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Preliminary Ethnoarchaeological Research on Modern Animal Husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: Integrating Animal, Plant and Environmental Data

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Preliminary Ethnoarchaeological Research on Modern Animal Husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: Integrating Animal, Plant and Environmental Data CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Central Archive at the University of Reading Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: integrating animal, plant and environmental data Article Published Version Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 (CC-BY) Open Acess Elliott, S., Bendrey, R., Whitlam, J., Aziz, K. R. and Evans, J. (2015) Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: integrating animal, plant and environmental data. Environmental Archaeology: the Journal of Human Palaeoecology, 20 (3). pp. 283-303. ISSN 1461-4103 doi: https://doi.org/10.1179/1749631414Y.0000000025 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/39956/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from the work. Published version at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/1749631414Y.0000000025 To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/1749631414Y.0000000025 Publisher: Maney Publishing All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading's research outputs online Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur, Iraqi Kurdistan: Integrating animal, plant and environmental data Sarah Elliott1, Robin Bendrey1, Jade Whitlam1, Kamal Rauf Aziz2, Jane Evans3 1Department of Archaeology, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, UK, 2Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq, 3NERC Isotopes Geosciences Laboratory, Department of Archaeology, Nottingham University, UK This paper presents preliminary results from an ethnoarchaeological study of animal husbandry in the modern village of Bestansur, situated in the lower Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. This research explores how modern families use and manage their livestock within the local landscape and identifies traces of this use. The aim is to provide the groundwork for future archaeological investigations focusing on the nearby Neolithic site of Bestansur. This is based on the premise that modern behaviours can suggest testable patterns for past practices within the same functional and ecological domains. Semi- structured interviews conducted with villagers from several households provided large amounts of information on modern behaviours that helped direct data collection, and which also illustrate notable shifts in practices and use of the local landscape over time. Strontium isotope analysis of modern plant material demonstrates that a measurable variation exists between the alluvial floodplain and the lower foothills, while analysis of modern dung samples shows clear variation between sheep/goat and cow dung, in terms of numbers of faecal spherulites. These results are specific to the local environment of Bestansur and can be used for evaluating and contextualising archaeological evidence as well as providing modern reference material for comparative purposes. Keywords: Ethnoarchaeology, Animal husbandry, Farming, Stable isotope analysis, Herbivore dung, Iraqi Kurdistan Introduction environmental factors at a local and regional level, Ethnoarchaeological research has increasingly played and their influences on animal husbandry (e.g. an important role in the understanding and interpret- Bendrey 2011) and arable farming practices (e.g. ation of archaeological deposits (see David and Dreslerová et al. 2013) are essential for developing Kramer 2001: 1–32). This paper examines the understanding of animal and plant use and economies modern rural village of Bestansur in the foothills of at archaeological sites. the Zagros Mountains, Iraqi Kurdistan (Fig. 1). This This programme of ethnoarchaeological research ethnographic research has been developed in the integrates closely with our ongoing research on context of our excavations at the Early Neolithic site mapping modern landscape isotopic and ecological of Bestansur, located beside the modern village, and variables (Bendrey et al. 2013). Modern behaviours aims to contribute to archaeological analyses within can suggest testable patterns for past practices the framework of the Central Zagros Archaeological within the same topographical and ecological con- Project (http://www.czap.org). texts (e.g. seasonal use of different altitudes for The purpose of this study is to elucidate aspects of animal grazing), and if these areas are distinguishable the rural society and economy and how these function by analyses of the modern biosphere, we may then be in the landscape and environment surrounding the able to infer past use of these areas from isotopic village. Understanding the interplay of the varying analysis of archaeological finds (e.g. enamel in animal teeth formed at different seasons Bendrey Correspondence to: Sarah Elliott, Department of Archaeology, School of et al. in press, Balasse et al. 2002b). It is essential to Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of understand the full social and environmental context Reading, PO Box 227, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AB, UK. Email: [email protected] for integrated farming systems, to explore the © Association for Environmental Archaeology 2014 MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 3.0 DOI 10.1179/1749631414Y.0000000025 Environmental Archaeology 2014 VOL. 0 NO. 0 1 Elliott et al. Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur Figure 1 Location of the study area. drivers behind mobility, such as how mobile herding comparative datasets involves modern study of the practices may be associated with differing local use of plants and dung and to investigate spatial pat- resource pressures. terns of animal husbandry through isotopic analysis. This research aims to • Understand how modern families use and manage their livestock within the local landscape (season- Study Area ally/geographically) and elucidate links between Iraqi Kurdistan has a semi-arid climate with a strong animal and plant resources that are an essential con- continental component, characterised by cold and sideration for the elaboration of early Neolithic prac- snowy winters and long, warm and dry summers tices and the emergence of farming communities (e.g. (Table 1) (Maran and Stevanovic 2009). Normally Bogaard 2005; Henton 2012). there is no rainfall between June and September. • Explore signatures left behind by the occupations and Variation in the topography of Iraqi Kurdistan signifi- activities of this rural community (e.g. dung and local cantly influences rainfall distribution, with precipi- stable isotope ecology) that can potentially be ident- ified as archaeological signatures on Neolithic sites tation rates decreasing from the mountains of the such as Bestansur. north-east to the desert-steppe of the south-west – • Link the rural community to the physicality of the (Maran and Stevanovic 2009: 21 22). The significance landscape, seasonality, climate and the overall context of water availability on pastoral and arable farming is of the village, and evaluate constraints of the local not just a question of the quantity of precipitation, but environment on modern plant and animal husbandry. also evaporation rates, amongst other variables (Lioubimtseva and Henebry 2009; Bendrey 2011). In addition to addressing the need to explore signa- Table 1 presents average temperature, evaporation tures that may represent specific behaviours, which rate and rainfall for the region. could be recognised archaeologically, our research The modern settlement of Bestansur is a rural strategy involves the creation of comparative datasets farming village of approximately 50 households, for which there is a requirement and demand located at c.550 m above sea level and c.700 m from (Lancelotti and Madella 2012). Creating our the archaeological site (Fig. 2). The environment 2 Environmental Archaeology 2014 VOL. 0 NO. 0 Elliott et al. Preliminary ethnoarchaeological research on modern animal husbandry in Bestansur Table 1 Seasonal variation in the climate of Iraqi Kurdistan resulting in a substantial water source for the people Average Annual monthly of Bestansur. Average air evaporation percentage Archaeological excavations at Bestansur are investi- temperature rates (mm/ distribution of gating a Neolithic phase of activity at the site (http (°C) for Erbil day) for Erbil rainfall // (1959–1972)* (1966–1973)* (1941–1975)** : www.czap.org). These deposits at Bestansur rep- resent an Early Neolithic settlement, with rectilinear · · · January 7 119175 pise architecture, which is located within the river February 8·32·816·8 March 12·13·917·5 catchment area. The research presented in this paper April 16·36·013·8 is aimed at providing the groundwork for ongoing · · · May 22 79567 archaeological investigations at the site. June 28·213·50·0 July 31·816·00·0 The geology of the area is characterised by August 31·614·80·0 Cretaceous bedrock overlain by Quaternary alluvia- September 27·510·60·0 October 21·75·91·9 tion in the area, which supports modern arable November 14·93·39·9 farming (Saed Ali 2008). Beds of sandstone or siltstone December 8·92·115·9
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