Animal Use at Bronze Age Gonur Depe

INTONAOONAL AS$OCIA110N FOR THE 91\.0V Of 1M OOU\JAES -ANIMAL USE AT BRONZE AGE GONUR DEPE Katherine M. Moore This report is the first description of animal use at a large Bronze Age site in southern Turkmenistan, based on the collaborative SovietAmerican excavations carried out in the spring of 1989. Animal bones are common finds at Gonur depe. Bones from most deposits are moderately well preserved,but bones near the surface were sometimes often fragile.and highly eroded. Burned bone was recovered in many deposits, the result of both cooking meat and burning debris in hearths. Many bones had been gnawed and partially consumed by dogs and rodents. Bones were recovered for systematic study from several parts of the site. In the room fill of the south" mound, bones were carefully saved along sherds and other finds, but no sieves were used to check the full range of possible finds. In the stratigraphic trench, or mw:f, never the north mound, bones were saved by excavators, and their finds were checked by fine sieve (2 mm mesh) samples taken from the same deposits. Informal samples, recovered without sieves, vary in quality depending on the knowledge of the excavators, the color and texture of the deposit, and the preservation of the bone. Such samples limit the conclusions that can be drawn from a bone sample about changes in animal herd composition and herding practice. The fine sieve samples indicate, however, that recovery of bone was adequate for a preliminary assess~ent of prehistoric animal use (Table 1.) Most importantly, the sieve samples showed the proportion of very small animals (such as mice, birds) that were being lost. While such tiny animals did occur in many samples, they were probably not of economic importance, but reflected the natural environment around the site. The sieve samples also show the use of animal carcasses at the site by documenting the presence of small bones and fragments. The samples reported were selected from excavations of the spring 1989 season, but a few bones are also mentioned that were recovered during previous seasons. These are important in documenting the presence of some rare animals in the assemblage 1• Animals of the Bronze Age Occupation Sheep and Goats Sheep < dvis aries> and goats <Capra hircus ) are the most common animals in all of the bone samples at Gonur. When the metapodial bones of these animals were separated 2, sheep were more common than 164 goats in all samples (65% sheep vs. 35% goat; firom 31 metapodials). The small size of these animals and the shape of their horn cores indicates that they were all fully domestic. In fact, the natural range of wild goats and sheep is more 200 km south of the Murgab delta, in the foothills of the Kopet . Today, sheep and goats are herded near Gonur depe, feeding on the sparse saxaul brush as temporary pasture, Herds can only stay in one area for a day or so before every green leaf has been consumed. In Bronze Age times, crop irrigation would have provided much larger amounts of forase than is available in today's desert setting, both along canals and in harvested fields (see also Miller,this volume). Areas of desert beyond the fields near the site would probab]y have been used as pasture during some times of the year. Temporary camps on high dunes, like those used today, would have been visited for short periods by Gonur shepherds. The age at which sheep and goat are slaughtered can suggest the herding practices used to manage them, and their uses in the human economy. The first use for d6mestic herds of sheep and goat was as a supply of meat, but it is observed in large sites on the Iranian plateau that herding practices have changed by the second millennium B.C. to include the use of these animals for wool, hair, and milk products. This change is suggested when the age composition of the herd shifts from one where most animals are slaughtered when they reach full size at 2 years or so, to a herd where many animals are kept until they are 5 to 8 years ~ • . •. Even in the small samples at Gonur, it is clear that the herds were of the latter type, with an emphasis on older animals (Table 2). In the sample of aged jaws and teeth from the shurf excavation, 40% of the 55 animals were older than 3 years, and 7% were older than 5 years. A few very young animals are also present, indicating that the animals would have been kept near the site during most of the year:. When a larger sys'tematic sample of bones from Gonur is available,,I hope.to be abl.e to separate these age classes more precisely, and to. divide_ age classes into groups of sheep and goat. In summary, residents of Gonur would have been full time herders of sheep and goats, eating meat, drinking milk and using other milk pro:ducts, and spinning and weaving "textiles. Tht:1 importance placed on meat is seen in the offering of the hindquarters of a young (less than one year old) sheep or goat ~long with many·ceramic vessels in one chamber of Burial 40, on the north mound of .the site. The importance of spinning at Gonur is atteste~ "to by many finds of spindle whorls. Tools for weaving and the vessels or tools that might have been used for preparing and storing milk products are not as easily recognized. 16$ Cattle The other important ·domestic animals at Gonur were cattle ( B!w... The bones of cattle are much more rare than those of sheep and goat, but. individual animal_s are very large, of course, and each one would have been a valuable possession. The remains are quite fragmentary and it was impossible to determine what species of cattle ( e.g. .B.indicus or B.. 1a.nnJ.s. ) they should be attributed to. Figurines of cattle from the region show a very clear hump on the neck. Most of the cattle bones appear to be have been discarded from normal cooking and household activity, but one group of cattle bone from the south mound suggests the special role that cattle may have had in the society. In a shallow offering, or cenotaph, in the most recent layers of the central part of the southern mound, five articulated sections of a cattle limbs had been laid around an open, spouted vessel and a footed vessel (Fig. 1). The bones represented the meaty part of forelimb and two hindlimbs of mature animal, the metapodials and hooves having been removed. This incidence of the ceremonial use of cattle is unique at Gonur, but it may be similar in significance to the burial offering of an entire animal with a grave at Togolok-1 5. Cattle are not pastured around Gonur today because of the arid conditions, but were probably kept at the time of the site's occupation by providing them with water and forage. It is assumed that they were kept for both milk and meat; probably leather was manufactured as well (bone tools were found which may have been used to dress skins, see Moore, this volume). Cattle may also have been used to pull plows and other loads. Most cattle in the Bronze Age herd were slaughtered when they were mature, but several calves (3 individuals out of 40) less than one year old were identified. Wild Boar Remains of wild boar ( Sia~ ) are found in small number in most parts of the site during both periods of occupation. Discrimination between wild and domestic forms was made on the size of the teeth, with 8 of 9 measureable individuals w~ll within the range for wild boar, and one indeterminate specimen 6 (Table 3). All bones of the body of boar were found at the site, suggesting that they were carried whole to the settlement by hunters. Though they would have been large (up to 220 kg) and dangerous animals when full grown, all of the boar killed were immature. Only a few (3 of 11 aged specimens) were older than 2 years, based on the criteria of dental development summarized by Bull and Payne 7 ,and none were fully grown. Samples are very small, but some of 166 the largest numbers of boar bones come from Period 1 deposits, suggesting that hunting boar may have been more important at that time. The habitat of wild boar in the hot, arid deserts of Turkmenistan is restricted to the shade of narrow bands of reeds and brushy thickets along rivers and canals, where they can forage year-round on abundant vegetation and dig for underground tubers in the moist soil. In the 20th century, boar populations have extended along the Amu Darya all tht way to the Aral sea and partway up the Murgad and Tedjen valleys . None have been known near Gonur depe recently, however, even though modern extensions of canals have brought water relatively near the location of the Bronze Age oasis. In Bronze Age times, irrigation canals and cultivated fields would have created areas of abundant moist vegetation around Gonur, extending the possible range of the boar northward of its present location. Boars can be very destructive to crops, and it is possible that they were hunted to reduce this damage as much as to supply meat. Gazelle The goitered gazelle <GazelJa subguttnroia ) is a typical wild animal of the desert habitat around Gonur depe today, and it was hunted in small numbers in both the periods of occupation at the site. Most of the bones of these animals were fused, showing they were mature, but very few dental remains, which would provide more accurate ages, were found. Every part of the body, from horn cores to toes, have been found in deposits, indicating that these small animals :were brought back to the site whole. Gazelle forage widely on the .tough desert vegetation, and will even eat camelthorn. They will come to feed on the edges of cultivated fields, and on stubble after harvest. During the driest months of the summer, their movements are restricted by their need to find open water to drink each.day 9• This may have brought gazelles into closer proximity to the settlement at Gonut;' during this season, as they would have been attracted to the canals and pools near fields. Onager (Kulan) The wild half-ass or onager ( Equus hemionus>, called kulan in Central Asia, is the native equid of Turkmenistan. Its populations are small and endangered today, but it would have been much more widespread in desert regions in the Bronze Age, inhabiting much the same range of habitats as the gazelle. When remains of a species of Eal.Ins. were first noted in the bone assemblage at Gonur depe, one question raised was whether they could be bones of domestic horse ( E. caballus >. Ermolova illustrated a metapodial ~f an equid from Taip-1 which she had 167 identified as horse 10,but this find is unique at this time period for Margiana. Close examination of the teeth of the two best preserved lower jaws from Gonur indicate they are much more likely to be the remains of the wild kulan ·rather than·the horse (Fig, 2). The most distinctive feature of the teeth is the tightly folded enamel of the " double knot" or lingual fold between the metastyle and the metacone. In a horse, this fold would have a wide, rounded shape. In addition, the fold on the outside of the tooth, the ectoflexid, does not extend between the pre- and postflexid folds, as it would in a horse 11 . The "caballine fold" which is sometimes seen in the enamel of horse teeth, is also absent in these specimens. The other specimens, a maxilla, two mandibular teeth, and a metatarsal, are indeterminate, but I assume that they are also from kulan. The wild kulan were hunted for meat, as their bones are fragmented, marked by cuts, and burned. The specimens of jaws all indicate that they were from mature animals, one more than 8 years, and one more than 10 years old, based on criteria of horse tooth wear that have been extended to fossil specimens 12• The one limb bone, a metatarsal, appeared to be from a young animal, b_etween 1 and 2 years, applying criteria for horses from Silver 13. • In summary, there is no evidence from Gonur that domestic horses were used during the Bronze Age. They certainly could have been present, however, without their bones being deposited in the trash heaps that were sampled for this report. It might be noted that another important transport animal of this region, the camel, is dearly shown in several figurines and an amulet from Margiana. Canids Hare Two bones of the hare ( Lepus eunmeus ) were found in deposits at the site, one from a mixed layer in the shun, and one from room 126 on the southern mound. Hare must have lived close by in the Bronze age. They probably lived at the edges of fields and irrigated areas, and would have been easy prey. Hedgehog One mandible of a hedgehog ( Hemiechinus sp.) was found in room 38 on the southern mound of the site. It was not burned and showed no cut marks or breakage, but all but one of the teeth are missing. Hedgehogs are common around the area of Gonur today, though they stay in their burrows and are never seen during the day. It is impossible to determine if this specimen was a rare food item in the Bronze Age or whether it simply burrowed into the deposits of the site and was accidentally included in the archaeological finds. Rodents Rodents are common around Gonur today, including gerbils, jerboas, jirds, mice, and ground squirrels. Their burrows are thick in the areas of stabilized dunes and also in the softer deposits of the archaeological site, penetrating to a depth of several meters. Considerable damage has been done to some bones in the Gonur deposits by gnawing rodents, who chew on hard bones such as the astragalus to wear down their teeth. A single rodent tibia was recovered in the course of normal excavation (from room 25 on the south mound). It was not identifiable but would have come from one of the larger species of rodent present today, and again, it is uncertain if it dates from Bronze Age or more modern times. The bones of very small, mouse- and jird •Sized rodents, however, occurred in half of the fine screen samples from the shurf. One of these bones was burned, indicating that the mouse probably did indeed date from the Bronze Age, and had perhaps nested in a grain store that was later burned. Since rodents are quite sensitive to the local environment, their bones have the potential to document the oasis environment of the past. This information could be among the most important results of a future study at Gonur depe. Bones from canids (dogs, foxes, jackets) were quite rare at Gonur, but the bones are cut and burned, indicating that they were butchered and eaten. No remains appear to be from wolf or domestic dog. One fragmented maxilla and temporal appears to match very closely with a jackel ( Canis aureus ), the other may be either jackel or ,red fox (Vulpes fulva), both present in the area today. It is interesting that there are no identifiable remains of dog in the deposits that have been sampled so far. The bones from most deposits show the effect of some canid very clearly: punctures and gnawed areas on soft bones, and the distinctive cylinders of long bones that remain when· the ends chewed are away. It seems unlikely that any canid except for a domestic dog would have had such general access to food remains as they lay in trash areas. I anticipate that as the sample from the site is increased, that remains of domestic dog will be recovered. One fragment of a plastron •of the common tortoise ( Testudo horsefe1gi) was fot!nd in the trash deposits of the shurf, and appeared to 168 169 Tortoise represent food remains. Tortoise are common around the site today, and would have been sample to collect for food but it seems that they were not commonly eaten by the residents of the site. No other reptile remains were recovered in excavations or in the fine screen samples, despite the fact that tortoises, lizards, and snakes are extremely common around the site today. Birds Only four bird bones were recovered at the site, in part due to the recovery techniques used, which were best suited to the bones of medium and large mammals . .Two of the bird bones were too fragmentary to identify. The two others, both from the same room (no. 84) in the south mound, and apparently from the same individual, were identified as a large bird of prey, probably an eagle of the genus Awilla.. This was a very interesting find in light of the· importance in the art and religion of Margiana of birds of prey that have been called eagles. Eagles seem to symbolize great power, and are often shown in seals and amulets. Bronze Age Economies at Gonur ]epe Deposits from Gonur excavations have been divided into a Period 1 and Period 2 component, equivalent to Namazga V and VI. In the shurf, several excavation units contain layers from both components and have been treated as mixed. Period I samples from the southern mound come from some of the deepest layers that were excavated in 1989: the lower deposits of room 27 and room 80. Period 2 rooms chosen for comparison were 84 (a large room with many large open vessels and grinding stones), room 71 (one of the narrow storage roomsr or kel'i), and room 52 (a room with many storage jars). Many unidentifiable bones are contained in these samples, .and they have been assigned to animal size classes to aid in comparison between samples (Table 4). The medium mammal class consists of animals that could not be assigned to sheep, goat, or gazelle, and the large mammal size class refers to fragments that could have come from either cattle or equids. When the ·medium mammal class is considered together with the sheep/ goat cat~gory, it is clear that small hoofed animals dominate every sample. While cattle are present in most samples, wild animals are quite rare. In the shurf samples, there is little change between the two components, and the order of abundance is the same in each. In the deposits of the south mound, the proportions of sheep and goat appear to be higher than in the shurf excavations, but these proportions probably reflect differences in sampling practices in excavation rather than an economic difference. One difference between Period I and 2 deposits · the sout~ern mound is n~ticeable; the high proportion of boar (14.6 % ) :: the ea:her sample, and its absence in the later sample. These samples are qu~te sma11, but it should be noted that in the non-systematic bone collec!mns fro:11 the south mound, the same pattern is seen as in the systematic collect1ons: only one specimen of boar comes from Period 2 in th south moun_d ~nd that piece is a worked astragalus which deposited wit: a group of s1mdar tools (see Moore, this volume). Further excavation and samplmg may allow us to confirm this pattern. . At Gonur in the Bronze Age, we see a combination of domestic animals ~epe~dent on artificial supplies of water and forage in the oasis, and wtld ammals such as the boar which would have been attracted to the ?ew resources of the oasis. The fringe of the present delta of the Murgab 1s now abou_t 50 km south of Gonur, and these animals are no longer permanent residents of the area. The third element of the Bronze Age ass~mblage, and the one characteristic of the area today, is the native species of desert-adapt~d animals such as the gazelle, kulan, and rodents. At related sites of the Bronze Age in different environmental zones,. one can see some differences in the domestic economies. At Sapallt de~e, the bone sample contains a much wider range of wild animals than 1s found at Gonur, suggesting that hunting for wild sheep and goats, ~ee~, gazelle, fflan, and wild cattle was of considerable eco~om1c. ~P?rtance • In the domestic fauna, though sheep and goats (69 % of md1V1d~als) are more important than cattle (31 % of individua!s), cattle were m greater proportion than they were at Gonur. Domestic PIJ: and camels were found at Sapalli, but not at Gonur. At AJtyn depe, wdd sheep and goat and kulan were also more important that they were at Gonur, but the proportion of domesticated sheep,goats in comparison to catt~e were much the same as those from Gonur i:;_ The proximity of Sapalb de~e and Altyn depe to cool, mountainous environments probably had great 1:°1pact on both hunting wild animals and the management of the domestic herds. Animals in Myth and Reliiion . T?e art of Bronze Age Central Asia is famous for its depictions of ammals m several ~edia: te~ cotta figurines, carved stone amulets, and bronze ,seals and pms. Examination of the animals and scenes shown on these p1~es sugg~s~ that recurring themes and patterns in the depictions ~ar md1cate r~hg1ous beliefs and myths concerning the spiritual or d1~~e.role of ammals. Comparison with the bone remains fro::n economic actlVltles shows some connections with the world of mythic animals but also points up some differences. ' 170 171 The most common and economically important animals, the sheep and goats, appear rarely in art. The one exception is the applique motif of paired goats browsing in the branches of a low tree which appears on ceramic vessels in Period i. Several examples of this motif are known from Gonur. These depictions of goats are realistic but stylized, and examples from different sites show they are quite standardized. Some classes of terracotta animal figurines are so crudely made, however, that it is apparent that a realistic depiction of any animal had not been attempted. Some of these figurines were orginally molded to the rims of ritual vessels, but others were individually made. In the finds from Gonur, when the features of a particular animal are suggested, they are of camels, cattle, mammals that could be either sheep/ goat or a canid, and birds. Other examples indicate animals that are not native to the area, such as bears. The most finely made and naturalistic depictions of animals come from carved stone amulets of which several examples are known from Gonur. A tiny perforated stone amulet was carved in the image of a boar (Fig. 3), and another fragment shows a complex of scenes with a camel on one side and a hunt on the other. These pieces are exceptions to a larger body of images in stone and bronze of griffons, monsters, and powerful or dangerous animals. Birds of prey, snakes, and scorpions appear alone or with human or half-human figures 16. The picture of animal use that comes from the bones at Gonur depe would suggest, on the whole, a calm routine of herding and husbandry. The presence of a few wild animals such as the boar and eagle, along with the artistic images of the same animals, suggests the interest in, and the cultural importance of, the native wild animals of the area and beyond. Iran: some speculations. Oxford, 1984 Zeder, M.J., Meat distribution at the highland Iraman urban center of Tal-e Malyan. Oxford, 1984. ' S Sarui,uu.i, • _,,,. V.l • press. . . , In 6 Fl.annery, K. V., Early pig domestication in the fertile crescent: a retrospective look. Chicago, 1983. . Payne, S. and G. Bull, Components of variation In measurements of pig bones and teeth and the use of measurements to distinguish wild from domestic pig remains. Cambridge, 986. i 7 8 9 2 Boessneck, /., Osteological differences between sheep ( ,Om m:ia L.) and goat ( SJw:a biwliL.). London, 1969. 3 Heptner, V.G. and N.P. Namnov, Die Saugtiere der Sowjet Union. Jena, 1966. 4 Redding, R. W., Decision Making In Subsistence Herding of Sheep and Goats In the Middle East. Ann Arbor, 1981. Davis, SJ.M., The advent of milk and wool production In western 172 Heptner and Naumov, ibid. Heptn.erand Naumov, ibid. IO Enno/ova, N.M., Novi lssledovaniya ostatkov mlekpitaiushchlkh Is eneoll1i1,heskogo poselenlya Anau. lzyestiya A,N. Turk.S.S.R. no.1,1985. 11 E· , . isenmann, V., Etude des dents Jugales Inferiors des~- (Mammalia) Perlssodactyl actuals et fossiles. Paleovertehraic IO, 1981. Comparative osteology of modem and ross1i horses, half-asses, and asses. Wiesbaden, 1986. 12 Levine, M.A., The use of crown height measurements and eruption-wear sequences to aae 0 horse teeth. Oxford, 1984. • 13 14 15 1 Separation of bones Into skeletal element and size class was done ln the field. Identification of taxa and comparison with modem specimens was undertaken at the Museum of Zoology, Moscow State University; the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan; and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, and I would like to acknowledge the help that I received at each location. I would also like to thank A.K.Kasparov, A.R.Batlrov, V.Zhegallo, N.Spassov, S.J.M.Davls, R.H.Meadow, and F.T.Hiebert for advice and assistance. My Invitation to work on this material and support for fieldwork, came from V.I.Sarianidl, and forther support came from the International Research and Exchange Board. . B~~ ~: and S. Paymt, Tooth eruption and epiphysial fusion in pip and wild boar. Oxford, 8 16 Silver, I.A., The ageing of the domesticated animals. London, 1963. Ermo~, N.B., Novi materlall po isucheililu o.,tatkov mlekopltaiushchlkh lz drevnlkh poselerui Turkmenll. Karakpmskj Dreynosti m, 1970. •• Askarov, A.A., Drevnesemledel'cheskaya Kultura Epokhl Bronzl 1111.... Uzbeklstana ci::r • Tashkent, 1977. S::::!"'• V.l. The Bactrian pantheon. Information BuHe11n of the IASCCA 10, Moscow, 0 ,f 10 Table 1. 1 comparison of Recovery Techniques at Gonur Technique-----Deposit-------Sample no.----Mammal Size Class ______ _.:: __ Fine Sieve Trash DS no. 9 Medium Fine Sieve Hearth Locus 55 Normal Procedure Trash Locus 11 Medium Skull/Horn Core Medium 16 Large 14 39% Teeth vertebrae l 5% 52 at 2 611; Rib 3 16% 75 11% 13 461 Foreli]!lb 10 2% 10 Hindlimb 12 2% 4 18 3% 16 2% 1 3% 6 16% Carpal/Tarsal Fig. 1. cenotaph with cattle bone and ceramics near surface of southern mound of Gonur de9e. l Shaft Fragments Unidentifiable ~ 5% Phalanges 3 16% 137 21% 11 57% 323 49% Total Sample 3 321 27% 2 29% 111 l 14% 1 141 659 Mouse Bones Recovered? 57 yes yes no 1 0 Table 2, Proportions of Sheep/Goat Age Classes (Gonur Depe North Mound Shurf sample) 3 Number of Animals in Age Class (Based on Tooth Eruption and Wear) 2. 0-12 months Fig. 2.occlusal view of equid teeth from shurf excavations, Gonur depe. Ho. 1, complete tooth row from Locus 12, 3rd and 4th premolars from Locus 10. No. 2, Period 1 0 • 1 • 37-60 months 61 months+ 3 38% 5 62% Mixed 3 12% 8 32% 11 441• 3 121 Period 2 4 17% 10 43.% 8 351 1 4% 10 18% 23 42% 19 . 35% 4 7% Total Fig. 3. Dark green stone amulet of a wild boar, Gonur depe. 13-36 months Table J. Measurements of Boar Teeth (lil!§ ~ ) . Maxillary (Upper) Teeth 1st Molar Length (mm) Locus 27 17.6 2nd Molar Length (mm) Locus 3 22.9 3rd Molar Length (mm) Burial 40 30.6 (possible domestic?) Mandibular (Lower) Teeth 4th Milk Premolar Length (mm) Locus 22 20.3 1st Molar Length (mm) Locus 18 18.2 Locus 20 17.0 Locus. 20 17.5 2nd Molar Length (mm) Locus 5 22.1 Locus .20 ··24.0 Locus ·20 21.6 3rd Molar Length (mm) Locus 5 37.6 Locus 20 43.0 Table 4. (as we don't publish photos... ) Animal remains at Gonur tepe by Period. . Shurf-North Mound Period 2 Period 1 Nixed Medium Mammal I Sheep/Goat I Gazelle I Wild Boar I Large Mammal I Cattle \ 375 509 65.4 63.6 '106 18.8 3. 0.5 6 1.0 63 10.9 17 3.4 128 16.0 1 0.1 9 1.1 78 9.7 31 3.8 2 0.2 ·Kulan I 13574.5 28 15.4 3 1.7 I I Tortoise I Unidentifiable I 11 1.9 592 1 0.1 41 5.1 800 27 • 36.-o 24 32.0 11 14.6 8 7.2 10.6 ' Period 2 49 43.7 54 48.2 5 4.5 1 0.9 1 5.3 1 1.3 -- Bird Rooms-south Mound Period 1 ·13 canid Total MARGIANA FIELD. SYMPOSIUM Sketches by S.Potabenko. 2 1.8 1 0.6 181 75 112 12 IASCCA, 19