Between cities and villages: the livestock economy in historical Palestine

Linoy Namdar*, Yuval Gadot, Lidar Sapir-Hen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study aims at establishing a historically based model of animal husbandry in urban and rural settlements, in the Southern Levant. This type of model is required in the field of zooarchaeology, to better analyze and study ancient faunal remains. It also applies a non-traditional method to study and differentiate between urban and rural economies. For this aim, we used British Mandate tax files and village statistics. These are the best available historical documents for this period, that recorded herds management statistics in all settlements of Palestine. We selected only settlements inhabited by the indigenous population and divided the data into four environmental regions. We analyzed the livestock abundance and herd demography in each region. Each urban center was considered independently, while the rural villages were classified into three groups, based on the most common livestock (cattle, sheep, or goats). Results show economic variations between urban and rural settlements as well as regional trends, such as in pastoralism and agricultural management. In addition, meat industries were common in most urban centers, being the primary difference from rural economies. We applied this model to two large zooarchaeological case studies, dating from the Early Islamic to the Ottoman period; Mount Zion, located in the urban city of Jerusalem, and Tel Beth Shemesh (East), whose size and nature were not historically recorded. We found that the economic variations reflected in the model were also present in the faunal assemblages.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105
JournalArchaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Volume16
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2024

Funding

FundersFunder number
Tel Aviv University
Villages and Urban Centers’ Economy and Trade Relations
Rotenshtrich Foundation
Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology

    Keywords

    • Herd management
    • Historical archaeology
    • Livestock economy
    • Urban and rural economy
    • Zooarchaeology

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