Geography and Economic Preferences as Cultural Markers in a Border Town

The Faunal Remains from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4684589
AutoresKarin Tamar (0000-0003-2375-4529, Tel Aviv University, autor de correspondencia), Guy Bar-Oz (0000-0002-1009-5619, University of Haifa), G Bar‐oz (Zinman Institute of Archaeology University of Haifa Haifa Israel), Bunimovitz, Shlomo Bunimovitz (Tel Aviv University), Zvi Lederman (0000-0002-1885-7542, Tel Aviv University), Tamar Dayan (0000-0001-8904-6205, Tel Aviv University)
Año2015
Volumen25
Número4
Páginas414-425
Fecha de publicación2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.2309
OpenAlexW2167861850
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas33

We present a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal remains at Tel Beth-Shemesh, a site located in the Shephelah region of Israel, which has been dated to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The site, identified as the biblical city of Beth-Shemesh, was a Canaanite border town between Philistine and Israelite settlements and of great importance in our attempts to understand the social and cultural transformations that occurred in the southern Levant during those periods. This study contributes to a more accurate understanding of the cultural identity of the site's inhabitants by exploring the cultural differences between populations as reflected in their different dietary preferences. We analysed the subsistence economy at the site, the general exploitation patterns, herd management strategies and consumption practices, all of which are based mostly on domestic livestock. We determined the cultural identity at the site mainly by comparing the representation of pig remains with that found at other sites in the region, and offer various explanations for the differences. The comparisonsrevealed clear differences between Tel Beth-Shemesh and other known nearby Philistine sites. This site appears to have possessed a self-contained production and consumption economy with similarities in the general pattern of animal exploitation between the two periods. These similarities constitute evidence for the continuation of the local population and of its culture at the site during the period of turmoil that swept the region during the transition to the Iron Age. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Agriculture · Archaeology · Bronze Age · Ethnology · Geography · Human settlement · Iron Age · Livestock · Population · Social science · Sociology · Southern Levant · Subsistence agriculture · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History