The integration of millet into the diet of Central Asian populations in the third millennium BC

Kubatbek TABALDİYEV

Stable isotope analyses demonstrate that C-4 plants played an important dietary role in Eurasian prehistory. Uncertainty remains, however, about when and how crops were integrated into the diet of Central Asian populations. Here, the authors present delta C-13 and delta N-15 stable isotope analysis of human and animal bone collagen from Kyrgyzstan, revealing C-4 plant-likely broomcorn miller-consumption in the third millennium BC. Combining this evidence with AMS radiocarbon dating and animal collagen peptide fingerprinting demonstrates that broomcorn millet was consumed by humans and animals ...More