The Emergence of Social Complexity:
Changes in
Animal Management Strategies between the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in
the Near East
Posted on March 5, 2013by
by: Austin C.
Hill, University of Connecticut, Educational and Cultural Affairs Fellow
The Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age
transition in the southern Levant has long been considered a threshold event in
the development of social complexity in the Near East.
Societies are
argued to have shifted from small scale, village-based chiefdoms to true
“urban” or city-state level societies.
Nevertheless, much recent criticism has
focused on the accuracy of this long held characterization and the degree of
social change that occurred between these periods. Studies of animal economies,
however, can offer direct insight into political and social systems, but have
rarely been used to look at social change in this key period.
The types of
species raised, how and when animals are slaughtered, and the parts of animals
that are consumed are all directly affected by the degree of hierarchically
organized production and distribution.
Rigorous faunal studies, therefore, are
a vital line of evidence in studying the emergence of social complexity.
My
research at the Albright focused on extending our understanding of faunal
economies in these critical periods by analyzing new material, and synthesizing
published material.
As an Educational and Cultural
Affairs Fellow, I analyzed the faunal remains from the site of the Palmahim
Quarry, excavated by Eliot Braun in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a salvage
project. While there is material from the Chalcolithic and Early EBI, most of
the recovered material dates to the later EBI. Relatively few faunal
assemblages from this period have been analyzed to date. Preliminary
examination of the final database suggests that inhabitants of Palmahim Quarry
were producing and consuming a range of animals consistent with other Early
Bronze Age sites.
The majority of the faunal remains are from domestic species,
including sheep, goat, cattle, and pig. Only a small percentage of the animal
bones in the assemblage come from wild species, though there is a surprising
range of wild ungulate species, including gazelle, hartebeest, red deer, and
fallow deer. Like most Early Bronze Age sites, equids are present in small
numbers, testifying to the growing importance of animal labor for
transportation.
The relatively large percentage of pig bones at the site, and
the lack of evidence of secondary products specialization suggests that
inhabitants of Palmahim Quarry were not producing large quantities of surplus
food, or participating in large-scale production and exchange of animal
products such as wool. Instead, the animal economy at Palmahim Quarry was
likely part of a relatively small-scale local subsistence system.
These new data will form part of a
larger work synthesizing new and previously published plant and animal data
from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages. Although there are interesting
problems addressing social continuity between the Chalcolithic period and the
Early Bronze Age, there appear to be relatively small changes in the scale of
food production. Unlike at Palmahim Quarry, there is an overall trend towards
specialization and centralization of food production, as pig use declines and
secondary products specialization becomes increasingly important. Plowing,
which begins at least as early as the Chalcolithic period, becomes increasingly
important and prevalent by the Early Bronze Age. The research begun here will
also form part of a collaboration looking at plant and animal production and
consumption together in an attempt to view food production in the past
holistically.
I greatly enjoyed my time at the
Albright as an ECA fellow. I was able to complete my analysis of the Palmahim
Quarry material at the National Natural History Collections at the Givat Ram campus
of Hebrew University as well as access published material in the Albright
library. My research was greatly aided by feedback and discussion with all of
this year’s fellows.
~~~
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