This article presents the initial results of excavations at the Botai site (Kazakhstan). The site was occupied by horse breeders from the steppes of Central Asia during the Eneolithic period. Radiocarbon dating indicates two distinct occupations: between 3550 and 2700 cal BC, then around 2000 cal BC. Archaeobotanical results, based on macrobotanical remains and the analysis of molecular biomarkers, indicate that these populations did not belong to a complex network of cereal exchanges, which were not their main diet. The presence of miliacin suggests that these populations may have cultivated millet, perhaps after the main occupation of the site.
Reference : Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute G., Lightfoot E., Liu X., Jacob J., Outram A.K., Zaibert V.F., S. Zakharov S., Jones M.K., 2019. Archaeobotanical investigations at the earliest horse herder site of Botai in Kazakhstan. Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11, 6243. Doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00924-2
