Animal exploitation in the Upper Tigris River valley (Turkey) between the 3rd and the 1st millennia BC

The prehistory and ancient history of the Upper Tigris River valley (in southern Turkey) was poorly known until recently, due to a lack of archaeological researches. Since the last decade, numerous research projects are taking place in this area in order to document the cultural heritage which will be flooded by the lake of the Ilısu Dam in a near future. Despite the recent growth of archaeological investigations between the cities of Bismil and Siirt, many important fields of research haven’t been targeted yet. It is the case for one of the main socioeconomic components of ancient societies: the exploitation of resources from animal origin. This large field of research encompasses many issues related to, among others, the use of the landscape, the economic system and the existence of cultural constraints. In order to answer these questions, the faunal remains from seven settlements were studied. These sites are located on the banks of the Tigris, Botan and Bitlis Rivers. Assemblages were selected from layers dated from the 3rd to the 1st millennia BC. This chronological range has the advantage to be represented in all the selected sites. It was also a period of rapid changes in the political background of the region, with well-defined economic and cultural entities. The study of the faunal remains enables to compare all these settlements in terms of subsistence strategies and socioeconomic choices. It appeared that a diversity of animal exploitation patterns existed in all the chronological phases considered. Besides the exploitation of the main domestic mammals such as cattle, pig and sheep and goat, the exploitations of red deer and equid were important variables. It is argued here that this variability is related to peculiar choices made by the communities inhabiting these settlements. Depending on the period, these choices seem to have been influenced by local environmental conditions on one hand and economic specializations on another hand. The variability in the patterns of animal exploitation should be taken into account when the issue of subsistence strategy is discussed at an inter-regional scale. Indeed, the Upper Tigris area, and especially the small rural settlements studied here, shows a picture much less homogeneous than expected. It is also argued that small settlements embedded in a rural environment should be also studied beside the main large urban settlements. These smaller settlements played an important role in the socioeconomic complexity of the Bronze and Iron Age. Finally, it is argued that small faunal assemblages have a great analytical value when they are studied by the same researcher in order to increase the possibility to compare them with each other. Considering several assemblages together, as it is possible in case of large-scale salvage programs, enables, with the help of multivariate analyses, to confirm the reliability of the patterns observed

Seasonal calving in European Prehistoric cattle and its impacts on milk availability and cheese-making:impacts on milk availability and cheese-making

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but exactly when this capacity developed in domestic cattle is still unknown and the extent to which early farming communities controlled the seasonality of reproduction is debated. Seasonal or aseasonal calving would have shaped the socio-economic practices of ancient farming societies differently, structuring the agropastoral calendar and determining milk availability where dairying is attested. In this study, we reconstruct the calving pattern through the analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios of cattle tooth enamel from 18 sites across Europe, dating from the 6th mill. cal BC (Early Neolithic) in the Balkans to the 4th mill. cal BC (Middle Neolithic) in Western Europe. Seasonal calving prevailed in Europe between the 6th and 4th millennia cal BC. These results suggest that cattle agropastoral systems in Neolithic Europe were strongly constrained by environmental factors, in particular forage resources. The ensuing fluctuations in milk availability would account for cheese-making, transforming a seasonal milk supply into a storable product.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse

Abstract: The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals. However, the timing and basis of its origin and early phases of dispersal remain poorly documented. To track its synanthropisation and subsequent invasive spread during the develoment of complex human societies, we analyzed 829 Mus specimens from 43 archaeological contexts in Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe, between 40,000 and 3,000 cal. BP, combining geometric morphometrics numerical taxonomy, ancient mitochondrial DNA and direct radiocarbon dating. We found that large late hunter-gatherer sedentary settlements in the Levant, c. 14,500 cal. BP, promoted the commensal behaviour of the house mouse, which probably led the commensal pathway to cat domestication. House mouse invasive spread was then fostered through the emergence of agriculture throughout the Near East 12,000 years ago. Stowaway transport of house mice to Cyprus can be inferred as early as 10,800 years ago. However, the house mouse invasion of Europe did not happen until the development of proto urbanism and exchange networks — 6,500 years ago in Eastern Europe and 4000 years ago in Southern Europe — which in turn may have driven the first human mediated dispersal of cats in Europe

Energy Resolution Performance of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The energy resolution performance of the CMS lead tungstate crystal electromagnetic calorimeter is presented. Measurements were made with an electron beam using a fully equipped supermodule of the calorimeter barrel. Results are given both for electrons incident on the centre of crystals and for electrons distributed uniformly over the calorimeter surface. The electron energy is reconstructed in matrices of 3 times 3 or 5 times 5 crystals centred on the crystal containing the maximum energy. Corrections for variations in the shower containment are applied in the case of uniform incidence. The resolution measured is consistent with the design goals

A ritual deposit of fox remains at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) and its relation with the pastoral nature of Late Chalcolithic communities

International audienceThe occurrence of wild carnivores remains among faunal assemblages constituted almost exclusively of domestic ruminants raise the question of the status of these rare species. Parts of two foxes were deposited in a jar discovered in a Late Chalcolithic (ca. 4300–3950 cal. BCE) occupation layer at the site of Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan). The skeletal elements were carefully dismembered, selected, exposed to fire for some of them, and disposed in an organised manner in the jar. A detailed analysis led us to suggest that this deposition could be related to rites performed during the periodic abandonment and reoccupation of the settlement. Foxes tend to play a peculiar symbolic role in some livestock-raising communities. It could be also the case in this possibly partly mobile pastoral group. This deposit sheds some light on how this community conceived the occupation of this settlement

Animal exploitation, social organization and economic strategies in the «Kura-Araxes» cultural complex (South Caucasus, Eastern Anatolia and Northwestern Iran)

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Le plateau iranien et les régions adjacentes à l’âge du Bronze

Le colloque international intitulé « Le plateau iranien. Urbanisation, commerce, subsistance et production à l’âge du Bronze » s’est tenu les 29 et 30 avril 2014 à l’amphithéâtre Benveniste de la MSH-Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée. Ce colloque organisé par Michelle Casanova (Université Lyon 2 – UMR 5133), Emmanuelle Vila (CNRS – UMR 5133), Gwénaëlle Pequay (CNRS – UMR 5133), Marjan Mashkour (CNRS – UMR 7209), Régis Vallet (CNRS – UMR 7041) et Jan-Waalke Meyer (Université Goethe de F..

From the animals to the meals. The contribution of zooarchaeology to the knowledge of alimentary practices during the Uruk period

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