Urbanism and Animal Exploitation in Southwest Highland Iran 3400-1500 B. C. (Volumes I and II) (Zooarchaeology).

Abstract

The problem addressed is the nature of urbanism, and the management and distribution of animal resources in early Near Eastern urban contexts. Urbanism is defined as a regional economic system characterized by specialization both between and within sets of productive and distributive activities, and which is coordinated by a state-level regulatory structure. Following this definition, animal resource production is predicted to be relatively unaffected by urban development as long as traditional management strategies provide sufficient resources to meet dem and . However, the distribution of animal resources is likely to be greatly affected. Urban dwellers practicing specialized craft production and administrative activities are not expected to produce their own food or procure it directly from producers, but are expected to receive meat through specialized, indirect channels. Faunal remains from the highl and Iranian urban center of Tal-e Malyan (3400 - 1500 B.C.) support these predictions. Assemblages from areas with evidence of specialized craft and administrative activities show the tightest focus on a limited range of types and ages of animals utilized, and evidence the receipt of cuts from specialized butchers--patterns indicative of indirect distribution. These patterns are less strong in areas of the site which evidence conduct of more generalized craft and domestic activities. Through periods of urban emergence and florescence at Malyan, indirect provisioning becomes increasingly pervasive; at least two separate provisioning systems can be traced. These systems continue, even intensify, in the final period of urban decay. Animal management is relatively unaffected by these changes in provisioning until this final period when supply is threatened. Management is more affected by changes in the balance of economic and political power between sedentary and pastoral populations in the region. This study demonstrates the utility of the proposed operational definition of urbanism in characterizing economic relations in an early example of urban society in Greater Mesopotamia. In so doing it promotes a better underst and ing of the key variables which lie at the core of the urban phenomenon. The study also takes zooarchaeological analysis beyond traditional confines of dietary and environmental reconstruction, and demonstrates the utility of faunal data in approaching fundamental questions about the operation of complex economies.