Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns

It is often assumed that domestic animals in early urban Near Eastern centres either are a reflection of the local pastoral economy, or were raised at a distance by pastoral specialists. In this paper, we test these assumptions through detailed isotopic analyses (carbon, oxygen and strontium) of cap...

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Main Authors:	Elizabeth Arnold, Haskel Greenfield, Gideon Hartman, Tina Greenfield, Itzhaq Shai, Parryss Carter-McGee, Aren Maeir
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ubiquity Press 2018-02-01
Series:	Open Quaternary
Subjects:	tooth enamel carbonate 87Sr/86Sr d18O d13C archaeology Levant Early Bronze Age zooarchaeology pastoralism herd management
Online Access:	http:///articles/35

id	doaj-875035ae8e3e4f06bede8937357ac60e
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spelling	doaj-875035ae8e3e4f06bede8937357ac60e2020-11-24T21:01:28ZengUbiquity PressOpen Quaternary2055-298X2018-02-014110.5334/oq.3526Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management PatternsElizabeth Arnold0Haskel Greenfield1Gideon Hartman2Tina Greenfield3Itzhaq Shai4Parryss Carter-McGee5Aren Maeir6Grand Valley State UniversityUniversity of ManitobaUniversity of ConnecticutUniversity of SaskatchewanAriel UniversityGrand Valley State UniversityBar-Ilan UniversityIt is often assumed that domestic animals in early urban Near Eastern centres either are a reflection of the local pastoral economy, or were raised at a distance by pastoral specialists. In this paper, we test these assumptions through detailed isotopic analyses (carbon, oxygen and strontium) of caprines (sheep and goat) from Tell es-Safi/Gath, an Early Bronze Age urban centre in central Israel. The isotopic analyses demonstrate that the bulk of the caprines were raised within the general vicinity of the site, suggesting that the majority of food resources were largely produced at the local level, within the territory of the city-state, and not at a distance by specialised pastoralists. It is the rare specimen that comes from a great distance and would have entered the local system through long distance trade networks./articles/35tooth enamel carbonate87Sr/86Srd18Od13CarchaeologyLevantEarly Bronze Agezooarchaeologypastoralismherd management
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Elizabeth Arnold Haskel Greenfield Gideon Hartman Tina Greenfield Itzhaq Shai Parryss Carter-McGee Aren Maeir
spellingShingle	Elizabeth Arnold Haskel Greenfield Gideon Hartman Tina Greenfield Itzhaq Shai Parryss Carter-McGee Aren Maeir Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns Open Quaternary tooth enamel carbonate 87Sr/86Sr d18O d13C archaeology Levant Early Bronze Age zooarchaeology pastoralism herd management
author_facet	Elizabeth Arnold Haskel Greenfield Gideon Hartman Tina Greenfield Itzhaq Shai Parryss Carter-McGee Aren Maeir
author_sort	Elizabeth Arnold
title	Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns
title_short	Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns
title_full	Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns
title_fullStr	Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns
title_full_unstemmed	Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns
title_sort	provisioning the early bronze age city of tell es-safi/gath, israel: isotopic analyses of domestic livestock management patterns
publisher	Ubiquity Press
series	Open Quaternary
issn	2055-298X
publishDate	2018-02-01
description	It is often assumed that domestic animals in early urban Near Eastern centres either are a reflection of the local pastoral economy, or were raised at a distance by pastoral specialists. In this paper, we test these assumptions through detailed isotopic analyses (carbon, oxygen and strontium) of caprines (sheep and goat) from Tell es-Safi/Gath, an Early Bronze Age urban centre in central Israel. The isotopic analyses demonstrate that the bulk of the caprines were raised within the general vicinity of the site, suggesting that the majority of food resources were largely produced at the local level, within the territory of the city-state, and not at a distance by specialised pastoralists. It is the rare specimen that comes from a great distance and would have entered the local system through long distance trade networks.
topic	tooth enamel carbonate 87Sr/86Sr d18O d13C archaeology Levant Early Bronze Age zooarchaeology pastoralism herd management
url	http:///articles/35
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Provisioning the Early Bronze Age City of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Isotopic Analyses of Domestic Livestock Management Patterns

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