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Laffranchi Z, Zingale S, Tecchiati U, Amato A, Coia V, Paladin A, Salzani L, Thompson SR, Bersani M, Dori I, Szidat S, Lösch S, Ryan-Despraz J, Arenz G, Zink A, Milella M. "Until death do us part". A multidisciplinary study on human- Animal co- burials from the Late Iron Age necropolis of Seminario Vescovile in Verona (Northern Italy, 3rd-1st c. BCE). PLoS One 2024; 19:e0293434. [PMID: 38354185 PMCID: PMC10866530 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Animal remains are a common find in prehistoric and protohistoric funerary contexts. While taphonomic and osteological data provide insights about the proximate (depositional) factors responsible for these findings, the ultimate cultural causes leading to this observed mortuary behavior are obscured by the opacity of the archaeological record and the lack of written sources. Here, we apply an interdisciplinary suite of analytical approaches (zooarchaeological, anthropological, archaeological, paleogenetic, and isotopic) to explore the funerary deposition of animal remains and the nature of joint human-animal burials at Seminario Vescovile (Verona, Northern Italy 3rd-1st c. BCE). This context, culturally attributed to the Cenomane culture, features 161 inhumations, of which only 16 included animal remains in the form of full skeletons, isolated skeletal parts, or food offerings. Of these, four are of particular interest as they contain either horses (Equus caballus) or dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)-animals that did not play a dietary role. Analyses show no demographic, dietary, funerary similarities, or genetic relatedness between individuals buried with animals. Isotopic data from two analyzed dogs suggest differing management strategies for these animals, possibly linked to economic and/or ritual factors. Overall, our results point to the unsuitability of simple, straightforward explanations for the observed funerary variability. At the same time, they connect the evidence from Seminario Vescovile with documented Transalpine cultural traditions possibly influenced by local and Roman customs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zita Laffranchi
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Umberto Tecchiati
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali e Ambientali, PrEcLab—Laboratorio di Preistoria, Protostoria ed Ecologia Preistorica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Alfonsina Amato
- Dipartimento di Beni Culturali e Ambientali, PrEcLab—Laboratorio di Preistoria, Protostoria ed Ecologia Preistorica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Valentina Coia
- Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Alice Paladin
- Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Luciano Salzani
- Ex-Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto, Settore territorio, Sede di Padova-Nucleo di Verona, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Marzia Bersani
- Thompson Simon scavi e rilevamenti archeologici, Verona, Italy
| | - Irene Dori
- Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Verona Rovigo e Vicenza, Verona, Italy
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
| | - Sönke Szidat
- Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Sandra Lösch
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jessica Ryan-Despraz
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Gabriele Arenz
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Albert Zink
- Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Marco Milella
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Schmölcke U, Grimm O. A Special Relationship-Aspects of Human-Animal Interaction in Birds of Prey, Brown Bears, Beavers, and Elk in Prehistoric Europe. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:417. [PMID: 38338060 PMCID: PMC10854542 DOI: 10.3390/ani14030417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans have developed a special relationship with some animal species throughout history, even though these animals were never domesticated. Based on raptors, bears, beavers, and elks, the question of whether there are similarities between the perception of these animals that triggered a special kind of fascination in humans and how the relationship between humans and these animals changed between Mesolithic age and medieval times is addressed. As we demonstrate, the categorical antagonism between 'animal' and 'human' is a concept that saw different kinds of influence, from the advent of sedentarism and husbandry to Christianity and from philosophical thinking in Classical Antiquity and the Period of Enlightenment. In prehistory and early history, we find different, opposing world views across time, cultures, and periods. Differences between animals and humans have been considered as fluid, and humans have had to engage with animals and their needs. The well-known and famous 'bear ceremonies' attested to different peoples and times were not unique, but were a part of belief systems that also included other animal species. Among the considered animals, certain raptor species attracted the attention of humans who tried to establish contact with them, as companions, whereas bears were almost 'disguised humans' due to all their similarities with humans, but they were also tabooed beings whose real names had to be avoided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrich Schmölcke
- Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie, Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (LEIZA-ZBSA), Schloss Gottorf, D-24837 Schleswig, Germany;
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Wild Meets Domestic in the Near Eastern Neolithic. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12182335. [PMID: 36139195 PMCID: PMC9494956 DOI: 10.3390/ani12182335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2022] [Revised: 09/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Many recent theorists argue that reliance on binary oppositions to structure thought is a feature of the modern West, and therefore an inappropriate model for prehistory. While the world is usually more complicated than dualistic models, I suggest their use is not limited to modern Western cultures. Rather, we should determine whether they apply in each instance, and if the terms are defined in the same way. Here, I examine whether inhabitants of the earlier Neolithic in the Near East, the time of the first livestock herding, distinguished between wild and domestic animals. Lacking written records, I analyze imagery and animal remains. Zooarchaeologists use demographic profiles, size change, and other data to assess whether ancient people hunted or herded animals. I add contextual analysis to identify special treatment of animal remains that indicates they have ritual power, and choices in animal depictions. Three case studies each present windows into how animals were valued, showing that wild and domestic animals were treated differently, and thus a wild/domestic conceptual distinction existed. Moreover, differences between wild and domestic animals, and regional differences in the roles of specific species, shaped how both wild and domestic animals spread in the early days of agriculture. Abstract The categories of wild and domestic are one of the classic ways the nature/culture dichotomy manifests itself in human interactions with the environment. Some argue that this distinction is not helpful and a projection of modern thought, and certainly the boundaries are complicated. However, we should try to determine in each case whether it was meaningful to particular people in the past. Here I explore whether wild and domestic were relevant concepts to the inhabitants of the Neolithic Near East in their relations with animals around the time when livestock herding began. Drawing on depictions of animals and the treatment of living animals and their remains, I examine three case studies (Cyprus, Upper Mesopotamia, and Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia) to evaluate whether emic distinctions between wild and domestic existed. I conclude that this was in fact a crucial distinction that shaped economic choices as well as ritual activities. Differential treatment of wild and domestic animals indicates that they were accorded different forms of personhood. The particular nature of human relations with wild animals helped shape the spread of both wild and domestic animals.
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Kanne K. Riding, Ruling, and Resistance: Equestrianism and Political Authority in the Hungarian Bronze Age. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/720271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Efrati B, Barkai R, Cesaro SN, Venditti F. Function, life histories, and biographies of Lower Paleolithic patinated flint tools from Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2885. [PMID: 35241694 PMCID: PMC8894402 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06823-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Flint tools exhibiting modified patinated surfaces ("double patina", or post-patination flaked items) provide a glimpse into Paleolithic lithic recycling, stone economy, and human choices. Different life cycles of such items are visually evident by the presence of fresh new modified surfaces alongside old patinated ones (according to color and texture differences). New modifications testify to a gap in time between the previous life cycle of the patinated flaked item and its new one. The aim of the current study is to reconstruct the functional properties and life cycles of a sample of modified patinated flaked tools from Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel by applying use-wear and residue analyses. The results of the functional study allow a better understanding of the practical reasoning behind the collection and recycling of old flint tools, while additional inputs from theoretical and methodological advancements assist in reconstructing their probable role in the worldviews of the site's inhabitants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bar Efrati
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Cultures, Tel Aviv University, POB 39040, 66978, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Cultures, Tel Aviv University, POB 39040, 66978, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Stella Nunziante Cesaro
- Scientific Methodologies Applied To Cultural Heritage (SMATCH), Rome, Italy
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Classics, Sapienza University of Rome, P.Le Aldo Moro, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Flavia Venditti
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloß Hohentübingen, Burgsteige 11, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
- LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Classics, Sapienza University of Rome, P.Le Aldo Moro, 00185, Rome, Italy.
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Cucchi T, Arbuckle B. Animal domestication: from distant past to current development and issues. Anim Front 2021. [PMCID: PMC8214435 DOI: 10.1093/af/vfab013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Cucchi
- Département Homme et Environnement, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, UMR 7209, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle/CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Benjamin Arbuckle
- Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Holmes M, Hamerow H, Thomas R. Close Companions? A Zooarchaeological Study of the Human-Cattle Relationship in Medieval England. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:1174. [PMID: 33923977 PMCID: PMC8073649 DOI: 10.3390/ani11041174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Revised: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Across medieval Europe, cattle commanded a major, if shifting, economic and social value, and their use for meat, milk, and traction is well established. Although the changing roles of cattle throughout this period may have influenced relationships between humans and cattle, this has been largely neglected in historical and zooarchaeological studies. Data from nearly 700 archaeological assemblages of animal remains have been used to provide an overview of the herd structures (age and sex) of cattle populations for England between AD 450 and 1400. These have been analysed alongside pathological and sub-pathological changes in over 2800 lower limb bones of cattle from seventeen archaeological sites to provide a better understanding of the use of cattle for ploughing, hauling, and carting. The findings were considered alongside historical documents and ethnographic evidence to chart changing human-cattle relationships. Results indicate that human-cattle relations varied with changing economic, agricultural, and social practices. From the mid-fifth century, cattle were a form of portable wealth, however, by the mid-ninth century, they were perceived as a commodity with monetary value. From this period, close human-cattle bonds are likely to have been widespread between plough hands and working animals. Such bonds are may have diminished with the increasing number of young beef cattle kept to supply the urban population from the mid-eleventh century.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilda Holmes
- School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK;
| | - Helena Hamerow
- School of Archaeology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK;
| | - Richard Thomas
- School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK;
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Blasco R, Rosell J, Sánchez-Marco A, Gopher A, Barkai R. Feathers and food: Human-bird interactions at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel. J Hum Evol 2019; 136:102653. [PMID: 31542561 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2019] [Revised: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 08/08/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The presence of fast-moving small game in the Paleolithic archaeological faunal record has long been considered a key variable to assess fundamental aspects of human behavior and subsistence. Birds occupy a prominent place in this debate not only due to their small size and to the difficulties in capturing them (essentially due to their ability to fly and their elusiveness), but also due to their possible role in the symbolic array in regard to non-nutritional elements (feathers, talons, etc.) and as reflectors of complex human-world relationships. In this study, we attempt to contribute to this topic by presenting taphonomical data of bird specimens from Qesem Cave (Israel), dated between 420 and 200 ka. Human-induced damage, including cut marks, peeling and human gnawing, has been identified on wing bones of Cygnus sp., Columba sp., Corvus ruficollis and Sturnus sp. Our evidence suggests that avian exploitation was not limited to food only-either to complement the human diet or as occasional food item-but also presumably for the use of feathers. While the consumption of birds as a dietary source seems to be evident as early as the Early Pleistocene, the non-alimentary use of inedible elements, such as feathers and talons, appears to be a practice from the Middle Paleolithic onwards. We argue that the combined nutritional and symbolic use of birds is one characteristic of the new mode of adaptation practiced already by the late Lower Paleolithic Acheulo-Yabrudian hominins in the Levant starting 400 ka. The Qesem findings point to the possible emergence of new cognitive and behavioral skills, which are followed in later periods in the Old World. Finally, we discuss the possible ontological and cosmological significance of human-bird interactions to illuminate our hypothesis regarding the emergence of a new perception of human relationships with the world as an integral part of the new Acheulo-Yabrudian mode of adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Blasco
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain; Department of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, POB 39040, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Jordi Rosell
- Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya, 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain; IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Antonio Sánchez-Marco
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Avi Gopher
- Department of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, POB 39040, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, POB 39040, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
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Abstract
Ethics has abandoned its niche status to become a shared concern across archaeology. The appraisal of the sociopolitical context of archaeological practice since the 1980s has forced the discipline to take issue with the expanding array of ethical questions raised by work with living people. Thus, the original foci on the archaeological record, conservation, and scientific standards, which are behind most deontological codes, have been largely transcended and even challenged. In this line, this review emphasizes philosophical and political aspects over practical ones and examines some pressing ethical concerns that are related to archaeology's greater involvement with contemporary communities, political controversies, and social demands; discussion includes ethical responses to the indigenous critique, the benefits and risks of applied archaeology, the responsibilities of archaeologists in conflict and postconflict situations, vernacular digging and collecting practices, development-led archaeology, heritage, and the ethics of things.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo González-Ruibal
- Institute of Heritage Sciences–Spanish National Research Council (Incipit–CSIC), 15705, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Abstract
Recent years have witnessed burgeoning interest in interspecies relations and multispecies ethnography. This review explores what such perspectives bring to long-standing anthropological attention to agrarian worlds. Considering why so much recent scholarship only minimally engages with longer disciplinary traditions found within ecological and environmental anthropology and ethnobotany, the review examines continuities and discontinuities across these different modes of attending to interspecies relationships. From here, it explores how contemporary scholarship renews anthropological attention to questions of domestication, relatedness, agency, and personhood and how it charts new ground by engaging theories of biopolitics, biocapital, biosemiotics, and plant ontologies. While noting that recent work has distinctive theoretical preoccupations, the review concludes by suggesting that fruitful possibilities lie in working with, and across, established and emergent anthropologies of the agrarian.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaila Seshia Galvin
- Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
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Lewis K. Finding Archaeology in 2017: What Is Archaeology and Why Are We Doing It? Why Should We Be Doing It? AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/aman.13049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Krista Lewis
- Department of Anthropology; University of Arkansas at Little Rock; AR 72204 USA
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