Animal husbandry from the Middle Bronze Age through the Iron Age in the Shephelah—faunal remains from the new excavations at Lachish

Abstract

Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) is located in the southern part of the Judean foothills, known as the Shephelah, and is one of the larger and most extensively excavated multi-period sites in the southern Levant. We present the faunal results of the first three seasons of the most recent excavations, the Austrian-Israeli Expedition to Tel Lachish. The expedition focusses on two areas of the tell encompassing the Middle Bronze Age III through the Iron Age II, area S (deep section) and area P (palace area). The aims for the faunal analysis are threefold: comparing the results between the two areas, seeing how our results compare to previous analyses, and comparing Lachish to other synchronous sites in the Shephelah. We observe differences in subsistence strategies between the areas in addition to diachronic differences. Ovicaprids dominate all assemblages, but we see shifts in the sheep to goat ratio and mortality profiles through time indicating changes in subsistence strategies. Our new results largely agree with the results from previous analyses, showing the value of previous studies and their potential compatibility with newer research. A synchronic comparison of Lachish within the Shephelah shows the occupants of the site were largely self-sufficient but possibly engaged in an exchange of resources in the vicinity.

Range Limits: Semiferal Animal Husbandry in Spanish Colonial Arizona

“…Genetics, use wear, population structure, osteometrics, stable isotopes, artifacts, and ethnographic evidence have all been brought to bear on the question of whether an animal is wild or domestic (Balasse et al 2016; Levine 2005; Perry and Makarewicz 2019; Zeder 2012). Previous research on degrees of ferality have focused on the Eurasian origins of livestock and pastoralists (Chen et al 2016; Taylor 2017; Vermeersch et al 2021). Researchers used multiple, reinforcing lines of evidence—ranging from genetics to the presence of bridles—to help identify domestic livestock from feral and wild counterparts.…”