Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic gazelle hunting in the Badia of north-east Jordan. Reconstruction of seasonal movements of herds by stable isotope and dental microwear analyses

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Elizabeth Henton
  • Roe, Joe
  • Louise Martin
  • Andrew Garrard
  • Oliver Boles
  • Jamie Lewis
  • Matthew Thirlwall
  • Anne Lise Jourdon

In the north-east Jordan steppe, gazelle were of considerable economic importance to human groups during the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic. An influential model argues that gazelle herds migrated through the region and were only seasonally available to hunters. This study tests that model, asking whether gazelle were indeed highly seasonally mobile during these time frames, or whether they could have remained more local, adapted to periodically resource-rich habitats, and thus been available to hunters throughout the year. Interpretation of animal location, diet and season, through stable isotope analyses and microwear studies of archaeological gazelle teeth from ten chronologically and spatially varied sites, suggests herds did not migrate. Rather, gazelle appear to have had relatively local year-round habitats in the steppe during the Epipalaeolithic at least, while possibly ranging further and becoming more mobile in the Neolithic.

Original languageEnglish
JournalLevant
Volume50
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)127-172
Number of pages46
ISSN0075-8914
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by The Leverhulme Trust under grant RPG-2013-223. We are grateful to the Department of Antiquities, Jordan, and to the British Institute in Amman, CBRL, for their support in Jordan. We thank Alison Betts, Lisa Maher, Tobias Richter and Gary Rollefson for permission to study materials. Many thanks also to Lisa Yeomans, Sandra Bond and Tom Gregory for research support.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © Council for British Research in the Levant 2019.

    Research areas

  • dental microwear analysis, Epipalaeolithic, hunting seasonality, Neolithic, stable isotopes

ID: 340709552