TY - JOUR

T1 - Perinatal Remains of Livestock

T2 - An Under-utilised Line of Evidence for Animal Penning in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia

AU - Yeomans, Lisa

AU - Bangsgaard, Pernille

AU - Ahadi, Golnaz

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Archaeological evidence for penned animals is increasingly used to indicate managed livestock. Advances in techniques allowing the identification of dung and urine-derived components in sediments have enabled the expansion of this line of enquiry. Corralling animals into settlements protected them from predators at night and provided more control over their breeding. Deposits associated with livestock management at Neolithic settlements across Southwest Asia sometimes contain bones of perinatal animals. Reviewing the literature, it is evident that these faunal remains are not systematically reported or preserved in all burial environments. However, their distribution may reflect different patterns of livestock integration into human settlements. The presence of perinatal remains at sites where early livestock herding took place has important implications. Not only are they compelling evidence for herd management, particularly if there is also evidence for penning deposits, but also death of livestock during the perinatal phase of life informs us about the health of animals in early herds. This in turn, provides information about the skills needed by early pastoralists as they developed animal management strategies and the possible effect of transmissible diseases as animals were kept together in closer proximity.

AB - Archaeological evidence for penned animals is increasingly used to indicate managed livestock. Advances in techniques allowing the identification of dung and urine-derived components in sediments have enabled the expansion of this line of enquiry. Corralling animals into settlements protected them from predators at night and provided more control over their breeding. Deposits associated with livestock management at Neolithic settlements across Southwest Asia sometimes contain bones of perinatal animals. Reviewing the literature, it is evident that these faunal remains are not systematically reported or preserved in all burial environments. However, their distribution may reflect different patterns of livestock integration into human settlements. The presence of perinatal remains at sites where early livestock herding took place has important implications. Not only are they compelling evidence for herd management, particularly if there is also evidence for penning deposits, but also death of livestock during the perinatal phase of life informs us about the health of animals in early herds. This in turn, provides information about the skills needed by early pastoralists as they developed animal management strategies and the possible effect of transmissible diseases as animals were kept together in closer proximity.

U2 - 10.1080/14614103.2021.1962497

DO - 10.1080/14614103.2021.1962497

M3 - Journal article

VL - 28

SP - 207

EP - 221

JO - Environmental Archaeology

JF - Environmental Archaeology

SN - 1461-4103

IS - 3

ER -