What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to understand how human mobility influenced resource procurement and community structure in early Neolithic societies.

April 27, 2026Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology0 citationsOpen Access

Human mobility amid emerging sedentism in the Central Zagros: laser ablation strontium isotope analysis at Early Neolithic Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan

GRGiulia Ragazzon RMRoger Matthews JMJames A. Milton

Key Points

This research aims to understand how human mobility influenced resource procurement and community structure in early Neolithic societies.
High-resolution laser ablation strontium isotope analysis applied to 101 human teeth from 41 individuals
Utilized a life-course approach to assess mobility and resource use
Developed multi-proxy baseline data to contextualize isotopic findings.
Findings indicate a largely local community with multi-generational connections to Bestansur
Evidence suggests potential exploitation of diverse foraging locales
The study challenges simplistic views of mobile hunter-gatherers versus settled farmers.

Abstract

The Neolithic of Southwest Asia (c. 10,000–5,200 BCE) is associated with increasing residential stability alongside resource domestication processes. Yet, the trajectories of sedentism varied widely, with balances between sedentary and mobile behaviors contextually driven by subsistence needs, cultural practices and expanding interaction networks. In the Central Zagros, a key area for early domestication and settled life, the role of human mobility in shaping resource procurement and community structure remains underexplored. To investigate this, high-resolution laser ablation strontium isotope analysis was applied to 101 human teeth (41 individuals) from Bestansur (Iraqi Kurdistan), a major 8th-millennium BCE center in the region, using a life-course approach. The results, supported by new, multi-proxy baseline data, delineate a largely local community with multi-generational ties to the site, while providing possible evidence for the exploitation of different foraging locales. Challenging rigid dichotomies between mobile hunter-gatherers and settled farmers, the integration of isotopic and contextual data enables consideration of diverse landscape use amid emerging sedentism, offering direct insights into Early Neolithic community make-up. Additionally, it contributes to the characterization of strontium isotope variability in a region with sparse isotope records, providing grounds for discussions of mobility and landscape use that transcend specific chronological boundaries.

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