tell Sabi Abyad, Tell Zeidan, Hamoukar, Tell Brak and Tell Leilan (6500–2000 cal BC), we reveal that labour intensive practices such as manuring/middening and water management formed an integral part of the agricultural strategy from the seventh millennium BC. Increased agricultural production to support growing urban populations was achieved by cultivation of larger areas of land, entailing lower manure/midden inputs per unit area—extensification. Our findings paint a nuanced picture of the role of agricultural production in new forms of political centralisation. While the shift towards lower input farming most plausibly developed gradually at a household level, the increased importance of land-based wealth constituted a key potential source of political power, providing the possibility for greater bureaucratic control and contributing to the wider societal changes that accompanied urbanisation.

Authors: Styring, A; Charles, M; Fantone, F; Hald, M; McMahon, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Journal: Nature Plants
• Volume: 3
• Pages: 17076
• Publication date: 2017-06-05
• Acceptance date: 2017-04-27
• DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2017.76
• EISSN: 2055-0278
• ISSN: 2055-026X