Abstract:The incorporation of urban communities into larger territorial polities can be studied by various material remains. Here, animal bones from the north lower city of Zincirli Höyük (ancient Samal), Turkey, are used to follow the settlement's shift from a semi-autonomous polity to a Neo-Assyrian province. The results indicate that the process of incorporation is marked by an increasingly specialized animal economy, with non-faunal evidence suggesting that specialization was complemented by an increase in wealth, … Show more
“…This regional specialization was likely also a consequence of the expanded trade networks associated with the Neo-Assyrian territorial empire (compare with e.g., [ 115 ]) and increased specialization in trade of particular groups [ 21 ], hence a result of greater cultural integration. In the Northern Levant, particularly at Zincirli, a distinct pattern of specialization in animal exploitation emerged after incorporation into the Neo-Assyrian empire [ 116 ].…”
Evaluating archaeobotanical data from over 3.9 million seeds and 124,300 charcoal fragments across 330 archaeological site phases in Southwest Asia, we reconstruct the history of olive and grape cultivation spanning a period of 6,000 years. Combining charcoal and seed data enables investigation into both the production and consumption of olive and grape. The earliest indication for olive and grape cultivation appears in the southern Levant around ca. 5000 BC and 4th millennium BC respectively, although cultivation may have been practiced prior to these dates. Olive and grape cultivation in Southwest Asia was regionally concentrated within the Levant until 600 BC, although there were periodic pushes to the East. Several indications for climate influencing the history of olive and grape cultivation were found, as well as a correlation between periods of high population density and high proportions of olive and grape remains in archaeological sites. While temporal uncertainty prevents a detailed understanding of the causal mechanisms behind these correlations, we suggest that long distance trade in olives, grapes and their associated products was integral to the economic, social, and demographic trajectories of the region.
“…This regional specialization was likely also a consequence of the expanded trade networks associated with the Neo-Assyrian territorial empire (compare with e.g., [ 115 ]) and increased specialization in trade of particular groups [ 21 ], hence a result of greater cultural integration. In the Northern Levant, particularly at Zincirli, a distinct pattern of specialization in animal exploitation emerged after incorporation into the Neo-Assyrian empire [ 116 ].…”
Evaluating archaeobotanical data from over 3.9 million seeds and 124,300 charcoal fragments across 330 archaeological site phases in Southwest Asia, we reconstruct the history of olive and grape cultivation spanning a period of 6,000 years. Combining charcoal and seed data enables investigation into both the production and consumption of olive and grape. The earliest indication for olive and grape cultivation appears in the southern Levant around ca. 5000 BC and 4th millennium BC respectively, although cultivation may have been practiced prior to these dates. Olive and grape cultivation in Southwest Asia was regionally concentrated within the Levant until 600 BC, although there were periodic pushes to the East. Several indications for climate influencing the history of olive and grape cultivation were found, as well as a correlation between periods of high population density and high proportions of olive and grape remains in archaeological sites. While temporal uncertainty prevents a detailed understanding of the causal mechanisms behind these correlations, we suggest that long distance trade in olives, grapes and their associated products was integral to the economic, social, and demographic trajectories of the region.
“…If Zincirli is representative of the Syro-Anatolian urban capital, these findings raise a profound question: if lower settlements are also filled with monumental architecture and statuary, then where did non-elite Syro-Anatolian residents live (Casana & Herrmann 2010: 68)? One solution to this problem may be the discovery of earlier, non-elite, small and agglutinative buildings that were present at Zincirli before it was conquered by the Assyrians (Marom & Herrmann 2014; Herrmann & Schloen 2016: 268), in which case, the magnetic survey results relate primarily to the Assyrian period. Figure 10. Geomagnetic map of the lower town of Zincirli overlaid on the nineteenth-century excavation plan and modern satellite imagery (map made by Jason Herrmann, with permission of the Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli).…”
“…Large-scale wool production, alongside other types of specialized herding (e.g., fat-tailed sheep for food and sacrifice), is associated with the late 3rd millennium BCE Ur III state ( Stepien, 1996 ) and is known in southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean throughout the 2nd–1st millennia BCE ( Killen, 1964 ). Specialized breeding further intensified under subsequent empires, such as those of the Assyrian, Classical, and Islamic worlds ( Davis, 2008 ; Marom and Herrmann, 2014 ).…”
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