en

The animal economy of people living in the settlement of Tell Rad Shaqrah (Syria)

2015, 24, No. 1

Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw

University of Warsaw, Faculty of Archaeology

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Institute of Prehistory


Publication date

28.02.2016

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 184 KB

Article

Number of views:342

Number of downloads:51

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

Animal management in the Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods at the site of Tell Rad Shaqrah in the Khabur River valley in Syria was reconstructed on the grounds of an analysis of osteological remains discovered at the site during excavations in 1991–1995. Of the total number of 4025 bone fragments, 59.2% were identified. In both chronological periods the most important role belonged to domestic animals, dominated by sheep and goat and followed by cattle. Remains of wild animals, mostly gazelle and equids, were also discovered; these were all post-consumption remains. Two young Barbary macaques (magots) were also identified; their bones were found in the storeroom and were identified as not post-consumption.

Keywords:

Bibliography

Anastasio, S., Lebeau, M., and Sauvage, M. (2004). Atlas of preclassical Upper Mesopotamia [=Subartu 13]. Turnhout: Brepols.

Antipina, E. E. (2004). Arheozoologičeskie materialy iz Tell Hazny [Archaeozoological finds from Tell Hazna]. In R. M. Munčaev, N. Merpert, and Š. N. Amirov, Tell’ Hazna I. Kul’tovoadministrativnyj centr IV–III tys. do n.ė. v Severo-vostočnoj Sirii (pp. 463–473). Moskva: Paleograf [in Russian].

Becker, C. (1988). Die Tierknochenfunde vom Tell Bderi 1985. Damaszener Mitteilungen, 3, 379–386.

Bieliński, P. (1992). The first campaign of excavations on Tell Rad Shaqrah (Hassake Southern Dam Basin). PAM, 3, 77–85.

Bieliński, P. (1994). Tell Rad Shaqrah 1993. PAM, 5, 154–163.

Bieliński, P. (1996). Tell Rad Shaqrah. Excavations 1995. PAM, 7, 160–170.

Bryson, R. A., and Bryson, R. U. (1997). High resolution simulations of regional Holocene climate: North Africa and the Near East. In H. N. Dalfes, G. Kukla, and H. Weiss (Eds.), Third millennium BC climate change and old world collapse [=NATO ASI Series 49] (pp. 565– 593). Berlin: Springer.

Clason, A. T., and Prummel, W. (1977). Collecting, sieving and archaeozoological research. Journal of Archaeological Science, 4(2), 171–175.

Clutton-Brock, J. (1999). A natural history of domesticated mammals (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dobney, K., Jaques, D., and Van Neer, W. (2003). Diet, economy and status: Evidence from the animal bones. In R. J. Matthews (Ed.), Excavations at Tell Brak IV. Exploring an Upper Mesopotamian regional centre, 1994–1996 (pp. 417–430). London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.

Doll, M. (2010). Meat, traction, wool: Urban livestock in Tell Mozan. In K. Deckers, M. Doll, P. Pfälzner, and S. Riehl, Ausgrabungen 1998–2001 in der zentralen Oberstadt von Tall Mozan/Urkeš III. Development of the environment, subsistence and settlement of the city of Urkes and its region (pp. 191–359). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Dunham, S. (1985). The monkey in the middle. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, 75(2), 234–264.

Gilbert, A. S. (2002). The native fauna of the ancient Near East. In B. J. Collins (Ed.), A history of the animal world in the ancient Near East [=Handbuch der Orientalistik 64] (pp. 3–75). Leiden: Brill.

Hamoto, A. (1995). Der Affe in der altorientalischen Kunst [=Forschungen zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte 28]. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

Kolda, J. (1936). Srovnavaci anatomie zviřat domacich se zřetelem k anatomii člověka [Comparative anatomy of domestic animals with regard to human anatomy]. Brno: Novina [in Czech].

Koliński, R. (1996). Tell Rad Shaqrah 1991–1995. Orient Express, 1996(3), 67–69.

Koliński, R. (2012). The mountain sheep are sweeter... In N. Laneri, P. Pfälzner, and S. Valentini (Eds.), Looking north: The socioeconomic dynamics of northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian regions during the late third and early second millennium BC (pp. 237–251). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

Kowalski, K. (1971). Ssaki: zarys teriologii [Mammals: An outline of theriology]. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe [in Polish].

Lasota-Moskalewska, A. (1984). Morphotic changes of domestic cattle skeleton from the Neolithic Age to the beginning of the Iron Age. Wiadomości Archeologiczne, 45(2), 119–163.

Lasota-Moskalewska, A. (2005). Zwierzęta udomowione w dziejach ludzkości [Domesticated animals in human history]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [in Polish].

Lasota-Moskalewska, A. (2008). Archeozoologia: ssaki [Archaeozoology: mammals]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [in Polish].

Lasota-Moskalewska, A., Kobryń, H., and Świeżyński, K. (1991). Two forms of domestic goats in Europe and Asia from the Neolithic Age to the Middle Ages. Acta Theriologica, 36(3–4), 329–348.

Lasota-Moskalewska, A., Kobryń, H., and Świeżyński, K. (1998). The size of domestic sheep (Ovis aries L.) in Europe and Asia from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Światowit, 41(B), 323–348.

Lutnicki, W. (1972). Uzębienie zwierząt domowych [Dentition of domestic animals]. Warsaw: PWN [in Polish].

Monchambert, J.-Y. (1984). Le futur lac du Moyen Khabour: Rapport sur la prospection archéologique menée en 1983. Syria, 61(3–4), 181–218.

Piątkowska-Małecka, J., and Koliński, R. (2006). Animal remains from Tell Arbid (north-east Syria). Beiträge zur Archäozoologie und Prähistorischen Anthropologie, 5, 22–31.

Rufolo, S. J. (2011). Specialized pastoralism and urban process in third millennium BC northern Mesopotamia: A treatment of zooarchaeological data from the Khabur Basin of Syria (unpubl. Ph.D. diss.). Johns Hopkins University.

Sanlaville, P. (1990). Milieu naturel et irrigation en Syrie. In B. Geyer (Ed.), Techniques et pratiques hydro-agricoles traditionnelles en domaine irrigué: approche pluridisciplinaire des modes de culture avant le motorisation en Syrie. Actes du Colloque de Damas 27 juin–1er juillet 1987, I [=BAH 136/1] (pp. 3–21). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Schramm, Z. (1967). Kości długie a wysokość w kłębie u kozy [Long bones and withers height of goats]. Roczniki Wyższej Szkoły Rolniczej w Poznaniu, 36, 89–105 [in Polish].

Schwartz, G. M. (1994). Rural economic specialization and early urbanization in the Khabur Valley, Syria. In G. M. Schwartz and S. E. Falconer (Eds.), Archaeological views from the countryside: Village communities in early complex societies (pp. 19–36). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Siracusano, G. (2014). Third millennium BC fauna at Tell Beydar. In L. Milano and M. Lebeau (Eds.), Tell Beydar: Environmental and technical studies II [=Subartu 33] (pp. 271–304). Turnhout: Brepols.

Uerpmann, H.-P. (2003). Gedanken und Beobachtungen zur Equiden-Hybridisierung im Alten Orient. In R. Dittmann, C. Eder, and B. Jacobs (Eds.), Altertumswissenschaften im Dialog: Festschrift für Wolfram Nagel zur Vollendung seines 80. Lebensjahres [=Alter Orient und Altes Testament 306] (pp. 549–566). Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

Van Neer, W., and De Cupere, B. (2001). Faunal remains from Tell Beydar (seasons 1992–1997). In K. Van Lerberghe and G. Voet (Eds.), Tell Beydar: Environmental and technical studies [=Subartu 6] (pp. 69–115). Turnhout: Brepols.

Vila, E. (2005). Fauna. In E. Klengel-Brandt, S. Kulemann-Ossen, and L. Martin, Tall Knēdiğ: die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen des Vorderasiatischen Museums Berlin in Nordost-Syrien von 1993 bis 1998 [=WVDOG 113] (pp. 185–204). Saarwellingen: Saarländische Druckerei und Verlag.

Vila, E. (2006). Data on equids from late fourth and third millenium sites in Northern Syria. In M. Mashkour (Ed.), Equids in time and space: Papers in honour of Véra Eisenmann (pp. 101–123). Oxford: Oxbow.

von den Driesch, A. (1976). A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites [=Peabody Museum Bulletin 1]. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

von den Driesch, A., and Boessneck, J. (1974). Kritische Anmerkungen zur Widerristhöhenberechnung aus Längenmassen vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Tierknochen. Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen, 22, 325–348.

von Koppen, F. (2002). Equids in Mari and Chagar Bazar. Altorientalische Forschungen, 29(1), 19–30.

Weber, J. (1999). Faunal remains. In G. Emberling et al., Excavations at Tell Brak 1998: Preliminary report. Iraq, 61, 26–30.

Weber, J. (2001). A preliminary assessment of Akkadian and Post-Akkadian animal exploitation at Tell Brak. In D. Oates, J. Oates, and H. McDonald (Eds.), Excavations at Tell Brak II. Nagar in the third millennium BC (pp. 345–350). London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.

Zeder, M. A. (1995). The archaeobiology of the Khabur Basin. Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Mesopotamian Studies, 29, 21–32.

Zeder, M. A. (1998). Environment, economy and subsistence on the threshold of urban emergence in northern Mesopotamia. In M. Fortin and O. Aurenche (Eds.), Espace naturel, espace habité en Syrie du Nord (10e–2e millénaires av. J-C.): Actes du colloque tenu à l’Université Laval (Québec) du 5 au 7 mai 1997 (pp. 55–67). Québec: Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies.

Similar publications