Animals Beyond the Cyclopean Walls: Integrating faunal and isotopic analysis at Late Helladic IIIA2 Petsas House (original) (raw)

Abstract

Text-based and historical accounts are useful in interpreting provisioning strategies in early complex societies regarding animals as they offer direct evidence of managed resources. In the case of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) settlement of Mycenae, Greece, Linear B tablets offer insight into the management and distribution of fauna under the purview of the palatial administration. However, the study of fauna utilized outside of elite areas is needed to understand the nuances of the economic, political and social roles of animals across a broader cross-section of this complex society. The large, well-preserved faunal assemblage excavated from a well at Petsas House at the site of Mycenae, has yielded a unique, temporally-refined view of the faunal economy of a domestic and industrial-use structure located outside of the walls of the elite, state-provisioned hilltop citadel. This study utilizes zooarchaeological analyses of species abundance and body-part representation to explore household subsistence in this multifunctional structure. Next, isotopic data is analyzed to investigate intra-taxonomic variation and delineate disparities in management and distribution of exploited fauna. Finally, these preliminary findings are integrated and discussed in relation to contemporary sites to contribute to the broader picture of regional variation in animal use in the LBA Aegean.

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