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Fodder, pasture, and the development of complex society in the Chalcolithic: isotopic perspectives on animal husbandry at Marj Rabba

Price, Max; Rowan, Yorke M.; Kersel, Morag M.; Makarewicz, Cheryl A.

Authors

Profile image of Max Price

Dr Max Price max.d.price@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology

Yorke M. Rowan

Morag M. Kersel

Cheryl A. Makarewicz



Abstract

The emergence of social complexity in the Southern Levant during the Chalcolithic (c. 4500–3600 cal. BC) was intimately tied to intensification in animal management. For the first time, secondary products such as milk and wool were intensively exploited, supplying communities with increasingly diverse foodstuffs and raw materials for craft production and exchange, but the precise herding practices underlying these new production strategies are unknown. Here, we explore the role of multi-species livestock pasturing through carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of animal bones from Marj Rabba (Har Hasha’avi, West) in the Lower Galilee (ca. 4600–4200 cal. BC). Isotopic results suggest different pasturing/foddering of sheep compared with goats. Cattle were largely pastured locally, but high δ13C values in some animals indicate access to the Jordan River Valley (the Ghor in Arabic), where major Chalcolithic settlements were situated. This may indicate some cattle were moved along regional Chalcolithic exchange networks established for other prestige objects, such as copper. Finally, we provide evidence for moderate 15N enrichment in pigs relative to herbivorous livestock indicates. Possible interpretations include consumption of nuts (esp. acorns), household refuse containing animal protein, and/or fattening pigs on grain. Although an interpretation that requires further exploration, grain foddering of pigs would complement the zooarchaeological data for early slaughter, which suggests intensive meat production at Marj Rabba. It might also help explain why pig husbandry, as a drain on grain stockpiles, was gradually abandoned during the Bronze Age. Taken together, the isotopic and zooarchaeological data indicate an economy in transition from a non-specialized, household-based Neolithic economy to one in which the production of agrarian wealth, including animal secondary products, was beginning to emerge.

Citation

Price, M., Rowan, Y. M., Kersel, M. M., & Makarewicz, C. A. (2020). Fodder, pasture, and the development of complex society in the Chalcolithic: isotopic perspectives on animal husbandry at Marj Rabba. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 12(4), Article 95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01043-z

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 4, 2020
Online Publication Date Mar 27, 2020
Publication Date 2020-04
Deposit Date Mar 7, 2023
Journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Print ISSN 1866-9557
Electronic ISSN 1866-9565
Publisher Springer
Volume 12
Issue 4
Article Number 95
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01043-z
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1177538