In the course of the 2016 season Beatrice Barbiero completed the analysis of all the animal bones discovered in 2016 and started a systematic check of the finds of the previous seasons (2013-2015) with the aim to proceed to their final publication.
The bones were washed, restored, recognised by direct observation, and photographed. When possible, measurements were taken; when present, cut marks, animal bites and other special features, such as the presence of burnt bones, were signalled. The age at death of 20% of the animals was identified by analysing dental wear and epiphysis fusion.
For the identification, use was made of the following common guides:
Barone, R., Anatomia Comparata dei Mammiferi Domestici, vol. 1 and 3, Bologna, 1995.
Schmid, E., Atlas of Animal Bones. For Prehistorians, Archaeologists and Quaternary Geologists, Basel 1972.
Von Den Driesch, A., A Guide to the Measurement of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites, Harvard, 1976.
At the end of the season, more than 1/3 of the total assemblage has been completely processed. Although some inconsistencies in recognition and measurements were found and corrected in the documentation of the previous campaigns, these were not altering the general results of the analysis, that remain unvaried. It can be estimated that another study season will be necessary in order to conclude the overall reconsideration of the material of the past campaigns.
The analysis revealed the presence of common domestic species in a very high percentage (Sus, Bos, Ovis, Capra, Equus, in order of decreasing frequency) and, in addition, of some hunted wild animals (birds, fish, Cervus, Lepus, Capriolus, Rupicapra, in order of decreasing frequency); it could not be established if the bones of Canis belong to Canis familiaris or to Canis lupus. Some bones of rodents, probably Arvicola, were retrieved from three loci in Field A, whose soil was submitted to dry sieving.
Further analysis, whose results should be considered as preliminary, was aimed at pointing out patterns and differences, both in diet and in death age of animals, between the Kura-Araxes, the Middle, the Late Bronze and the Iron Age. The most represented animal in Late Bronze contexts were Sus (40%), Bos (35%), Ovis/Capra (19%), Cervus (3%), birds and fish (2%), Capreolus (0,5%), Rupicapra (0,5%).
A huge amount of bones came from the transitional LB/MB levels (particularly from Locus 2584 in Field B): they showed a majority of Ovis and Capra (35%), Bos (30%), Sus (20%), Equus (5%), Cervus (3%), birds (3%), fish (2%), Lepus (1%), Canis (1%). During the Middle Bronze Age the frequency of the different animals seems to be similar to that of the Transitional levels, except for the ratio between Capra and Ovis (Capra is more represented than Ovis). A particularly interesting context is locus 2670 from Field A (Fig. 28), with ca. 1600 bones recovered, which contained 149 bones of Ovis/Capra, 41 of Bos, 29 of Sus, 9 of birds, 4 of fish,3 of Equus, and 2 of Cervus.
Preliminary results thus indicate an evident transition, from the Middle to the Late Bronze, from livestock of Ovis/Capra, to a majority of Sus and Bos. On the other hand, the number of fish, birds and wild animals decreased.
The huge amount of animal bones recovered from a number of contexts of both Late and Middle Bronze Age in Field A (see Fig. 28), which included a majority of Ovis/Capra, Sus and Bos, suggests a continuity of use of part of the excavated area, during these periods, as a deposit for the disposal of refuse from butchering activities. The majority of bones is represented by cranium, arms and legs anatomical elements, from the parts of the body that contains less meat (forearms and the bones of Carpus and Metacarpus, and Tarsus and Metatarsus and phalanxes). However, cut marks are present only on a very limited number of bones. Dental wear shows different pattern of butchering age from species to species: Sus are never much older than 35 months, with the majority which died between 7 and 11 months, while Ovis, Capra and Bos are present in different classes of age: juvenile, young, and more then 4/5 years old.
Animal bones from the Kura-Araxes levels were in a very bad state of preservation: from 290 collected bones only 33 were diagnostic (74 recognisable) and 8 were teeth. The most represented animals are birds, Ovis/Capra, Sus, Bos, Canis, Cervus and fish, in order of decreasing frequency.