A territorial model of animal husbandry for the southern Caucasus: some preliminary results

Abstract

Drawing on the first-hand analysis of faunal data from recent excavations at Aradetis Orgora (Georgia) and on their comparison with previously published data from selected sites in Georgia, Armenia and Eastern Turkey, the paper attempts at providing an insight of animal husbandry during the Bronze Age (with a special attention to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages) in the Southern Caucasus. The huge amount of animal bones recovered from those sites includes in each of them Ovis/Capra, Bos and Sus, but they apparently show different kill-off pattern and different forms of animal exploitation. The importance of faunal remains in identifying different types of pastoralism and herding strategies and, more in general, in understanding behaviours and decisionmaking process of prehistoric cultures, but also the need for more comprehensive sampling and better contextualisation of the finds are emphasised.Drawing on the first-hand analysis of faunal data from recent excavations at Aradetis Orgora (Georgia) and on their comparison with previously published data from selected sites in Georgia, Armenia and Eastern Turkey, the paper attempts at providing an insight of animal husbandry during the Bronze Age (with a special attention to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages) in the Southern Caucasus. The huge amount of animal bones recovered from those sites includes in each of them Ovis/Capra, Bos and Sus, but they apparently show different kill-off pattern and different forms of animal exploitation. The importance of faunal remains in identifying different types of pastoralism and herding strategies and, more in general, in understanding behaviours and decisionmaking process of prehistoric cultures, but also the need for more comprehensive sampling and better contextualisation of the finds are emphasised.