Folds, fields, and fauna: A Deleuzo-Guattarian approach to the socialising power of religious experiences in Ancient Near Eastern landscapes

Archaeological approaches to socialisation are underdeveloped. As interpretative models are most often borrowed from other disciplines, rather than developed with a material-focus at their centre, archaeologists are left without effective object-centred frameworks with which to examine how individuals interacted with and learnt about their world. This thesis addresses these issues with a new approach, drawing upon Giles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who offer many analytical tools that can directly connect highly theoretical interpretations of ancient societies to archaeological data. By stressing how humans understand the world through their accumulated previous experiences, Deleuze and Guattari direct the archaeologist to consider how identifiable human interactions with objects and places informed their subsequent experiences, and therefore their developing perceptions of their surroundings. This approach is tested against three case studies, in the 3rd Millennium Jazira, 2nd Millennium Anatolia, and 1st Millennium Southern Levant, that stress the intersection of landscapes and religious practice, both of which are frequently highlighted as powerful agents of socialisation. The varying forms and resolutions available for these case studies allow for a comprehensive exploration of a Deleuzo-Guattarian framework’s effectiveness in reconstructing and understanding ancient experiences of the world, and new interpretations of how ancient individuals both shaped and were shaped by their experiences of religiously-loaded landscapes

Pigs, Philistines, and the Ancient Animal Economy of Ekron from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age II

The assemblage of animal bones recovered from the excavation area of Field I at the site of Tel Miqne-Ekron, located in Israel, is the subject of this dissertation. This site has been identified as the ancient city of Ekron, one of the Philistine cities. The faunal remains from Ekron can be divided into three main parts, bones recovered from the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age I, or Iron Age II strata of the site. Research questions relevant to these three time periods were formulated for each corpus of animal bones. The theme which ties these subdivisions together is world systems theory, such that the animal economy of Ekron is framed in terms of the development and evolution of a Mediterranean world economy. The Late Bronze Age in the southern Levant is notable for the presence there of an Egyptian administration. Faunal remains from Tel Miqne-Ekron\u27s Late Bronze Age levels were analyzed to examine the extent of Egyptian influence on the economy of Canaan. That is to say, was the Egyptian administration of Canaan pervasive enough to affect the staple goods economy of the region during this period? Examination of the faunal data produced no evidence that the town\u27s economy was anything but provincial, an agricultural strategy aimed at providing for only local needs, and not external demands for trade and tribute. The Iron Age I was the historical period in which the Philistines emerged as a powerful military and political entity in Canaan. Animal bones derived from Iron Age I deposits were identified and analyzed for the degree to which the Philistine diet reflected an ethnically distinct foodway related to Aegean dietary preferences. In addition, the data was examined in terms of how the animal economy fit into the larger picture of trans-Mediterranean trade. Although there are unique components to the faunal assemblage of Iron Age I Ekron, most notably an abundance of pig bones, the diet was not definitively Aegean in character. These results do not negate the possibility of a Philistine migration from the Aegean or elsewhere, but do argue that abundant pig bones should not be used as ethnic markers. Swine agriculture in the Ancient Near East may have been affected by a variety of circumstances, among them the degree to which local Levantine city economies were governed by foreign imperial polities. In eras of foreign rule over the Levant, pig use was generally low, while the opposite is true for times of independence, as was characteristic of the Iron Age I. The Iron Age II was a time of expanding territorial states, and Ekron in that period came under the political control of a series of foreign powers, most notably the Neo-Assyrian Empire. As with the Late Bronze Age, the primary research agenda for this portion of the faunal assemblage was to determine the extent to which these imperial states penetrated and developed a Mediterranean world economy. In contrast to the Egyptian administration in the Late Bronze Age, the succession of states and especially the Neo-Assyrian Empire did penetrate the staple economy of Ekron such that animal production strategies were changed. Among other economic changes correlated with the advent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire\u27s expansion into Philistia, sheep were favored over goats, cattle were heavily employed in traction activities, and pigs nearly disappeared from the diets of Ekron\u27s population. Using the diachronic changes visible in the faunal assemblage excavated at Tel Miqne-Ekron as an example, it is possible to trace the non-linear development of a Mediterranean world system from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age II. Although Egypt was already a territorial state and an empire by the Late Bronze Age, the faunal remains from Ekron demonstrate that the Egyptians were either incapable or uninterested in altering the Levantine subsistence economy. The Iron Age I animal economy of Ekron demonstrates a prosperous but insular city economy, seemingly untied to regional exchange in staple goods. Finally, the Iron Age II faunal displays in a variety of ways an astonishing degree of regional interconnectedness which affected not only the production of prestige goods, but also the orientation of animal production

An Insight into Life at Geometric Zagora Provided by the Animal Bones

This thesis is a study of the animal bone distribution at the Geometric period settlement of Zagora (ca. 850-700 BC), on the island of Andros. The animal bones were excavated during the 1967-74 University of Sydney excavations and analysed in 1977 by a specialist who compiled a report of her findings. The report is currently in preparation for publication and is the primary source for this thesis. The data it provided was limited but enough could be extracted to identify patterns that permitted a tentative reconstruction of social life and the economy at Zagora. There is a paucity of excavated settlements from the Greek EIA and few of these have published faunal material, an essential element in reconstructing past lifeways. Those preserved settlements from which animal bones have been published are not extensive with good domestic contexts but usually sites of minimal extent. Hence, it has not been possible to conduct an analysis of the spatial distribution of animal bones from such a settlement. Zagora, being an extensive settlement containing mainly domestic structures, is therefore unique and the animal bone report provided the opportunity for such a study to be undertaken. A number of analyses were performed using both statistical and non-statistical methods. Through these it was discovered that there is a relationship between the animal size and the size of the architectural unit within which it was found. Similarly, there appeared to be a relationship between larger architecture and the presence of fish, postulated as being a pelagic species. The patterns observed were interpreted as evidence of ‘special’ meals with a larger than usual number of diners in attendance and hence the need for a larger space to host them. Using the animal bones’ distribution and architectural evidence it is proposed that feasting was an important event at Zagora, conducted at the household level to possibly reinforce bonds of kinship and friendship. The evidence also suggests that the H area could have been inhabited by people of better means than elsewhere in the settlement, particularly by the hypaethral sanctuary. Ideally the animal bones would have been studied in conjunction with associated artefacts, but this was not possible and so this would be something desirable to be performed in the near future. With 21st century excavation techniques, the future Zagora excavations should provide greater granularity in the faunal information obtained from the settlement to allow better precision in subsequent analyses

An Insight into Life at Geometric Zagora Provided by the Animal Bones

This thesis is a study of the animal bone distribution at the Geometric period settlement of Zagora (ca. 850-700 BC), on the island of Andros. The animal bones were excavated during the 1967-74 University of Sydney excavations and analysed in 1977 by a specialist who compiled a report of her findings. The report is currently in preparation for publication and is the primary source for this thesis. The data it provided was limited but enough could be extracted to identify patterns that permitted a tentative reconstruction of social life and the economy at Zagora. There is a paucity of excavated settlements from the Greek EIA and few of these have published faunal material, an essential element in reconstructing past lifeways. Those preserved settlements from which animal bones have been published are not extensive with good domestic contexts but usually sites of minimal extent. Hence, it has not been possible to conduct an analysis of the spatial distribution of animal bones from such a settlement. Zagora, being an extensive settlement containing mainly domestic structures, is therefore unique and the animal bone report provided the opportunity for such a study to be undertaken. A number of analyses were performed using both statistical and non-statistical methods. Through these it was discovered that there is a relationship between the animal size and the size of the architectural unit within which it was found. Similarly, there appeared to be a relationship between larger architecture and the presence of fish, postulated as being a pelagic species. The patterns observed were interpreted as evidence of ‘special’ meals with a larger than usual number of diners in attendance and hence the need for a larger space to host them. Using the animal bones’ distribution and architectural evidence it is proposed that feasting was an important event at Zagora, conducted at the household level to possibly reinforce bonds of kinship and friendship. The evidence also suggests that the H area could have been inhabited by people of better means than elsewhere in the settlement, particularly by the hypaethral sanctuary. Ideally the animal bones would have been studied in conjunction with associated artefacts, but this was not possible and so this would be something desirable to be performed in the near future. With 21st century excavation techniques, the future Zagora excavations should provide greater granularity in the faunal information obtained from the settlement to allow better precision in subsequent analyses

Diagnosing Bone Fracture to Assess Early Hominin Behaviour, Meat-Eating, and Socioecology at FLK-Zinjanthropus, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

This study develops a fractographic method to diagnose hammerstone- and carnivore induced fracture. This is important because interpretations of hominin entry into the carnivore guild and evolution of meat-eating are based on rare tool and tooth marks in Oldowan (2.5-1.8mya) fossil assemblages. Consequently, estimating hominin and carnivore involvement is difficult, and questions remain about Oldowan hominin’s position in the carnivore guild and socioecology. One aspect of bone damage, fracture surfaces, is ubiquitous, but largely unstudied. The fractographic (study of fracture surfaces) method is based on fracture principals, particularly how differences in static- and impact-loading affect material response and fracture features resulting from loading extremes. The method is applied to analysis of fracture features in a) the Amboseli Hyaena Den assemblage, b) an experimental hammerstone-broken assemblage, c) a Plio-Pleistocene assemblage previously interpreted as a carnivore accumulation, FLK-NN2 (Olduvai Gorge), and d) the zooarchaeological assemblage from FLK-Zinj, (Olduvai Gorge). This is the first zooarchaeological/taphonomic study to demonstrate that a) static and impact fracture differ fundamentally in applied load size and material responses to loading extremes, b) impact-forces are significantly greater than the maximum carnivore bite-force, c) cones, incipient flakes, radiating cracks, and lateral stress features are characteristic of impact fracture, and e) Oldowan hominins at FLK-Zinj were responsible for breakage of 54% of the limb assemblage (a 37% – 40% increase over estimates based on percussion marks). The socioecological implications of the habitual transport of food from death and/or kill sites to secondary locations are explored by examining reasons why social carnivores transport food. Aspects of modern carnivore behaviour suggest general mammalian constraints that may have predicated food transport by early Homo. Early Homo food transport behaviour was structured by anti-predator defense strategies associated with a) foraging in an open habitat rich with competing predators, b) the lack of masticatory and digestive apparatus to quickly consume animal tissue, and c) the presence of altricial young in the hominin group

Feral Horse Ecology in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta, Canada.

Feral horses have been present in western Canada since the early 1720s, though little is known about fundamental components of their ecology. In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada, increasing socio-political conflict regarding feral horse management, their role, and their impacts in the Foothills ecosystem highlights a growing need for nuanced management approaches predicated on robust ecological information. My objective was to assess several key aspects of feral horse ecology within the largest known population of horses in western Canada, located west of the township of Sundre, Alberta. In Chapter 1, I provide a general introduction to the history and ecology of feral horses in western Canada and North America, to the study area, and to the key questions motivating the research. In Chapter 2, I begin by reviewing the causes and consequences of a lack of robust ecological information for many feral horse populations, and feral wildlife generally, and found that both political and biological asymmetries in feral populations can favor the persistence and expansion of populations of feral species relative to native species. Ideological opposition to the necessary study of feral populations as wildlife also has important implications for increasingly contested population management of feral species. In Chapter 3 I assessed key spatial and social characteristics of the population within the Sundre equine management zone (EMZ) using a combination of GPS telemetry and camera-trap data. Social characteristics such as band size and sex-ratio were consistent with earlier work and with feral horse populations generally. Home-ranges overlapped considerably between individual bands with sizes ranging from 47.6 to 93.0 km2. These were larger than those that were identified by Salter in 1978 within an area now encompassed in the Sundre EMZ, though were similar to those identified by Girard in nearby Bragg Creek, Alberta with the difference likely representing differences in methodology. Movement and detection rates of horses were greater in summer, and horses showed reduced diel activity in the middle of the day in summer, compared to winter. The number of foals detected, and the mean number of foals within each band was highest from June to August and composed less than 15% of the total individuals detected each year. Identification of individuals based on natural markings was possible, though the influence of non-independent movement and social grouping was evident, and problematic for capture-recapture analyses. In Chapter 4, I assessed density and total abundance of the population of horses in the Sundre equine management zone using space-to-event (STE) density models. Feral horse density was 0.602/km2, 0.606/km2 and 0.522/km2 respectively, from 2017 – 2019. Total abundance estimates were similar to minimum aerial count data with confidence intervals from estimates overlapping aerial counts in all years except 2017, suggesting the population declined by approximately 14% from 2018 to 2019. These results are similar to recent trends detected in minimum aerial counts that show a decline in counts of approximately 22% (2019 – 2021) and contrast with expectations based on increasing minimum counts in the Sundre population in recent decades, and populations of many other free-ranging feral horse populations. Reasons for the decline are likely to be multi-factorial and are difficult to determine based on the current data alone. I discuss potential causes and the implications these have for future management. In Chapter 5, I assessed habitat selection of feral horses with respect to several key landscape and vegetation characteristics of interest using GPS telemetry data, and compared summer occupancy of feral horses, cattle, and elk using camera-trap data. Variation was high among tracked individuals in selection for vegetation type, and counter to expectations, horses avoided native rangeland in summer, compared to greater selection of forestry cutblocks in all but one individual. This was also supported by higher summer horse occupancy probability with increasing areal coverage of cutblocks. This contrasted to cattle occupancy which declined strongly with increasing cutblock coverage. Cattle occupancy was also negatively influenced by terrain, though positively influenced by the presence of linear features and lower distance to roads. These results have important implications for the spatio-temporal partitioning of cattle and horses over summer and suggest that horses may avoid areas with high overlap with cattle. In Chapter 6, I summarize the findings from each chapter, and discuss their wider management implications

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationStable isotope analysis of biological and geological materials has provided important information on environmental change over many timescales. Such records rely on an interpretive framework of large isotopic datasets of recent (i.e., modern and/or Holocene-aged) material in order to define paleoecological interpretations. This dissertation will contribute to a better understanding of ancient and historical ecological change in East Africa by (1) providing a modern interpretive framework for a megaherbivore, Hippopotamus amphibius, in East Africa and (2) investigating the relationship between climate and ecology in Kenya during the Holocene using multiproxy records, including stable isotopes of large mammalian herbivores and leaf wax biomarker isotopes. Although H. amphibius (hippo) tooth enamel isotopes are widely used to understand paleoenvironment, little is known about their dietary variability across time and space. In this dissertation, I present an extensive study on stable isotope serial samples (δ13C and δ18O) of modern hippos in order to understand the breadth of their dietary and behavioral flexibility in Kenya. This large dataset (10 mm interval samples of canine tooth enamel for 30 hippo canines; 1,410 samples in total) reveals the remarkable dietary diversity of hippos: they are indiscriminate feeders and can consume both C3 and C4 herbaceous forage. Furthermore, certain profiles with known death dates have captured isotopic indicators of ecological perturbations, such as drought and C3 plant encroachment following elephant extirpation. Multiproxy records of ecology can provide even more paleoecological information than single-mammal records. Assumptions about environmental change in the fossil record are often based on inference from known global climate and presumed changes in ecology. Using a multiproxy approach (tooth enamel isotopes and leaf wax biomarkers), I present Holocene (11.8 Kya - present) paleoecological data from two basins: the arid Turkana Basin in northern Kenya and the more mesic Victoria Basin in southwestern Kenya. These data indicate that as the monsoon was weakening due to global climatic change (i.e, Milankovitch forcing), there was an increase in C3 resources (bush, shrub, trees, and herbs) in Turkana, whereas Lake Victoria remained predominately C4 (tropical lowland grasses). This interbasinal record reveals that we cannot make assumptions about changes in ecology in an entire region based on climatological forcing mechanisms alone

Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: Animal encounters in the ancient Near East

Animals have always been an integral part of human existence. In the ancient Near East, this is evident in the record of excavated assemblages of faunal remains, iconography and – for the later historical periods – texts. Animals have predominantly been examined as part of consumption and economy, and while these are important aspects of society in the ancient Near East, the relationships between humans and animals were extremely varied and complex. Domesticated animals had great impact on social, political and economic structures – for example cattle in agriculture and diet, or donkeys and horses in transport, trade and war. Fantastic mythological beasts such as lion-headed eagles or Anzu-birds in Mesopotamia or Egyptian deities such as the falcon-headed god Horus were part of religious beliefs and myths, while exotic creatures such as lions were part of elite symbolling from the fourth millennium bc onward. In some cases, animals also intruded on human lives in unwanted ways by scavenging or entering the household; this especially applies to small or wild animals. But animals were also attributed agency with the ability to solve problems; the distinction between humans and other animals often blurs in ritual, personal and place names, fables and royal ideology. They were helpers, pets and companions in life and death, peace and war. An association with cult and mortuary practices involves sacrifice and feasting, while some animals held special symbolic significance. This volume is a tribute to the animals of the ancient Near East (including Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt), from the fourth through first millennia bc, and their complex relationship with the environment and other human and nonhuman animals. Offering faunal, textual and iconographic studies, the contributions present a fascinating array of the many ways in which animals influence human life and death, and explore new perspectives in the exciting field of human-animal studies as applied to this part of the world