Daily Life and Religious Customs From an Archaeozoological Perspective

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ARCHAEOZOOLOGY OF THE NEAR EAST

Proceed ings

of the first international ymposium on the

a rchaeozoo logy of southwestern As ia and adjacent areas

edited by

H. Buitenhuis and A.T. Clason

Universal Book Services / Dr. W. Backhuys

Leiden 1993



Contents

Author Title Pages

S. Bököny

Domestication models: the Anatolian-Mesopotamian

and the others in Southwest Asia.

E . Tchernov

The impact of sedentism on animal exploitation

in the Southern Levant.

10

L .

Kolska Horwitz

The development of Ovicaprine domestication during

the PPNB of the Southern Levant.

27

P. Ducos Some remarks about

O v i s ,

C a p r a

and

G a z e l l a

remains 37

from two PPNB sites from Damascene, Syria, Teil Aswad

and Ghoraiffe.

A . T . Clason

A. von den Driesch

M. Uerpmann

H. Hongo

D .

Hakker-Orion

J. Peters

W. Van Neer and

B . De Cupere

L . Bartosiewicz

W. Van Neer and

A. Gautier

A. Ervynck,

B . De Cupere and

W. Van Neer

The Bull, the hare, the hedgeho g and the Tortoise. 46

Faunal remains from Hab uba Kabira in Syria. 52

Anim al remains from Qala'at AI-Bahrain, 60

a preliminary report.

Faunal remains from Kaman-KaehöyükTurkey: 67

a preliminary analyses.

Faunal remains from sites along the Frankincense 77

and Myrrh Route.

Archaic Milet: daily life and religious customs 88

from an archaeozoological perspective.

Possibilities of archaeozo ological analysis from 97

the antique site of Sagalassos (Burdur Province, Turkey).

Beast of bürden from a classical road Station in Bulga ria. 105

Preliminary report on the faunal remains from the 110

Coastal site of ed-Dur, lst-4th Century A.D., Umm

Al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates.

Con sump tion refuse from the Byzantine Castle at 119

Pessinus, Central Anatolia, Turkey.

List of participants

128

2



ARCHAIC MILET: DAILY LIF E AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS F ROM AN

ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL P ERSP ECTIVE

Joris Peters

Institut für Pala eoana tom ie, Dom estikationsforschung

und Geschichte der Tiermedizin.

Ludwig-Maximilians Unversität

München

Feldmochingerstrasse 7, 8000

München

50.

Germany

Abstract

Animal remains from two sites near Milet in Turkey dating from the Archaic Period have been analysed. In

particular the differences between settlement refuse and refuse from a sanctuary have been investigated, and are

compared with results from other sanctuaries.

Introduction

On-going archaeological excavations by the university of Bochum (Dir. Prof V. von Graeve) at

Kalabak Tepe and Zeytin Tepe near Milet (fig. 1) produced large samples of animal remains

and pottery dating to the archaic period, i.e. 7th to 5th Century B.C. (Von Graeve et al, 1990).

Among the animal remains, mollusc Shells and bones of domestic mammals are particularly

frequent (table 1.), yet the faunas of the two localities exhibit a number of distinct characteris-

tics due to the fact that they accumulated under different cultural conditions. At Kalabak Tepe

the remains represent settlement refuse, whereas the nearby Zeytin Tepe served as a

sanctuary, where priests made offerings to the goddess Aphrodite on behalf of the inhabitants

of Kalabak Tepe. In the following, differences in species composition, age-profiles, slaughtering

methods and intraskeletal distribution are discussed, also with reference to customs in antiquity

as handed down in literature.

The settlement refuse of Kalabak Tepe

Considering the number of identified specim ens (NIS P, table 1, fig. 2), it can be see n that

small livestock and cattle played a major role in the economy of the site. Although the low

frequency of pig remains in the samples indicates that this animal was not an important source

of meat compared with livestock, its occurrence suggests the presence of areas with deciduous

woodland in the vicinity of the archaic town of Milet, a type of Vegetation that has almost

completely vanished in the region today. On the basis of the fragment counts, the ratio

comparison between small livestock, cattle and pig can be estimated at 6:2:1 (fig. 2). However,

if bone weights are taken into account, cattle equals small livestock as a source of animal

proteins, whereas pigs provided about 10% of the meat. Cutmarks furthermore indicate that

horses and dogs were also eaten. Game and fish occasionally contributed to the diet of the

inhabitants of Kalabak Tepe. The significance of molluscs as a source of animal proteins

8 8



remains unclear. From table 2 it can be seen that people collected them in large quantities,

but we noted that many specimens are simply too small to be suited for consumption, whereas

a number of Shells show traces of rolling and were therefore not gathered in fresh condition.

Since we know that mollusc Shells were commonly used as building-material, for example as an

additive for clay bricks and mud walls, a lot of them may have been meant for that purpose.

To reconstruct the age profiles of livestock and pigs, mandibles and mandibular teeth were

analysed with respect to tooth eruption and tooth wear. As can be seen in fig. 3, small

livestock and cattle were mainly killed after reaching sexual maturity, aged individuals

constitute a major component of the bovid populations. Given such an age-profile, secondary

products rather than meat production must have characterized stock-raising practices near

Milet. For sheep and goats, the kill-off pattern at Milet resembles, for instance, the one

observed by Payne (1973) at the Hellenistic/Late Roman site of Asvan Kaie, where a relatively

high proportion of the animals had been killed between 2 and 6 years of age. Since in most

terms it makes least sense to kill prime age individuals, Payne suggested that such an age-

profile might be seen as indication of woolproduction, as the quality of wool falls off in older

animals. Considering the fact that in Classical Greece Milet was a famous wool-manufacturing

city, trading wool goods over the whole Mediterranean area, there is no reason to explain the

observed kill-off patterns in a different way. Thus near Asvan Kaie and in the vicinity of Milet,

sheep were mainly kept for the production of high-grade wool. In addition, small livestock -as

well as cattle - provided beside meat also skins, milk and manure. The age profiles of cattle (c.

45 % were older than 5 years, cf. fig. 3) furthermore implies that the animals were used for

traction power. As to pigs, most animals were killed before reaching the age of two years,

indicating that their economic value was limited to meat production.

The animal offerings at Zeytin Tepe

In ancient Greece sacrifying animals to the gods formed part of the religion. This custom was

also practised by the inhabitants of Kalabak Tepe. For this purpose, they chose a site on a hill

which lies to the west of Kalabak Tepe. Today called Zeytin Tepe, this hill offered its visitors a

panoramic view of the hinterlands and across the Gulf of Milet. Archaeological evidence

suggests, that between the 7th and 5th Century B.C., Zeytin Tepe served as an open field

sanctuary, devoted to the goddess Aphrodite (Von Graeve et al., in press).

In the course of two excavation seasons, a number of votive offerings and a considerable

amoun t of animal bo nes from m any species (tables 1 and 2) were collecte d at the sanctuary.

The fauna differs in several aspects from the settlement refuse of Kalabak Tepe. For example,

at Zeytin Tepe small livestock - mainly sheep - were offered in fairly large numbers compared

to cattle (fig. 2), probably in a ratio of 9 to 1. If bone weights are taken into account, it is

estimated that the visitors of the Aphrodite-sanctuary consumed three times as much meat

from sheep and goats as from cattle (fig. 2). The fact that at Zeytin Tepe sheep were most

frequently offered can be related back to the role of the animal in the cult of Aphrodite (e.g.

Richter, 1979). However, by choosing mainly sheep, profane interests cannot be entirely ruled

out, considering the economic value of the animal for Archaic Milet.

Selecting the animals according to species and/or sex for ceremonial purposes has also been

observed at two other archaic sanctuaries nearby, namely the Artemision at Ephesos (7th to

4th Century B.C.) and the Heraion at Samos (7th Century B.C.) (fig. 1, 4). For the Artemision,

Wolff (1978) (fig. 4) noted that goats are most abundant in the samples, followed by cattle,

8 9



sheep and pigs. This fits well with the information handed down in classical literature (Stengel,

1890:

84). At Samos, cattle clearly dominates the fauna from the Heraion, cows outnumbering

oxen by far (Boessneck and Von den Driesch, 1988:6). This Observation is in accordance with

the written sources, as cows were the customary offering to the goddess Hera (Sauer, 1979).

Another characteristic of the Zeytin Tepe fauna is the nearly complete absence of pig bones in

the samples, a fact which can be most conveniently explained by quoting Pausanias's "Descrip-

tion of Greece" (II, 10,4), in which he states that pigs usually do not belong to the set of

animals to be sacrificed to Aphrodite.

If one compares the age-profiles from Zeytin Tepe with those recorded from Kalabak Tepe

(fig. 3), it becomes obvious that the animals given to the priests were on average younger than

the ones brought to the settlement for daily consumption. As to small livestock we note a

higher percentage of animals between 1 and 2 years at the disadvantage of individuals that are

older than 4 years. In cattle the kill-off pattern at Zeytin Tepe is inversed compared with the

one from Kalabak Tepe, since 50% of the animals killed were between 6 months and

x

h

years.

Butchering processes and cooking practices

The killing of the sacrificial animals should be quick and painless (Meuli, 1946: 227). The

animal has to proceed voluntarily to the altar and has to show its agreement by nodding, the

latter being achieved by deceiving the animal (Burkert, 1977: 102). Presumably the animals

were killed by cutting the throat, as can be inferred from transverse cutmarks on the ventral

side of atlas and axis. After the animal had died, the skin was removed and brought out of the

sanctuary to be sold, securing the priests a part of their income (Meuli, 1946: 220). Looking at

intraskeletal distribution this must also have been the case at Milet, because skull roofs, horn

cores and terminal phalanges are underrepresented in the samples. No doubt, these skeletal

elements were left i n situ during skinning and only remo ved afterwards ou tside the sanctuary.

The study of chop- and cutmarks on bones and the resulting breakage patterns provides

insight into the way the priests (or their representatives) prepared the animal for consumption.

After separating the head from the body, the lower jaw was cut off near its articular processes,

the tongue removed and the skull divided in smaller parts. The processing of the axial skeleton

involved several Steps, such as the removal of the tail including the sacrum, the Separation of

the ribs from the thoracic vertebrae, the removal of the transverse processes of the lumbal

vertebrae, the cleavage of the vertebral column into two halves and the portioning of these

halves into smaller segments. After separating the fore-legs from the body, the priests

dismembered the limbs and defleshed the long bones before smashing them. The hind legs

were cut loose from the pelvis by opening the acetabulum. After dismembering the thigh

carefully and putting it aside, the rest of the hind limb and pelvis were treated as described for

the forelimb.

At Zeytin Tepe, the meat seems to be prepared by cooking or steaming and served as some

kind of ragout. This contradicts the opinion in literature, that the usual preparation method for

religious events was the roasting of meat cuts on spits (e.g. Bruns, 1970: 47).

Whereas the first excavation season at the sanctuary only produced unburnt bone flakes of c. 2

to 7 cm from the neck, the thorax, the abdomen, the pelvis, the fore leg and the lower hind

9 0



limb, the second season brought to light aconcentration of burnt and charred fragments,

almost exclusively derived from femora, patellae, sacra and caudal vertebrae. Asound

explanation for this phenomenon can be found in Homer's Ilias (I, 459; II, 423) and Odyssey

I I I 457) and elsewhere (e.g. Pausanias 11,10,5): if an animal is offered, it was customary to

wrap up its thighs with fat and to cremate these afterwards on the altar in order to satisfy the

gods.

According to M euli (1946 : 213-21 5), it is even likely that the divine part only consisted

of the femora w ith no meat left at all In ancient Greek religion, the tail was also reserved for

the gods. Therefore it seems plausible - though not mentioned in literature - that exactly the

tail provided the necessary fat to wrap up the femora with. This would explain the presence of

burnt sacra and caudal vertebrae in the faunal sample from Zeytin Tepe (fig. 5).

References

Boessneck J. and A. von den Driesch, 1988. K n o c h e n a b f a l l

vo n

O p f e r m a h l e n

u nd

W e i h g a b e n

a u s de r H e r a i o n vo n S a m o s 7 J h . v.

C h r . ) .

München

Bruns G., 1970.

Küchenwesen

und Mahlzeiten.

A r c h a e ol o g ic a H o m e r i c a 2

Kapitel

Q.

Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen

Burkert W., 1977. Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche. D i e R e l i g i o -

n e n de r M e n s c h h e i t 15. Kohlham mer, Stuttgart.

Graeve V. von et al., 1990. Milet 1989. I s t a n b u l e r M i t t t e i l u n g e n 40: 37-78.

Graeve V. von et al., in press. Milet 1991. I s t a n b u l e r M i t t e i l u n g e n 42.

Homer - I l i a s / O d y s s e e . In der Übertragungvan J.H. Voss. Winkler,

München

1957.

Meuli K., 1946. Griechische

Opferbräuche

In: O. Gigon et al, (eds.) P h y l l o b o l i a fü r P . von der

Mühll zum 6 0 . G e b u r ts ta g : 185-288. B. Schwab e and Co ., Basel.

Pausanias - B e s c h r e ib u n g G r i e c h e n l a n d s . N eu übersetzt mit einer Einleitung und

erkärenden

Anmerkungen versehen von E. Meyer. 2

ergänzte

Auflage. Artemis,

Zürich

1967.

Payne S., 1973. Kill-off patterns in sheep and goat: the mandibles from Asvan Kaie.

A n a t o l i a n

S t u d i e s

23: 281-303.

Peters J. and A. von den Driesch, in press. Siedlungsabfall

versus

Opferreste, Eßgewohnheten

im archaischen Milet. In: V. von Graeve et al.

I s t a n b u l e r M i t t e i l u n g e n .

Richter W., 1979. Schaf In: K. Ziegler and W. Sontheimer (eds.)

D e r K l e i n e P a u f y L e x i c o n

d e r A n t i k e ,

band 5, spalte 5. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München

Sauer H., 1979. Hera. In: K. Ziegler and W. Sontheimer (eds.)

D e r K l e i n e P a u l y L e x i c o n der

A n t i k e , band 5, spalte 1030. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München

Stengel P., 1890. Die Griechische Kutusaltertümer

H a n d b u c h de r k l a s s is c h e n A l t e r tu m s -

w i s s e n s c h a f t i n

systematischer

D a r s t e l l u n g

5, abt. 3. C.H. Beck,

München

Wolf P., 1978. Das Tieropfer am Artemisaltar von Ephesos. 1. Die Tierreste. In: S. Sahin et al.

(eds.) S t u d i e n

zu r

R e l i g i o n

u nd

K u l tu s K l e i n a s i e n s . F e s t s c h r i ft

fü r

F . K

Dörner zum 65.

G e b u r t s -

t g band 1: 107-155. E.J. Brill, Leiden.

9 1



fig . 1. Map of western Turkey, showing the location of the sites of Ephesos (1), Samos (2) and Milet

(3). Inset shows the present-day topography of the Milet study area and the position of the

archaeological sites: A= hellenistic - roman town, B= Kalabak Tepe, C= Zeytin Tepe.

9 2



table 1. The vertebrate fauna of Kalabak Tepe and Zeytin Tepe (NISP).

(1) the number of

ntler

fragments s given in brackets.

Kalabak Tepe

Zey t in Tepe To tal

MAMMALS:

Horse 7 7

Donkey 12 1 13

Equid 10 2 12

C at t le 816 525 1341

Sheep 314 500 814

Sheep/Go at 1883 4355 6238

Goat 84 120 204

Pi g 387 7 394

Dromedary 2 2

Dog 23 2 25

TOTAL DOMESTIC MAMMALS 3538 5512 9050

Hare (Lepus ca pe n s i s ) 4 4 8

Red deer (Cervus e la ph us ) 1 1

Fa l lo w dee r (Dama dama) (1 ) 2+ (3 ) 8 13

G a z e l l e ( G a z e l l a s p . ) 1 1

TOTAL WILD MAMMALS 10 13 23

UNIDENTIFIED MAMMALS 200 503 703

TOTAL MAMMALS 3748 6028 9776

BIRDS:

Dove (Columba s p . ) 1 1

REPTILES:

S p u r - t h i g h e d m e d i t e r r a n e a n l a n d

t o r t o i s e ( T e s t u d o g r a e c a ) 14 14

FISH:

U n i d e n t i f i e d s h ar k 1 1

Bass (Morone la br ax ) 1 1

G i l t - h e a d b rea m ( S p a r u s a u r a t u s ) 2 2

U n i d e n t i f i e d b re am 1 1

T o t a l v e r t e b r a t e s 3 7 6 5 6 0 3 1 9 7 96

9 3



table 2. The molluscs from Kalabak Tepe and Zeytin Tepe.

Kalabak Tepe Ze yt in Tepe To ta l

LAND SNAILS:

P l e u r o d i s c u s b a l m e i 2 4 6

Rumina d e co l l a ta 1 2 3

X e r o p i c t a k r y n i c k i i 1 4 5

C e r n u e l l a v i r g a t a 2 2

H e l i x a s p e r s a 4 1 5

T o t a l l a n d s n a i l s 10 1 1 2 1

MARINE GASTROPODS:

P a t e l l a s p . 2 2

G i b b ul a d i v a r i c a t a 1 1

Monodonta tu rb in at a 1 3 4

Cer i th ium vulgatum 14 5 19

L u r i a l u r i d a 3 3

Cypraea s p . 1 1

Phal ium granulatum 1 1

Tonna g a le a 3 1 4

Charonia lampas 1 1

T r u n c u l a r i o p s i s t r u n c u l u s 3 9 27 6 6

Murex br an da ris 43 71 114

Ceratos toma er inaceum 1 1

Buc cinulum corneum 6 6 12

F a s c i o l a r i a l i g n a r i a 1 1

N a s s a r i u s g i b b o s u l a 1 2 3

H i n ia r e t i c u l a t a 2 2

C y c l o p e n e r i t e a 1 1

Conus m edi t erra neu s 3 2 5

To tal mar ine ga s tr op od s 121 120 241

MARINE BIVALVES:

Area noa e 12 4 16

Glycym er is sp . 1 1

M y t i lu s g a l l o p r o v i n c i a l i s 4 2 6

P in n a n o b i l i s 7 7

P e c t e n j a c o b e u s 3 3

Chlamys v a ri a 1 1

Spondy lus gaed eropu s 42 6 48

Ostrea ed u l i s 1190 12 1202

Cerastoderm a ed ul e 2774 121 2895

Rudicardium tub ercu latu m 1 4 5

C a r d i i d a e i n d e t . 1 1 2

V e n e r u p i s d e c u s s a t a 3 1 4

C h am ele a g a l l i n a 1 1

Venus ve rru cos a 1 3 4

Venus nux 5 8 13

V e n e r i d a e i n d e t . 1 4 8 4 9

D o n a x . t r u n c u l u s 4 4

M a ctr a c o r a l l i n a 5 5

T o t a l m a r i n e b i v a l v e s 4 0 50 2 16 4 2 6 6

T o t a l m o l l u s c s 4 18 1 3 47 4 52 8

9 4



KALABAK

TEPE ZEYT I N

T S P i

n = 164

n = 168

5 0

50 n

50 n

SHEEP GOAT

1 =

l e s s

t h a n 1 y e a r

2 = 1 t o 2 y e a r s

3

= 2 t o 4 y e a r s

4

- r a or e t h a n 4 y e a r s

CATTLE

1 = l e s s t h an 6 r aon t h s

2 = 6

mon t h s

t o 2 1/ 2 y e a r s

3 = 2 1/ 2 t o 5 y e a r s

4 = r a or e t h a n 5 y e a r s

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

fig. 2. Relative frequency of livestock and pig on the basis of number of identified specimens (NISP)

and bone weight (W).

KALABAK

TEPE

Z EY TI N TEPE

100%1

NI S P = 3484

W

= 29940 g

= =

100

NI S P = 5507

W = 27450 g

fig. 3. Comparison between kill-off p tterns of sm ll livestock and cattle from Kalabak Tepe and

Zeytin Tepe.

9 5



Z EY T I N fluPK

SUEEP GOAT

CATTLE

818

149

107

101

29

617

1091

123

198

407

735

536

63

Cr a n l u m - Ma n d i b u l a - De n t e s

V. c e r v i c a l e s

V. t h o r a c a l e s

V. l u mb a l e s

S a c r u m - V. c a u da l e s

Co s t a e

S c a p ul a - Humer us - R a di u s - U l n a

Ca r p u s

- Me t a c a r p u s

P e l v i s

0 s f e mo r i s - P a t e l l a

T i b i a

Ta r s u s - Me t a t a r s u s

P h a l a n ge s

• • t

50

5 0

fig.

4.

Relative frequency of livestock and pig in the faunas

from

the archaic sanctuaries at Ephesos,

Samos and Milet. For each sample the ratio to goat has been calculated (without considering the

horncore fragments).

Ar t e m s i o n

E p h e s o s

( Wo l f f 1978)

7t h

t o

4 t h

C e n t u r y

BC.

He r a i o n

Samos

( Boe s s n e c k & v . d . D r i e s c h 1988)

7t h Ce n t u r y BC.

Ap h r o d i t e s a n c t u a r y

M i l e t

( P e t e r s

& v . d . Dr i e s c h , i n p r e s s )

7t h t o 5 t h Ce n t u r y BC.

fig . 5. Ratio between burnt (shaded) and unburnt (NISP) in small livestock and cattle

from

Zeytin

Tepe, as calculated for thirteen anatomical groupings.

9 6

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Daily Life and Religious Customs From an Archaeozoological Perspective