Zoology

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Archaeo-zoological studies during the 2006 season concentrated on two areas of the excavations at Tell Mozan: From the ongoing excavations on the Temple Terrace particular animal bone finds were analysed to help with the interpretation of local sedimentation. In addition this studies added to the statistical analysis of the animal remains from the Mittani-period (see below).

Particular finds identified in the field during excavation included a dog or wolf skull and a pig mandible from area J1. Other interesting finds were 3 cattle-bones (left) also in J1, which apparently were deposited or left behind as fresh bone, because there are gnaw-marks of a dog and the additional evidence that adjacent small bones were still attached by ligaments. Thus, slaughtering of the animal –- a large bull or ox –- took place on the plaza. The finds consist of the 2 mandibles and a radius and ulna with the adjacent bones of the carpal joint. An important find was a complete skeleton of a Saluki-type hunting dog from J4. This skeleton was found buried in a pit (probably of the Mittani-Period) in square J4. According to its position in the pit we may assume a real burial of the dog by its owner. According to the shape of the head and the slenderness of its legs the animal was a hunting dog, resembling a modern Saluki in its appearance.

It is interesting that the other animal remains found the area of the burial are relatively rich in bones of hunted animals, including gazelle, deer, and even the now extinct aurochs. Among the domestic animal remains there are several horse bones. One may assume that hunting was an important occupation of the former inhabitants of the area.

A sample of bone splinters from the package of large stones in J3 (q563; f570; K107) was analysed with regard to it sedimentation history: According to fragment-size and edge-conditions the fragment are from reworked sediments farther upslope. Only small fragments were washed to the place where they were excavated.

The analytical part of the 2006 work concentrated on the animal remains excavated in 2004 in area A14. A preliminary species list for the specimens identified during the stay at Tell Mozan between 24.Aug. and 07.Sep.06 is given below. Some specimens need to be identified further with the help of the comparative collection in Tübingen. In due course the individual bone complexes have to be subdivided according to their stratigraphic position. At the time being they can only be treated as a whole and compared as such to other areas of the tell.

In comparison to area A9 (also as a whole), which was analysed in 2004, the finds from A14 yielded a very similar species list, but there are enough differences to assume status differences between the populations, who left their bone refuse in the two areas: while in A9 about 40% of the meat came from cattle, in A14 this was only 30%. The bulk of the meat in A14 came from the pig.

With regard to the hunted animals, there are the same species represented in areas A9 and A14, although in different proportions. A9 had more than double as much remains of hunted animals. In particular the share of the wild goat was much larger there. This animal must have been brought from the mountains to the north, the nearest area where wild goats could have lived in the past being in the surroundings of Mardin. With regard to the ancient environment nothing much can be added to the report on the archaeo-zoological work in 2004.

Preliminary Species List for Tell Mozan (Area A14) 2006

With regard to the individual domestic species it seems that cattle were of medium size, although some large individuals were also present. Pathologies indicating that the animals were used for labour –- e.g. ploughing or pulling carts –- are rare. According to the ages when the animals were slaughtered, the main use of cattle seems to have been meat production. The same is true for the sheep. Goats, however, were apparently used for milk production, because finds of older females are relatively frequent. Donkey bones are rare both in A9 and A14. Probably they were not consumed regularly, but they must have been the most important animals for transportation, because horses only arrived in northern Mesopotamia at the turn from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. The few finds of horse bones from A14 must have come from the upper parts of the deposits.

As already observed in 2004, the animal economy of the more recent periods at Tell Mozan had a different basic structure. Pigs were less important than before and the emphasis on cattle was much stronger. The role of the small ruminants, sheep and goat, was also strong and the presence of the horse was well established, as can be seen from the graph (Fig. 46c), which represents the quantities of bones from domestic animals found in excavations J1-4 on the temple plaza.

For the future, archaeo-zoological studies of the periods in the first third of the 2nd millennium BC will be of particular importance in order to understand the economic shifts better, which are indicated by the different appearance of the spectra shown above.