Committing to Cattle:exploring Variation in Neolithic Cattle Husbandry Practices through Zooarchaeological and Stable Isotopic Analyses

Neolithic cattle husbandry provided farming communities with vital products that brought about everlasting changes to our practices of food production, consumption, storage, transportation, and to concept of wealth. Neolithic cattle herders, similar to modern-day zootechnicians, developed many innovative husbandry practices to achieve desirable traits among livestock. These practices are deeply entangled with, and often driven by, the physiological and behavioural traits of cattle, ecological factors, technological, and sociocultural preferences of the human communities involved. There is little known about the early forms of cattle husbandry due to the incompatibility of the methodologies used in zooarchaeological datasets, and the scarcity of stable isotopic and palaeopathological data on cattle remains from early Neolithic contexts. As a response to these challenges, this study combines an integrated approach of standard zooarchaeological, pathological, and novel multi-stable isotopic (δ18O, δ13C, δ15N) analyses to provide a multi-scalar perspective on the dynamics of cattle farming practices. This revealed patterns linked to the human control exercised over cattle strength, demography, size, grazing environments, mobility, and the reproduction cycle at three pivotal early Neolithic sites in Turkey, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands between 7th and 4th millennium BCE.From a broader perspective, this study confirms a pattern in which the diversity of early cattle husbandry practices is caused by an interplay of biological, environmental, and cultural factors. In return, this has shaped cattle and human biology, socioeconomic behaviours, and the natural environment in different ways

Birlikte Yemek:Erken Neolitik Ulucak Höyük’te Bir Grup Ocakta Bulunan Hayvan Kalıntıları

Daily food is a routine, biologically born, but at the same time a much overlooked, mundane “ritual” that brings together the smallest social unit, often a family or a group of mates. At more elaborate events bigger groups come together to share food. These “invitations to dinner” are a very important component of formalised behaviour (ritual). In all those occasions, the social status of the hosts and guest is exhibited and negotiated, ties are created or renewed and “agreements” of all kinds are sealed. The obligation of the guests to return the favour to the host becomes mandatory with the acceptance of the invitation to the feast. Various explanatory models have been built on feasting for exploring social formations and relationships as well as economic mechanisms. In the archaeological record numerous elements have been used to trace “feasting” activities. Here, animal bones, the direct remains of food eaten, will be discussed in an attempt to understand the mode of consumption and its social setting as reflected at a specific context from Ulucak Höyük. These materials date to the earliest phase (VI) of the site and comprise of nine hearths and one oven clustered together in an outdoor space next to the Building 42. Building 42 is significant for its red painted floor. Around the ovens a large number of bones, mostly ovicaprids, heavily broken for marrow extraction were collected. In contrast, there were almost no archaeobotanical finds, implying that the food preparations were focused on animals. Even though the features are not all strictly contemporaneous, their tight clustering, their position outside the “house” and the abundance of bone fragments indicate communal partaking of food

Birlikte Yemek:Erken Neolitik Ulucak Höyük’te Bir Grup Ocakta Bulunan Hayvan Kalıntıları

Daily food is a routine, biologically born, but at the same time a much overlooked, mundane “ritual” that brings together the smallest social unit, often a family or a group of mates. At more elaborate events bigger groups come together to share food. These “invitations to dinner” are a very important component of formalised behaviour (ritual). In all those occasions, the social status of the hosts and guest is exhibited and negotiated, ties are created or renewed and “agreements” of all kinds are sealed. The obligation of the guests to return the favour to the host becomes mandatory with the acceptance of the invitation to the feast. Various explanatory models have been built on feasting for exploring social formations and relationships as well as economic mechanisms. In the archaeological record numerous elements have been used to trace “feasting” activities. Here, animal bones, the direct remains of food eaten, will be discussed in an attempt to understand the mode of consumption and its social setting as reflected at a specific context from Ulucak Höyük. These materials date to the earliest phase (VI) of the site and comprise of nine hearths and one oven clustered together in an outdoor space next to the Building 42. Building 42 is significant for its red painted floor. Around the ovens a large number of bones, mostly ovicaprids, heavily broken for marrow extraction were collected. In contrast, there were almost no archaeobotanical finds, implying that the food preparations were focused on animals. Even though the features are not all strictly contemporaneous, their tight clustering, their position outside the “house” and the abundance of bone fragments indicate communal partaking of food

Zooarchaeology of the Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic site of Qasr-e Ahmad (Iran)

The zooarchaeological study of the Neolithic site of Qasr-e Ahmad in Fars Province (southern Zagros, Iran) provides valuable evidence for a better understanding of the process of caprine domestication and dispersal in Southwest Asia.Goat was the most commonly exploited animal in Qasr-e Ahmad during both phases of prehistoric settlement (Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Pottery Neolithic). Sheep were also present but represent a limited contribution to the subsistence economy at the site. Limited osteometric data from sheep suggest that they were already domesticated at the site, which is earlier than hitherto suggested for the region. Kill-off and osteometric data indicate that the majority of goats and sheep were managed using strategies known at other later sites in the region. Cattle and pig were not domesticated and were not regularly exploited. The location of the site next to the Qara Aqhaj permanent river, the presence of architectural remains in the PPN phases of the site, as well as the abundance of lithic tools indicate pastoral and agricultural components in the Qasr-e Ahmad human communities