Local adoption of animal husbandry in the southern Levant: An isotopic perspective from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B funerary site of Kfar HaHoresh (original) (raw)
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It is often assumed that domestic animals in early urban Near Eastern centres either are a reflection of the local pastoral economy, or were raised at a distance by pastoral specialists. In this paper, we test these assumptions through detailed isotopic analyses (carbon, oxygen and strontium) of caprines (sheep and goat) from Tell es-Safi/Gath, an Early Bronze Age urban centre in central Israel. The isotopic analyses demonstrate that the bulk of the caprines were raised within the general vicinity of the site, suggesting that the majority of food resources were largely produced at the local level, within the territory of the city-state, and not at a distance by specialised pastoralists. It is the rare specimen that comes from a great distance and would have entered the local system through long distance trade networks.
The emergence of complex animal-management strategies is an important development in prehistory that allowed pastoralists to engage in a wider range of economic pursuits while maintaining or even increasing herd stability. This study focuses on one of the earliest animal management strategies, fodder provisioning. Diachronic changes in goat foddering practices from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Late PPNB) village site of Basta are examined via multiple bone collagen isotopic analyses, including organic oxygen. Goats from the earliest sampled occupation at Basta extend and exceed the isotopic range found in colocalized gazelle. The range in carbon isotopic values reflects the differential consumption of C 4 plants within the goat population, and some animals were likely provisioned with C 4 plants on a year-round basis. Bone collagens from the later occupation layer exhibit differences in δ 13 C variation compared with the earlier level. Basta goat collagens from all levels also have wide ranges in δ 15 N values. The average 4‰ range observed in goat collagen nitrogen isotopes is likely due to 15 N variation in the floral biome and the contribution of the enriched δ 15 N of fodder plants supplied to some animals. Oxygen isotope (δ 18 O) collagen values from the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic stratigraphic layer and the "Post" Pre-Pottery Neolithic layer suggest that changing environmental conditions were not a contributing factor in the observed shifts in goat bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic values.
The transition from hunter gathering to farming is one of the most important episodes in the history of humankind. Considerable evidence indicates that this shift was a slow, complex, highly localized process, which took place in multiple places in Southwest Asia independently, from around 9500 BC. Caprines were arguably the first domesticated livestock, brought under human control during a process that began in the 9th millennium BC in a region extending from southeastern Turkey to northwestern Iran. In this research we integrate zooarchaeological analysis with stable isotopic data of faunal remains from three key Early Neolithic sites in the Eastern Fertile Crescent: Ganj Dareh (ca. 8000 BC), Bestansur (ca. 7800-7000 BC) and Jarmo (ca. 7000-5000 BC).While some form of goat management seemed to have been practiced at Bestansur, based on spherulites, dung and shed deciduous teeth, no evidence has been found for winter foddering or transhumance practices. At Ganj Dareh goat were managed, and might have been foddered during the winter or vertical transhumance might have taken place. At Pottery Neolithic Jarmo both sheep and goat were managed and they were possibly brought to higher elevations during the summer months or foddered during winter. This research has supported the idea that already during early stages of goat management, humans kept a high degree of control over the population.
Provisioning the Ritual Neolithic Site of Kfar HaHoresh, Israel at the Dawn of Animal Management
2016
It is widely agreed that a pivotal shift from wild animal hunting to herd animal management, at least of goats, began in the southern Levant by the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (10,000–9,500 cal. BP) when evidence of ritual activities flourished in the region. As our knowledge of this critical change grows, sites that represent different functions and multiple time periods are needed to refine the timing, pace and character of changing human-animal relationships within the geographically variable southern Levant. In particular, we investigate how a ritual site was provisioned with animals at the time when herd management first began in the region. We utilize fauna from the 2010–2012 excavations at the mortuary site of Kfar HaHoresh—the longest continuous Pre-Pottery Neolithic B faunal sequence in the south Levantine Mediterranean Hills (Early–Late periods, 10,600–8,700 cal. BP). We investigate the trade-off between wild and domestic progenitor taxa and classic demographic indicators of management to detect changes in hunted animal selection and control over herd animal movement and reproduction. We find that ungulate selection at Kfar HaHoresh differs from neighboring sites, although changes in dietary breadth, herd demographics and body-size data fit the regional pattern of emerging management. Notably, wild ungulates including aurochs and gazelle are preferentially selected to provision Kfar HaHoresh in the PPNB, despite evidence that goat management was underway in the Mediterranean Hills. The preference for wild animals at this important site likely reflects their symbolic significance in ritual and mortuary practice.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 1984
Radiographs were taken of sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Cap-a hircus) metacarpals from archaeological sites in Israel dating from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to recent times. From these radiographs the combined cortical thickness (CCT) of the bones was measured, and used to estimate sample variation in bone mass. The samples were compared by species and period, and further compared with CCT values obtained for a recent sample of ibex (Capra ibex nubianu) from the same region. For all periods studied, CCT values in goats were comparable with those of recent ibex. A significant reduction in CCT values of both sheep and goats was found in the Early Bronze to recent samples as compared with the Chalcolithic and PPNB samples.
Radiographic evidence for changing patterns of animal exploitation in the Southern levant
Journal of Archaeological Science, 1984
Radiographs were taken of sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Cap-a hircus) metacarpals from archaeological sites in Israel dating from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to recent times. From these radiographs the combined cortical thickness (CCT) of the bones was measured, and used to estimate sample variation in bone mass. The samples were compared by species and period, and further compared with CCT values obtained for a recent sample of ibex (Capra ibex nubianu) from the same region. For all periods studied, CCT values in goats were comparable with those of recent ibex. A significant reduction in CCT values of both sheep and goats was found in the Early Bronze to recent samples as compared with the Chalcolithic and PPNB samples.