The Tundzha Regional Archaeology Project : Surface Survey, Palaeoecology, and Associated Studies in Central and Southeast Bulgaria, 2009-2015 Final Report

This book is the first in a series of volumes which form the published proceedings of the 9th meeting of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ), held in Durham in 2002. The 35 papers present a series of case studies from around the world. They stretch beyond the standard zooarchaeological topics of economy and ecology, and consider how zooarchaeological research can contribute to our understanding of human behaviour and social systems. The volume is divided into two parts. Part 1, Beyond Calories, focuses on the zooarchaeology of ritual and religion. Contributors discuss ways to approach questions of ritual and religion through the faunal record, and consider how material culture depicting and/or associated with animals can provides clues about ideology, religious practices and the role of animals within spiritual systems. Part 2, Equations for Inequality, looks at questions of identity, status and other forms of social differentiation in former human societies. Contributors discuss how differences in food consumption, nutrition, and food procurement strategies can be related to various forms of social differentiation among individuals and groups. Preface / Peter Rowley-conwy, Umberto Albarella, Keith Dobney -- Introduction / Sharyn Jones O'day, Wim Van Neer, Anton Ervynck -- Beyond Calories: The Zooarchaeology Of Ritual And Religion -- Feasting With The Dead?--a Ritual Bone Deposit At Domuztepe, South Eastern Turkey (c. 5550 Cal Bc) / Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Stuart Campbell -- Animal Offerings Found In Necropoleis Belonging To Santana Of Mures-cerniahov Culture From The East And The South Extra-carpathian Zones Of Romania / Simina Stanc, Luminita Bejenaru -- Caprines And Toads: Taphonomic Patterning Of Animal Offering Practices In A Late Bronze Age Burial Assemblage / Lior Weissbrod, Guy Bar-oz -- The Butchering Patterns Of Gamla And Yodefat: Beginning The Search For Kosher Practices / Carole Cope -- Predynastic Egyptian Bovid Burial In The Elite Cemetery At Hierakonpolis / Sylvia Warman -- Typhonic Bones: A Ritual Deposit From Saqqara? / Salima Ikram -- Bones And Bowls: A Preliminary Interpretation Of The Faunal Remains From The Punic Levels In Area B, At The Temple Of Tas-silg, Malta / Andre Corrado, Anthony Bonanno, Nicholas C. Vella -- An Iron Age Bone Assemblage From Durezza Cave, Carinthia, Austria: Detecting Ritual Behaviour Through Archaeozoological And Taphonomical Analyses / Alfred Galik -- Ritual Feasting In The Irish Iron Age: Re-examining The Fauna From Dun Ailinne In Light Of Contemporary Archaeological Theory / Pam Crabtree -- The Economic And Non-economic Animal: Roman Depositions And Offerings / Roel C. G. M. Lauwerier -- Roman Suovitaurilia And Its Predecessors / Barbara Wilkens -- Gastronomy Or Religion? : The Animal Remains From The Mithraeum At Tienen (belgium) / An Lentacker, Anton Ervynck And Wim Van Neer -- Prehispanic Guinea Pig Sacrifices In Southern Perú, The Case Of El Yaral / Juan Rofes -- Animals From The Maya Underworld : Reconstructing Elite Maya Ritual At The Cueva De Los Quetzales, Guatemala / Kitty F. Emery -- Observations On The Religious Content Of He Animal Imagery Of The Gran Coclé Semiotic Tradition Of Pre-columbian Panama / Richard Cooke -- Identifying Ritual Use Of Animals In The Northern American Southwest / Robert J. Muir And Jonathan C. Driver -- Facts And Fantasies : The Archaeology Of The Marquesan Dog / Sidsel N. Millerstrom -- Past And Present Perspectives On Secular Ritual : Food And The Fisherwomen Of The Lau Islands, Fiji / Sharyn Jones O'day -- Early Evidence Of Economic Specialization Or Social Differentiation : A Case Study From The Neolithic Lake Shore Settlement Arbon-bleiche 3 (switzerland) / Elisabeth Marti-grädel, Sabine Deschler-erb, Heide Hüster-plogmann And Jörg Schibler -- Levels Of Social Identity Expressed In The Refuse And Worked Bone From Middle Bronze Age Százhalombatta-földvár, Vatya Culture, Hungary / Alice M. Choyke, Maria Vretemark And Sabine Sten -- Animal Husbandry And Centralized Cultures : How Social And Political Factors Can Influence Rural Lifestyle / Giovanni Siracusano -- Food For The Dead, The Priest, And The Mayor : Looking For Status And Identity In The Middle Kingdom Settlement At South Abydos, Egypt / Stine Rossel -- Remains Of Traded Fish In Archaeological Sites : Indicators Of Status, Or Bulk Food? / Wim Van Neer And Anton Ervynck -- Orant, Pugnant, Laborant : The Diet Of The Three Orders In The Feudal Society Of Medieval North-western Europe / Anton Ervynck -- Dietary Habits Of A Monastic Community As Indicated By Animal Bone Remains From Early Modern Age In Austria / Alfred Galik And Günther Karl Kunst -- Status As Reflected In Food Refuse Of Late Medieval Noble And Urban Households At Namur (belgian) / Fabienne Pigière, Ides Boone, Mircea Udrescu, Wim Van Neer And Sofie Vanpoucke -- Food, Status And Formation Processes : A Case Study From Medieval England / Jonathan C. Driver -- Animal Bones As Indicators Of Kosher Food Refuse From 14th Century Ad Buda, Hungary / László Daróczi-szabó -- Ethnic Traditions In Meat Consumption And Herding At A 16th Century Cumanian Settlement In The Great Hungarian Plain / Éva Ágnes Nyerges -- Rich, Poor, Shaman, Child : Animals, Rank, And Status In The Gran Coclé Culture Area Of Pre-columbian Panama / Richard Cooke -- Hunting And Social Differentiation In The Late Prehispanic American Southwest / James M. Potter -- Zooarchaeological Evidence For Changing Socioeconomic Status Within Early Historic Native American Communities In Mid-atlantic North America / Heather A. Lapham -- Implications Of Risk Theory For Understanding Nineteenth Century Slave Diets In The Southern United States / Justin S. E. Lev-tov -- Cultural Identity And The Consumption Of Dogs In Western Africa / Veerle Linseele -- Hunting Practices And Consumption Patterns In Rural Communities In The Rif Mountains (morocco) : Some Ethno-zoological Notes / Marta Moreno-garcía. Edited By Sharyn Jones O'day, Wim Van Neer And Anton Ervynck. Proceedings Of The 9th Conference Of The International Council Of Archaeozoology, Durham, August 2002. Includes Bibliographical References. This volume presents the results of diachronic archaeological and palaeoecological research conducted in two study areas: the intermontane Kazanlak Valley along the Upper Tundzha River of central Bulgaria, and the Thracian Plain along the Middle Tundzha River south of the city of Yambol in southeastern Bulgaria. The Tundzha Regional Archaeology Project (TRAP), a cooperative effort including Australian, Bulgarian, and Czech investigators, undertook archaeological survey and environmental sampling between 2009-2011. Major field activities of the project included over 100 sq km of systematic pedestrian survey, legacy data verification and mapping, trial excavations, artefact processing, and environmental sampling in and around the study areas. Through this research, TRAP inventoried over 100 surface artefact concentrations and 800 burial mounds. At the heart of the volume is a geospatial analysis of settlement patterns derived from the survey dataset, which relates the footprint of past human activities to environmental and sociocultural drivers. We also present a range of associated studies conducted between 2009-2015: histories of archaeological research in both study areas, soil erosion and productivity modelling in the Kazanlak Valley, reconstruction of a 30,000-year environmental history based on samples from a wetland in the Thracian Plain north of Yambol, investigation of palaeodiet using isotope analysis of human remains from Bronze Age burials in the Yambol study area, exploration of shifting Roman occupation patterns based on trial excavations in the Yambol area, research into subsistence strategies based on palaeobotanical evidence recovered from one of the Yambol area trial excavations, analysis of trade and exchange based on the transport amphorae fragments recovered during Yambol-area survey, and epigraphic comparison and synthesis of Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman inscriptions from the two study areas. Finally, TRAP has produced a granular digital dataset of surface artefacts and features unparalleled in Bulgaria to promote reinterpretation of our results, encourage secondary studies, and foster comparative research. About the Author: Shawn Ross is a Professor in the Department of Ancient History, Maquarie University, Sydney. His research interests include the history and archaeology of pre-Classical Greece, oral tradition as history (especially Homer and Hesiod), the archaeology of prehistoric and ancient Thrace, Greece in its wider Mediterranean and Balkan context, and the application of information technology to the humanities. HISTORY / Europe / General