Behaviour Behind Bones

The Zooarchaeology of Ritual, Religion, Status and Identity

Sharyn Jones O'Day, Wim Van Neer, Anton Ervynck

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9781782979111
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book is the first in a series of volumes which form the published proceedings of the 9th meeting of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ), held in Durham in 2002. The 35 papers present a series of case studies from around the world. They stretch beyond the standard zooarchaeological topics of economy and ecology, and consider how zooarchaeological research can contribute to our understanding of human behaviour and social systems. The volume is divided into two parts. Part 1, Beyond Calories, focuses on the zooarchaeology of ritual and religion. Contributors discuss ways to approach questions of ritual and religion through the faunal record, and consider how material culture depicting and/or associated with animals can provides clues about ideology, religious practices and the role of animals within spiritual systems. Part 2, Equations for Inequality, looks at questions of identity, status and other forms of social differentiation in former human societies. Contributors discuss how differences in food consumption, nutrition, and food procurement strategies can be related to various forms of social differentiation among individuals and groups.

Part 1

Beyond calories: the zooarchaeology of ritual and religion

edited by Sharyn Jones O’Day

9th ICAZ Conference, Durham 2002
Behaviour Behind Bones, (ed. Sharyn Jones O’Day et al.) pp. 2–13

1. Feasting with the dead? – a ritual bone deposit at Domuztepe, south eastern Turkey (c. 5550 cal BC)

Sarah Whitcher Kansa and Stuart Campbell

The Halaf period in the Near East (c. 6000–5200 cal BC) saw important developments in social complexity illustrated by elaborate craft production, use of seals, and the establishment of long-distance exchange networks. This period laid the foundations for the later rise of state institutions in the Near East but also saw the continuation of earlier forms of organization. The site of Domuztepe is located at the north eastern extreme of the Halaf cultural phenomenon in south eastern Turkey. Domuztepe is the first large Halaf site to be extensively excavated, offering a unique window on Halaf settlement in this region.

A unique feature of the settlement at Domuztepe is an extensive and complex funerary deposit, focused around a pit in Operation I in which portions of at least 40 individuals were recovered. Animal bones were also found associated with the human bones in the pit. This paper presents results of a detailed, albeit preliminary, examination of the animal remains in this ritual deposit. The results of this study are critical to a better understanding of both the overall ritual activity itself and the social strategies that integrated an early large-scale society.

The identified portion of the Domuztepe faunal assemblage consists of 8,000 fragments, about 2,000 of which come from this pit. The nature of the faunal remains from this pit are presented and then compared with those from the rest of the site. Differences in body part representation and in relative abundance of taxa between the two areas reflect both human choice and preservation biases. The role played by cattle in forming this special assemblage is highlighted. The results from Domuztepe are then compared with archaeological and ethnographic parallels as we attempt to understand the nature of the (likely) ritual feasting that formed this assemblage.

Introduction

This paper presents the initial results of faunal analysis from an extensive funerary deposit at Domuztepe, a 6th millennium site in south eastern Turkey. This pit, generally referred to as the “Death Pit” contained highly fragmented and jumbled human and animal bones, as well as a few complete and articulated bones. This study asks how zooarchaeological analysis adds to our understanding of this pit and the ritual associated with its creation.

First, we will present an overview of the site of Domuztepe, with specific commentary on the Death Pit. Then, we will delineate some of the criteria that have been used in the past to identify “ritual” in the zooarchaeological record. We will then discuss the results of zooarchaeological analysis, and how these results can help to understand ritual behavior at this site. Finally, we will draw upon one ethnographic example of ritual feasting that helps demonstrate the variability and unpredictability of human actions that can result in assemblages such as theDomuztepe Death Pit assemblage.

The Domuztepe excavations

The site of Domuztepe is located to the south of the modern city of Kahramanmaras in south eastern Turkey (Fig. 1). Although it has distinctive local characteristics, its most obvious links are with the Halaf phenomenon in north Mesopotamia. Domuztepe is the first large Halaf site to be excavated, offering a unique window on prehistoric settlement in this region. The site itself covers at least 20 hectares, making it one of the largest prehistoric sites in the Near East. Most of this area was probably occupied simultaneously in the latter stages of occupation.

Although several areas at Domuztepe have been examined, the main concentration has been on Operation I, a large exposure on the southern part of the site, which now extends to over 1000 square meters (Fig. 2). The periods excavated are confined to about 200–250 years, dating to the mid-6th millennium BC. The architecture includes both rectangular and circular buildings. The ceramics from the site show strong links with the Halaf tradition in north Mesopotamia but also with areas to the south down the Levantine coast. Both the faunal and botanical assemblages are dominated by domestic species, although wild plants, in particular, were also extensively exploited.

Fig. 1. Map showing the location of Domuztepe in south eastern Turkey.

The Death Pit

A unique feature of the settlement at Domuztepe is an extensive and complex funerary deposit, focused around a pit in Operation I in which portions of at least 40 individuals were recovered. Significant quantities of animal bones were also found associated with the human bones in the pit. Four radiocarbon dates from the Death Pit, all from cereal grains, are very consistent and a Bayesian calibration gives an estimated calibrated date of 5582–5562 BC (at 1 standard deviation) or 5592–5557 BC and 5555–5537 BC (at 2 standard deviations).

Fig. 3 illustrates the main deposits in the Death Pit. These deposits form a complex sequence, but their actual deposition almost certainly took place over a short time, possibly days rather than weeks. (Note: The description here is based on the state of knowledge at the start of the 2002 season, at the time this paper was written. Further excavation during summer 2002 clarified and amplified our knowledge of the early events in the development of the Death Pit, although without invalidating the information upon which this paper is based. The fill designations used here are provisional and may be revised.) A pit was dug into the edge of a terrace on the southern part of the site. An initial series of deposits, mainly of animal bones, in the bottom of the pit was followed by an episode in which the pit was flooded leading to thick silt deposits (Fills A and B). As soon as this had dried a dense mix of fragmented bones, almost entirely human, together with packed pisé and patches of ash were used to construct a raised hollow in the northern half of the Death Pit (Fill C). In parallel, deposits were placed to the immediate south which were almost devoid of human remains but superficially have a strong resemblance to domestic midden deposits with quantities of broken pottery, animal bones and lithics (Fill D). After the raised hollow had been created, several more human skulls and intact long bones were placed within it and the hollow filled with a dense ash deposit which spills out into the surrounding area (Fill E). The area remained of significance, being marked by later pits filled with identical ashy deposits, two large posts, and a series of deposits of human remains, generally in very fragmentary form.

Fig. 2. Overview of the Domuztepe excavations.

Assumptions

The analytical results presented here are based on observations made comparing the Death Pit and the other deposits from the site. While the site certainly has distinctive deposits that merit close examination and comparisons of their own, for the purpose of this study, we are assuming that the site reflects an overall pattern of daily subsistence refuse. By contrasting these two areas, we hope to elucidate differences that will help us understand the extent to which the Death Pit contains an assemblage that can be described as reflecting daily subsistence refuse, or if it holds a different kind of assemblage that might be more closely related to distinctive ritual activities.

Identifying ritual feasting in the zooarchaeological record

There are inherent complications in examining ritual using zooarchaeological remains since, as Grant (1991, 110) has pointed out, “ritual and economic [behaviors] are inextricably entwined”. Rituals are frequently accompanied by food and drink, small meals and large feasts. Indeed, the gathering of people around a daily meal almost invariably has ritual aspects. The frequent association of food with ritual makes it a difficult task to distinguish ritual activities involving food from daily or mundane meal refuse. In general, scholars detect ritual using any number of criteria that mark a deposit as distinctive, where their location, context, and modification add symbolic or ritual significance, such as: (1) the presence of whole, unbutchered animals or articulated portions of animals; (2) the presence of very young animals or very old animals; (3) a selection of specific parts (horn cores, heads, etc.); (4) an abundance of one sex; (5) an abundance of a particular taxon; (6) the presence of rare taxa; (7) association with human remains; (8) association with grave goods (criteria based on Horwitz 1987).

While any one of these characteristics can often be attributed to non-ritual behavior, the co-incidence of a number of these characteristics taken together may point to some kind of activity that can be seen as out of the ordinary. Other non-zooarchaeological lines of evidence can also help to identify special, distinctive deposits. The Domuztepe Death Pit assemblage meets a number of these criteria, the most obvious of which is association with human remains. An entire series of ritual steps and associations can be articulated within the Death Pit. These associations range from the details of the carefully executed sequence of procedures involved, to the large and highly visible fire that produced the ash that covered the area, to the way in which the location of the Death Pit was marked and respected for a considerable period. This, together with other characteristics explained below, point to a special use of animals in this particular assemblage.

Fig. 3. The main deposits in the Death Pit.

The Domuztepe animal bone assemblage: observations

The first five years of excavation at Domuztepe recovered over 100,000 bone, tooth, and antler fragments. During five field seasons Kansa drew from these 100,000 fragments a portion...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface: Peter Rowley-Conwy, Umberto Albarella and Keith Dobney
• Introduction: Sharyn Jones O’Day, Wim Van Neer and Anton Ervynck
• Part 1: Beyond calories: the zooarchaeology of ritual and religion edited by Sharyn Jones O’Day
• Part 2: Equations for inequality: the zooarchaeology of identity, status and other forms of social differentiation in former human societies edited by Wim Van Neer and Anton Ervynck