Tel Aviv University The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities The Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures DIACHRONIC PATTERNS OF ANIMAL EXPLOITATION IN THE SINAI PENINSULA Thesis Submitted For The Degree of “Doctor of Philosophy” by LIORA ROCHELLE KOLSKA HORWITZ under the supervision of (the late) Prof. Eitan Tchernov and Prof. Israel Finkelstein Submitted to the Senate of Tel Aviv University December 2005 this work was carried out under the supervision of (the late) Prof. Eitan Tchernov & Prof. Israel Finkelstein Department of Evolution, Department of Archaeology & Systematics & Ecology Near Eastern Cultures The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Tel Aviv University Acknowledgements The many people I wish to thank can be divided into two groups - those who continued to nag me and those who gave up !! To all I offer my warm and sincere thanks for the discussions, criticism, assistance, encouragement, anger and good humour over the years. It is with sadness that I offer my special gratitude to my dear mentor, friend and colleague the late Prof. Eitan Tchernov. His encouragement and guidance serve as a continuing inspiration. I hope he would have greeted this work with the enthusiasm and critical erudition that characterised his life and work. My long suffering supervisor Prof. Israel Finkelstein whose challenging research on communities living “on the fringe” has served as a touch-stone for much of the research presented here. Prof. Aharon Horowitz for his continued support and assistance in all matters – intellectual and amicable. Prof. Patricia Smith an unparalleled mistress of both criticism and encouragement – my warm thanks for having persisted so long and so hard. The many archaeologists who entrusted me with the “fruits of their labours” in Sinai – without their material, knowledge and input this project would obviously have not been possible: Dr. Uzi Avner (Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Eilat), Prof. Ofer Bar-Yosef (Harvard University), Prof. Itzhaq Beit-Arieh (Tel Aviv University), Prof. Avi Gopher (Tel Aviv University), Mr. Avner Goren (Jerusalem), Prof. Nigel Goring-Morris (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Dr. Zeev Meshel (Tel Aviv University), Prof. Eliezer Oren (Ben-Gurion University, Beersheva), Prof. Jim Phillips (University of Illinois at Chicago). Colleagues, in Israel and abroad, for their input and invaluable assistance in providing access to data (often unpublished) and publications: Dr. Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer (Haifa University), Prof. Louis Chaix (retired-Musée de Histoire Naturelle, Genéve), Dr. Juliet Clutton-Brock (retired-Natural History Museum, London), Prof. Avinoam Danin (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Prof. Achille Gautier (Rijksuniversiteit, Gent), Dr. Caroline Grigson (retired- Odontological Museum, London), Dr. Sheila Hamilton-Dyer (Southampton, UK), Prof. Omri Lernau (Haifa University), Dr. Louise Martin (University College, London), Dr. Henk K. Mienis (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Dr. Wim Van Neer (Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren), Prof. Angela von den Driesch (retired-Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich), Dr. Avi Perevolotsky (Beit Dagan, Rehovot), Prof. Joris Peters (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich), Prof. Steve Rosen (Ben-Gurion University, Beersheva), Dr. Jacqueline Studer (Musée de Histoire Naturelle, Genéve). Dr. Rivka Rabinovich, curator of the mammal collection in the Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology at The Hebrew University with whom I have worked, talked, drunk and eaten for almost as long as I have worked in archaeozoology. My colleagues in the Jerusalem zoo-lab in recent years: Shoshana Ashkenazi, Theodora Bar-El, Gali Beiner, Miriam Belmaker, Gila Kahila-Bar-Gal, Ron Kehati, Hadas Motro, Yoav Motro, Shlomo Simchowitz, Tabitha Stoker-Hofland. My family and friends - a lesson in persistence. “For every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns threatens to disappear irretrievably” Walter Benjamin -Theses on the Philosophy of History1- 1 W. Benjamin (1955) Schriften, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents List of Tables and Appendix List of Figures Abstract Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background 1.1.1 The desert regions of the southern Levant 1.1.2 The Sinai Peninsula 1.2 Objectives 1.3 Excavations and samples 1.3.1 Excavation methods 1.3.2 Archaeozoological methods 1.3.3 Constraints 1.3.4 Conclusions Chapter 2: The Physical Geography, Flora and Fauna of Sinai 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Geomorphological regions of Sinai 2.2.1 Southern Sinai 2.2.2 Central Sinai 2.2.3 Northern Sinai 2.3 The present-day vertebrate fauna of Sinai 2.3.1 Insectivores 2.3.2 Chiroptera 2.3.3 Small mammals and rodents 2.3.4 Carnivores 2.3.5 Wild ungulates 2.3.6 Reptiles 2.3.7 Amphibians 2.3.8 Birds 2.3.9 Marine mammals 2.3.10 Fish 2.3.11 Domestic mammals 2.4 Conclusions Chapter 3: And Time Stood Still: Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers in Southern Sinai 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Neolithic research in Sinai 3.3 Additional PPNB fauna from Sinai 3.3.1 Wadi Tbeik 3.3.2 Ujret el-Mehed 3.3.3 Sheikh III 3.3.4 Wadi Ahmar, Site 590 3.3.5 Mushabi VI 3.4 This study 3.4.1 Gebel Rubsha 3.4.2 Abu Madi III 3.5 Are cattle present in the PPNB sites of Sinai ? 3.6 Climatic evidence from the fauna 3.7 Inter-site comparison 3.8 The faunal record and transhumance 3.9 Spatial and temporal trends in the southern Levant and Egypt 3.9.1 Levantine MPPNB 3.9.2 Levantine LPPNB 3.9.3 Levantine Final PPNB/PPNC 3.9.4 Egypt 4.0 Conclusions Chapter 4: The Grass is Greener on the Other Side: The Origins and Evolution of Pastoralism in Sinai 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Late Neolithic/Pottery Neolithic 4.3 The Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age I 4.3.1 The North Sinai Survey 4.3.1.1 The finds 4.3.1.2 Conclusions 4.3.2 Southern Sinai - Masseboth incorporated in tombs 4.3.2.1. The finds 4.3.3 Southern Sinai - Shrines 4.3.3.1 The finds 4.3.3.2 Conclusions 4.3.3.3. Summary 4.3.4 Southern Sinai - The Nawamis fields 4.3.4.1 Cultural remains 4.3.4.2 Faunal remains 4.3.4.3 Conclusions 4.3.5 Southern Sinai - The Nawamis habitation sites 4.3.5.1. The finds 4.3.6 Published sites from Sinai 4.3.7 Conclusions 4.4 Early Bronze Age II 4.4.1 Background 4.4.2 Published faunal studies 4.4.3 New faunal studies 4.4.4 Conclusions 4.5 Conclusions Chapter 5: Livestock for the Limes: Identification of State Provisioning of New Kingdom Military-Administrative Centres 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The model 5.3 Literary sources on provisioning 5.3.1 Food given as wages/rations: quality and quantity 5.3.2 Provisions from tribute/tax 5.3.3 Mechanism of provisioning 5.3.4 Conclusion 5.4 New Kingdom military-administrative centres 5.4.1 Introduction 5.4.2 The New Kingdom sites 5.4.2.1.1 Site BEA-10 (Bir el-Abd) 5.4.2.1.2 Site A-289 (Haruba or Haruvit) 5.4.2.1.3 Site A-345 5.4.2.1.4 Site A-343 5.4.3 Discussion Chapter 6: The Identification of Site Function Based on Animal Remains: The Case of Kuntillet 'Ajrud (Horvat Teiman), North-East Sinai 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Faunal remains from ‘Ajrud 6.2.1. Artiodactyls 6.2.2. Carnivores 6.2.3. Small Mammals, birds and reptiles 6.2.4. Fish 6.2.5. Molluscs 6.3 Discussion 6.3.1. Depositional history of the assemblage 6.3.2. Spatial distribution 6.3.3. Species representation 6.4. Conclusions Chapter 7: The Sacred Summit: Fauna from a Nabataean Sanctuary on Gebel Serbal 7.1. Introduction 7.2. The sanctuary 7.3. Molluscs 7.4. The Fauna 7.4.1. Terrestrial mammals 7.4.2 Bird remains 7.5 Discussion Chapter 8: Discussion and Conclusions 8.1 Faunal biogeography 8.2 Diachronic patterns in settlement type and animal subsistence 8.3 Paleoclimate Bibliography Tables and Appendix Figures Hebrew Abstract LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Sites studied listed by period Table 2.1 Presence/absence of the main wild taxa in the Sinai Peninsula until the 20th century Table 3.1 Species representation in PPNB sites from Sinai Table 3.2 Goat bone fusion data for PPNB sites Table 3.3 Gazelle bone fusion data for PPNB sites Table 3.4a Skeletal element representation – Goat (NISP counts) Table 3.4b %MAU (Minimum Animal Units) for goat and gazelle from PPNB sites and the %MGUI (Modified General Utility Index) for sheep (after Binford 1978). Table 3.5 Skeletal element representation- Gazelle (NISP) Table 3.6 Capra measurements Table 3.7 Bone mineral density (BMD) values for Capra Table 3.8 Gazella measurements Table 3.9 Bone mineral density (BMD) values for Gazella Table 3.10 Biotopes exploited Table 3.11 Seasonality scheme for PPNB sites in Sinai Table 4.1 Radiocarbon dates of Late Neolithic /Pottery Neolithic sites discussed in the text Table 4.2 Radiocarbon dates for Chalcolithic and EBI-EB II sites discussed in the text Table 4.3 Species and sketelal elements represented in Chalcolithic sites in North Sinai (NISP counts) Table 4.4 Taxa represented in the 4th millennium BC Masseboth sites and shrines from southern Sinai Table 4.5 Sheep/goat skeletal element representation at the shrines of Wadi Sa’al and Wadi Daba’iyeh Table 4.6a Capra bone measurements from Chalcolithic-EB I sites Table 4.6b Other species bone measurements from Chalcolithic-EB I sites Table 4.7 Faunal remains from the nawamis tombs (given as NISP counts) Table 4.8 Faunal remains from the nawamis habitation sites Table 4.9 Age based on bone fusion of goats and ibex Table 4.10a Skeletal elements represented at Gunna 25 and 50 (NISP counts) Table 4.10b Values for goat from Gunna sites 25 and 50: % Completeness (based on an MNI estimate of 5 animals); %MAU (Minimum Animal Units); %MGUI (Modified General Utility Index) and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) (based on summed scan values).