Fish Exploitation at the Sea of Galilee (Israel) by Early Fisher
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FISH EXPLOITATION AT THE SEA OF GALILEE (ISRAEL) BY EARLY FISHER- HUNTER-GATHERERS (23,000 B.P.): ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMICAL AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Irit Zohar SUBMITTED TO THE SENATE OF TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY November, 2003 FISH EXPLOITATION AT THE SEA OF GALILEE (ISRAEL) BY EARLY FISHER- HUNTER-GATHERERS (23,000 B.P.): ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMICAL AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Irit Zohar SUBMITTED TO THE SENATE OF TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY November, 2003 This work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Tamar Dayan and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz Copyright © 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Cultural setting 2 1.3 Environmental setting 4 1.4 Outline of research objectives 5 CHAPTER 2: FISH TAPHONOMY 6 2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 Naturally deposited fish 7 2.3 Culturally deposited fish 9 CHAPTER 3: SITE SELECTION AND FIELD TECHNIQUES 11 3.1. The archaeological site of Ohalo-II 11 3.2. Fish natural accumulation 13 3.3 Ethnographic study of fish procurement methods 14 CHAPTER 4: METHODS 18 4.1 Recovery bias 18 4.2 Sampling bias 18 4.3 Identification of fish remains 19 4.4 Fish osteological characteristics 20 4.5 Quantification analysis 20 4.5.1 Taxonomic composition and diversity 21 4.5.2 Body part frequency 22 4.5.3 Survival index (SI) 22 4.5.4 Fragmentation index 23 4.5.5 WMI of fragmentation 24 4.5.6 Fish exploitation index 24 4.5.7 Bone modification 25 4.5.8 Bone spatial distribution 26 Page 4.5.9 Analytic calculations 26 4.6 Osteological measurements 29 4.6.1 Body mass estimation 29 4.6.2 Vertebrae diameter 31 CHAPTER 5: FISH REMAINS RECOVERED AT OHALO-II 32 5.1. Taxonomic identification 32 5.2 Skeletal representation 35 5.2.1 Skeletal completeness in brush hut 1 37 5.2.2 Skeletal completeness in Locus-7 42 5.2.3 Skeletal completeness in Locus 8 46 5.3 MNI value 50 5.4 Bone Color 51 5.5 Fragmentation pattern 53 5.5.1 Bone fragmentation in locus 1 54 5.5.2 Bone fragmentation in locus 7 56 5.5.3 Bone fragmentation in locus 8 58 5.6 Fish remains spatial distribution 59 5.6.1 Fish spatial distribution in locus 1 59 5.6.2 Fish spatial distribution in locus 7 61 5.7 Vertebrae dimensions 62 5.8 Body mass estimation 64 5.9 Dietary value 65 5.10 Summary 66 CHAPTER 6: FISH NATURAL ACCUMULATION 69 6.1 Bones spatial distribution 69 6.2 Taxonomic identification 69 6.3 Skeletal representation 72 6.4 Bone modification 80 Page 6.5 Vertebrae dimension 80 6.6 Body size estimation 81 6.7 Summary 81 CHAPTER 7: FISH BUTCHERING METHODS 83 7.1 Butchering and utilization methods 83 7.2 Skeletal representation 86 7.3 Bone fragmentation patterns 88 7.4 Fracture typology 91 7.5 Summary 93 CHAPTER 8: OHALO-II NATURAL OR CULTURAL ACCUMULATION? 95 8.1 Taxonomic composition, richness and diversity 98 8.2 Skeletal representation 102 8.2.1 Body part representation 103 8.2.2 Skeletal completeness 107 8.3 Bone modification 108 8.4 Vertebrae dimensions 113 8.5 Fish Body size 113 8.6 Bone distribution patterns 116 8.7 Summary 116 CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 119 9.1 Environmental setting 119 9.2 Fish exploitation 121 9.3 Fish utilization 124 9.4 Fish exploitation in the context of Epi-paleolithic broad spectrum economy 127 9.5 Summary and conclusions 128 BIBLIOGRAPHY 131 LIST OF APPENDICES Page APPENDIX-I : Fish remains recovered from prehistoric sites and lacustrine environments in Israel. 152 APPENDIX-II: Levantine freshwater fish 154 II.1 Morphological and osteological characteristics 154 II.2. Cyprinidae 158 II.3. Cichlidae 174 APPENDIX-III: Cichlidae skeletal elements in a complete fish. 178 APPENDIX-IV: Cyprinidae skeletal elements in a complete fish. 180 APPENDIX-V: A. terraesanctae skeletal elements in a complete fish. 182 APPENDIX-VI: C. gariepinus skeletal elements in a complete fish. 184 APPENDIX-VII: H. nitidus skeletal elements in a complete fish. 186 APPENDIX-VIII: C. multiradiatus and A. kessleri skeletal elements in a complete fish. 188 APPENDIX-IX: C. caninus skeletal elements in a complete fish. 190 APPENDIX-X: Frequency (NISP) of skeletal elements for loci 2, 3, and 9. 192 APPENDIX-XI: Frequency (NISP) of skeletal elements for locus 1 by taxa. 194 APPENDIX-XII: Frequency (NISP) of skeletal elements for locus 7 by taxa. 196 APPENDIX-XIII: Frequency (NISP) of skeletal elements for locus 8 by taxa. 198 APPENDIX-XIV: Skeletal elements fragmentation pattern in locus 1. 200 APPENDIX-XV: WMI of fragmentation calculated by taxa for bones from locus 1. 202 APPENDIX-XVI: Skeletal elements fragmentation pattern in locus 7 (ashes). 205 APPENDIX-XVII: WMI of fragmentation calculated by taxa for bones from locus 7. 207 APPENDIX-XVIII: Skeletal elements fragmentation pattern in locus 8. 209 APPENDIX-XIX: WMI of fragmentation calculated by taxa for bones from locus 8. 211 APPENDIX-XX: Vertebrae width dimensions mean (±SD) and range Calculated by taxa for locus 1. 212 Page APPENDIX-XXI: Frequency (NISP) of skeletal elements for naturally deposited fish along the Sea of Galilee. 215 APPENDIX-XXII: Vertebrae dimensions (height, width, and length) mean (±SD) and range calculated by taxa for naturally deposited fish. 221 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of fish remains by loci at Ohalo-II. Table 2: Morphometrics for butchered fish collected from traditional fishermen in Panama (Central America) and southern Sinai (Egypt) by butchering method and body size. Table 3: A list of freshwater fish from the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and Nile river (n= 324), that were prepared for the osteological reference collection. Table 4: A list of Red Sea fish from Eilat and Egypt (n=71) that were prepared for the osteological reference collection. Table 5: Number (NISP) and percentage of bones, by anatomic regions, expected in complete skeleton of five taxa of freshwater fish. Table 6: Regression equations for body mass (BM) in Cyprinidae as a function of atlas and axis dimensions. Table 7: Regression equations for standard length (SL) in Cyprinidae as a function of atlas and axis dimension. Table 8: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of fish identified at Ohalo-II by family and loci. Table 9: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of fish remains identified by genus and loci. Table 10: NISP values of identified bones, species richness, Shannon Wiener Function, and Brillouin Index, calculated for each locus, at Ohalo-II. Table 11: NISP and percentage calculated by loci in four taxonomic groups. Table 12: Ranking order of taxonomic groups identified in different loci. Table 13: Identified NISP and number of skeletal elements identified (richness) by loci. Table 14: NISP and ranking order of Cyprinidae and Cichlidae cranial and postcranial bones from locus 1. Table 15: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of skeletal elements recovered from locus 1 for anatomic regions and taxonomic groups. Table 16: Survival index (SI) and p (calculated by chi-square test) for fish remains from locus 1. Table 17: Frequency (NISP), percentage, and SI calculated for cranial and postcranial bones in four taxa at locus 1. Table 18: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of skeletal elements recovered for anatomic regions and taxonomic groups in locus 7. Table 19: Survival index (SI) and p (calculated by chi-square test) for fish remains from locus 7. Table 20: Frequency (NISP), percentage, and SI calculated for cranial and postcranial bones in four taxa at locus 7. Table 21: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of skeletal elements by anatomic regions and taxa in locus 8. Table 22: Survival index (SI) and p (calculated by chi-square test) for fish remains from locus 8. Table 23: Frequency (NISP), percentage, and SI calculated for cranial and postcranial bones for four taxa at locus 8. Table 24: MNI values, by taxa and loci, for the identified fish remains. Table 25: Comparison between ranking order calculated from NISP and MNI in five loci. Table 26: Frequency (NISP) of bone colors by loci. Table 27: Frequency (NISP) and percentage of bones state of fragmentation. Table 28: Bones state of fragmentation by loci. Table 29: An example of WMI calculated for Acanthobrama sp., by fragmentation classes. Table 30: Ranking order by taxa of the best preserved bones (>80%) recovered from locus 1. Table 31: Comparison between WMI and SI values in locus 1 by anatomic regions and taxa. Table 32: Comparison between WMI and SI values in locus 7 by anatomic regions and taxa. Table 33: WMI and SI values for locus 8 by anatomic regions and taxa. Table 34: Scheffe post hoc tests between taxonomic groups and atlas dimensions (width, length and height) in locus 1. Table 35: Body mass (gr) and standard length (mm) estimated by taxa from loci 1 and 7. Table 36: Estimation of fish dietary value from predicted mean body mass (BM) and MNI. Table 37: Fish exploitation index by loci. Table 38: Frequency (NISP) and percentage for naturally deposited fish remains by family. Table 39: Frequency (NISP) for naturally deposited fish by family, depositional location, and depth. Table 40: Frequency (NISP) for naturally deposited fish by genus, depositional location, and depth. Table 41: NISP, species richness and Brillouin index calculated for naturally deposited fish. Table 42: NISP and MNI calculated for naturally deposited fish by taxa and sampling area. Table 43: NISP, standardized NISP, and richness values calculated for naturally deposited fish in sampling areas.