?13C and ?15N from14C-AMS dated cereal grains reveal agricultural practices during 4300â??2000 BC at Arslantepe (Turkey)
In semi-arid environments of the Near East water availability and soil fertility are limiting factors for crop growing
and land use is locally adjusted to environmental features. In the last decades stable carbon and nitrogen isotope
analyses on archaeobotanical cereal remains have been developed in order to reconstruct water and
nutrient sources for grain filling. Diachronic studies on isotope records from single archaeological sites may
help distinguish palaeoclimatic changes from human choices in agricultural practices, but they are actually
missing.