Implicationsof Age StructuresforEpipaleolithic HuntingStrategiesin the WesternTaurus Mountains,Southwest Turkey LeventATICI Departmentof Anthropology Mail Stop 455003 University of Nevada, LasVegas LasVegas,NV89154-5003 (U.S.A.) [email protected] AticiL.2009. —Implicationsof Age StructuresforEpipaleolithicHunting Strategiesin the WesternTaurus Mountains,Southwest Turkey. Anthropozoologica 44(1):13-39. ABSTRACT Thispaperinvestigateshunter-gathererbehavioralstrategiesduring the Epipaleolithicperiodin thewesternTaurus MountainsofMediterranean Turkey.Sevenarchaeofaunalassemblagesexcavated from Karain Band Öküzini caveswereanalyzed andinterpreted withaspecialemphasison age structuresandtheirimplicationsforgeneralhunting strategies,sitefunction KEYWORDS anduse, andseasonality.Adetailed analysisofagestructuresbased on dental Karain, wearandepiphysealfusion datacombined withotherzooarchaeological Öküzini, Turkey, evidence hasrevealed thathunter-gatherers in theWesternTaurus Mountains Epipaleolithic, intensivelyhunted wildsheepandgoat,mostlytargeted prime-ageanimals, Seasonality, shifted from seasonallyrestricted siteuseandhunting tounrestricted Mortality Profiles, DiscreteAgeCohorts, multiseasonalsiteuseandhunting pattern,andprogressivelyhunted larger Synchronized Killing. numberofjuvenilecaprinesthroughout theEpipaleolithic. RÉSUMÉ Incidence desrépartitions parâge dans lesstratégiesde chassedurantl’Épipaléo- lithiquedans lachaîneduTaurus,sud-ouestde laTurquie. Cetarticleaborde lesstratégiescomportementalesdeschasseurs-cueilleurs durantl’ÉpipaléolithiquedanslachaîneduTaurus occidentalde laTurquie méditerranéenne.Septensemblesfauniquesprovenantdessitesde Karaïn Bet d’Öküzini ontétéanalysésetinterprétés,mettantl’accentsur lesrépartitions parâgeetleurs implicationssur lesstratégiescynégétiquesgénérales,la fonction etl’utilisation dusite, etlasaisonnalité.L’analysedétaillée des répartitionsparâge, d’aprèsl’analysedel’usuredentaireetlesdonnéesde ANTROPOZOOLOGICA •2009•44 (1) ©PublicationsScientifiquesduMuséumnationald’Histoirenaturelle,Paris. 13 AticiL. MOTS CLÉS lafusion épiphysaire, combinée àd’autresdonnéesarchéozoologiques, Karain, montrequeleschasseurs-cueilleurs desmontagnesduTaurus occidental Öküzini, Turquie, ontchasséintensivementdesmoutonsetdeschèvressauvages,quelachasse Epipaléolithique, visaitprincipalementdesanimaux jeunes,qu’ilssesontdéplacésde sites saisonnalité, saisonniers,strictementréservésàlachassevers dessitesmultisaisonniers, profilsde mortalité, famillesd’âgedistinctes, non-dédiésspécifiquementàlachasse, etqu’ilsontabattu progressivementet abattagesynchronisé. majoritairementde jeunescaprinésdurantl’Épipaléolithique. INTRODUCTION archaeologicallyobserved EpipaleolithicLevantine forageradaptations(TheLevantinemodel) andtheir TheEpipaleolithicperiodmarked aperiodofinten- applicability toothersub-regionsoftheNearEast. sivechangesin hunter-gathererbehavioralstrategies Thescarcity ofresearchonAnatolianEpipaleolithic thatled totheemergence ofagriculturaleconomies in generalandlackofcomprehensivefaunalanalysis during theTerminalPleistoceneandEarlyHolocene from AnatolianEpipaleolithicsitesin particular in theNearEast.Thechangesfrom UpperPaleolithic leavethiscrucialsub-region oftheNearEast largely subsistence strategiesasreflected in thefaunalrecord unknown. Thecorpus ofdataaccumulated through oftheEpipaleolithicoftheeasternMediterranean extensiveresearchonthefaunalassemblagesfrom andoftheLevantgenerallywere: well-dated stratigraphiccontexts ofKarain Band (1) intensified hunting ofungulatessuchasgazelles Öküzini makesthesesitestheonlycurrentlyavaila- (e.g.,Davis1983; Bar-Yosef 2002; Bar-Oz2004; blecandidatesforinvestigatinganimalexploitation Bar-Oz etal. 2004;Munro2004;Munro& patternsduring theEpipaleolithicin Anatolia, and Bar-Oz2005); forcomparing thesepatternswiththosein other (2)increased dietary breadth,whichisoftenreferred sub-regionsoftheNearEast. toasthe“broad-spectrumrevolution”(originally Besidesinvestigating generalhunting strategies, coined byFlannery 1969) andwhichinvolved thispaperseekstotest whethertherewasatrajec- intensified exploitation ofsmall gamesuchashare, tory towardprogressivelyyoungeragestructures tortoise, andbirds(e.g.,Dobneyetal.,1999;Munro andashifttowardmoresedentary life ways during 1999,2004;Stiner2001,2005;Stineretal. 2000; theinvestigated part oftheEpipaleolithicperiod Surovell 1999;Weiss etal.,2004); (from ca.20,000 to14,000 calibrated years BP)in (3)increased selectivehunting ofjuvenileanimals thewesternTaurus MountainsofMediterranean (e.g.,Bar-Yosef andMeadow1995;Davis1983; Turkeyasobserved in EpipaleolithicLevantine LeggeandRowley-Conwy 1987; Liebermann 1993a; faunalassemblages.Adetailed analysisofage Munro2004);and structuresbased on dentalwearandepiphyseal (4) increased duration oftheoccupation atsame fusion datahasbeenprimarilyused todetermine sitesorashifttowardmoresedentary life ways (e.g., whetherproportionsofyoung animalsin thefaunal Bar-Yosef andBelfer-Cohen1989;Davis1983; assemblagesremained constantorprogressively Lieberman1993b, 1998;Moore1985;Mooreand increased overtime.Afocus on thejuvenilecaprine Hillman1992; Nadeletal. 2004;Rocek1998; teethfrom theEpipaleolithic“bonebed”atKarain Tchernov1982,1984;Valla1998, 1999). BCaveandfrom contemporaneous stratafrom Theseadaptivestrategieshavebeenthoughttohave Öküzini Cavehasbeenused toidentifydiscrete laidthefoundation fortheemergence ofanimal agecohortsandsynchronized killing ofcaprines, domestication andpastoraleconomiesin theNear andtodeterminewhetherÖküzini andKarain East.Assuch,itisessentialtoestablishindividual Bcaveshad multiseasonalsiteusepatternsanda chronologicalandculturalframeworksforeachsub- shifttowardmoresedentary life ways during the region oftheNearEast,andtotest thevalidity of Epipaleolithic. 14 ANTHROPOZOOLOGICA •2009•44 (1) ImplicationsofAgeStructuresforEpipaleolithicHunting Strategies(Southwest Turkey) A GE S TRUCTURES AND H UNTING S TRATEGIES specialized responseandheavy reliance on asingle Dataderived from theanalysesoftootherup- resource;alowrichness anddiversity ofecofactual tion andwearandofepiphysealfusion ofungu- andartifactualassemblagessuggesting brief occu- latesrepresented in archaeofaunalassemblages pationsbysmallernumbers ofpeopleperforming havecommonlybeenused todemonstratethe restricted and/orspecialized activities; aprime-domi- demographyofmortality andtointerpretgeneral nated orcatastrophicmortality profile(e.g. mass hunting strategies(Kurten1953; Voorhies1969; kills);andrestricted,seasonalhuntingconsistent Klein 1982; Koike&Ohtaishi 1987; Stiner1990, withpreybehaviorassociated withlargenumbers of 1991;Lubinski 2001a, b;Lubinski &O’Brien2001; animalsanddiscretecohorts.Incontrast,residential Pike-Tay&Cosgrove2002). Mammalianage mobility orforagers produce amoregeneralized and structureshavebeenused toinfermobility patterns opportunisticresponsetolocalresources; deposits andsitefunction aswell astointerprethunting containing ahigh richness ordiversity ofecofactual strategies. andartifactualremainsreflecting amorecomplete Overrepresentation ofprime-age, adultanimals setofactivitiesperformedbyalargernumberof compared tovery young orvery oldanimalspoints people;acombined mortality profileofattrition and to‘selectivehunting’(Stiner1990). Enloe(1997: prime-agetargeting ofsmallernumberofanimals 101) notesthatprimedominated hunting probably (e.g.,singlekills);andunrestricted, multi-seaso- involved selection bysexandage.Theprime-age nal,small hunting episodeswithsmall numbers dominated patternmayreflectselection forlargest ofanimals(Binford1980; Sutton 2000; Pike-Tay sizeorthemeatiest gameafteradrive, selection &Cosgrove2002; Burke2006). whenscavenging from acatastrophickill event,or Seasonality maybe defined astemporalperiodicity skilled hunters selecting primeanimals(Pike-Tay in resource useaswell asin siteuse.Seasonality and &Cosgrove2002:106). Based on theirstudiesof function anduseofsitesareall interrelated aspects of theSikadeergamepopulationsattheHokkaido mobility patternsandsettlementsystems,informing Reservein Japan,KoikeandOhtaishi (1987)report us about patternsofsocialorganization (Rocek& thathunting withbows andarrows andtargeting Bar-Yosef 1998). Thus,itisessentialthatsiteuse animalsonebyoneproduce astrongerselection andfunction,andseasonality ofresource procu- among thegameanimals,creating abiasagainst rementbe included in anydiscussion ofhunting fawnsandyearlings.‘Fawn-abundant’ patterns,in strategies.Oneshouldexpecttodetectvariationsin contrast,suggest adifferenthunting technique, most taxonomiccomposition depending upon whether probablytrapping,andproduce acatastrophicage asitehasrestricted seasonaluseorunrestricted profile(Koike&Ohtaishi 1987:265). multiseasonaluse.Intheformercase, acollector sitetypefocusing on oneortwotaxawill create S EASONALITYOF H UNTING AND S ITE U SE faunalspectradominated bytargeted preydueto Thestudyofpast hunter-gathereradaptationsand its seasonalabundance.Inthelattercase, amore theirresource procurementstrategiesusuallybegins opportunisticandgeneralized hunting strategywill withaneffort totypeanarchaeologicalsiteusing include almost every preyformencountered. theconventionaltaxonomyofmobility patterns conceptualized byBinford(1980). Twomodelsof prehistoricmobility patternsthathavebeenreco- REGIONALSETTING OF THE SITES gnized forhunter-gatherers are: 1) circulating or residential mobility offoragers, Karain (BlackCave)andÖküzini (OxenCave) who ‘movepeopletoresources’; cavesarelocated 1kmapart in thefoothillsofthe 2) radiating or logistical mobility ofcollectors,who