Bioarchaeology of the Near East, 9:1-19 (2015)

Different types of animal economy at Bakr Awa, Iraq, in the Bronze Age

Joanna Piatkowska-Malecka

Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw,
Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland,
email: jmalecka@uw.edu.pl

Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present results of the archaeozoological analysis of animal bone remains and to reconstruct animal exploitation segment of the economy of the people living in Bakr Awa during different phases of the Bronze Age. In the Early Dynastic period, the remains of sheep and goat accounted for the majority of the material identified to a genus/species (NISP, 74.1%). Based upon age-of-death, the ovicaprines were killed, above all, for meat. There is preferential selection for the proximal part of the hind limb. Apart from small ruminants, there were also remains of cattle and more rarely equids. In the Akkadian period, new elements emerged in the economy, namely, pig and poultry breeding as well as wild animal hunting. The type of economy shifted from nomadic to more sedentary, pastoral, lasting from the Akkadian period to the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Key words: nomadism; pastoralism; animal economy; Iraq; Bronze Age

Received 16 March 2015; accepted 20 August 2015; published online 6 September 2015.

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