Pertinence and Procedures for Knowing Bones

2016

In my thesis I offer a new bioarchaeological protocol with a special focus on animal remains for the medieval archaeological site of Pomáz-Nagykovácsi-puszta (Hungary, Pest County). Therefore I compared Hungarian zooarchaeological protocols and related documents through qualitative analysis in order to critically illuminate the following problems: 1. Lack of unified approach 2. Different focal points 3. Missing important issues I analysed and compared the different concepts and approaches towards bioarchaeology in North-America, Europe, and Hungary. This comparison resulted that there is no unified approach in the field neither in Europe, nor across the Atlantic. Unified terminology helps researchers of different field of study to understand and to effectively communicate each other. For this purpose I deliberately employ the original, holistic concept towards bioarchaeology, which this way in my view could contribute more to the field of archaeology. Through three selected case studies I shed light on methods used in practice from the planning period of an excavation until the implementation, and long-term archiving. Each of the case studies is designed to emphasise different set of issues in bioarchaeology such as excavation strategy, sampling, storage, and discarding policies. My research on Hungarian and international protocols, and best practices helped me to develop a new set of principles and a new bioarchaeological protocol for the planned excavation site of Pomáz-Nagykovácsi-puszta.

2001

Khirbat al-Mudayna on the Wadi ath-Thamad is an Iron Age II site in central Jordan located on the northern border of ancient Moab. Excavation of Mudayna by field school students from Wilfrid Laurier University and the University~f Saskatchewan has been ongoing since 1996 and will continue in 2001. This study presents a preliminary analysis of over 8000 animal bones that have been recovered from Mudayna since excavation began. The analysis of the faunal remains is based around theories of sheep and goat herd management strategies, developed by Redding, and meat distribution strategies developed by Zeder. It also considers the food systems theories that LaBianca has proposed in his work with the faunal remains at Tell Hesban. The types and amounts offaunallnaterial recovered from Mudayna are compared with the fauna excavated at Hesban, located 30 kms northwest of 1udayna, as they are the only extensive collection of fauna reported on from the Iron Age Transjordan. Analysis of the Mudayna faunallnaterial shows that herd security was the primary goal of the Iron Age herders and a system of direct to consumer distribution was in place at Mudayna. The Mudayna fauna confirms LaBianca's theories about the nature of the Transjordanian Iron Age tribal kingdoms. The fauna demonstrate the importance of tribal connections within the society as well as enlphasize the lack of distinction between the "urban elite" and the "rural tribesman". The Mudayna fauna also show that the Iron Age environment was more lush than today, supporting richer pasture, shrubs and trees. This faunal analysis will be useful as a comparative tool for future work in Transjordan. ii ,. ., Acknowledgements I would like to thank my principle supervisor C. M. Foley for introducing me to, and teaching me about, Near Eastern archaeology throughout the five field seasons I worked with him in both Israel and Jordan. I would also like to thank my two secondary supervisors M. Kennedy and E. Walker for providing guidance during the formation ofthis manuscript and my external reviewer, P. Flood, for providing food for thought. This project could not have been completed without the hard work of the entire MudaYna excavation team. Particular thanks go out to M. Daviau, who kindly allowed me access to the faunal material, M. Steiner and R. Chadwick for their helpful advise and tutelage, as well as all of the volunteers who aided me with cleaning the bones at ACOR. Medals of bravery go out to S. Webster, D. Cooper, B. Novecosky who volunteered to help me collect comparative specimens under less than ideal circumstances. G. Hince graciously donated a number of both Spanish and Boer goat carcasses for use as comparative specimens.

Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU, 2018

This article presents a comparison of Hungarian zooarchaeological protocols and related documents. My research reviewed institutions’ protocols on collecting and preserving bioarchaeological data, with a special focus on zooarchaeological materials. I demonstrate the similarities and differences of the protocols through a qualitative analysis of their content and coherency.

During the 2013 and 2014 excavation seasons, a cache of complete ceramic vessels was recovered from a stone-outlined pit sealed by domestic building collapse at the site of Tall Ḥisbān, a Mamluk-era rural site in central Jordan. Among the finds were two whole, handless stonepaste jars of the late 14th century—an extremely rare find in Bilād al-Shām—along with a small, handless handmade jar containing a gelatinous residue. Valuable not only for the stratigraphic association of a local coarse ware (of previously unclear chronology) with datable imports, the pit provides the opportunity to explore the realities of site abandonment in a rural setting and the communal experience associated with it. The following study presents the results of recent residue analysis of these jars, as interpreted by the unique conditions of the jars' deposition and against the backdrop the emerging picture of the household economy of medieval Ḥisbān, its food systems, and the fast rise and slow decline of the village in the 14th through the 16th centuries CE. In the process, this essay suggests ways in which rural communities in southern Syria were transformed on the eve of the Ottoman conquest. Ceramic deposition and settlement abandonment Pottery collected from archaeological surveys has been the primary evidence for settlement shifts in the late Mamluk era in southern Bilād al-Shām (the region between Damascus and the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai). These shifts, and the demographic changes behind them, are only now beginning to come into focus, with more fieldwork centered on rural sites and with the development of landscape archaeology in the region. The abandonment of many large villages and towns, and the general