Under the supervision of Dr. Natalie D. Munro, Austin C. Hill will study the emergence of social complexity during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. The Chalcolithic period in this area is a key transitional period between the egalitarian, village-based agricultural social systems of the Neolithic and the hierarchical, socially-stratified urban social systems of the Early Bronze Age. To date, however, few studies have examined the changes in subsistence strategies that may have triggered this fundamental shift in social organization. Social change in the Levantine Chalcolithic will be identified using a number of lines of zooarchaeological evidence for food production and consumption at the Middle Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf, Israel.
This research will address the timing of the development of social ranking and differentiation in the Levant by examining changes in food production and management systems. Although many have argued for the presence or absence of emergent chiefdom level political systems in the Levantine Chalcolithic, there have been relatively few attempts to document the degree of social differentiation within specific sites. Similarly, no research to date has yielded conclusive answers to the question of the degree to which secondary animal products, such as dairy, wool, and labour, played a role in Chalcolithic economies. Finally, although the role that feasting can play in creating and maintaining social categories is widely agreed upon, few studies have adequately identified the presence and function of feasts at specific sites in the past. Issues of social complexity will be investigated using three independent lines of zooarchaeological evidence. First, herd production strategies will be identified to investigate the degree of centralization of production and the presence of secondary products specialization. Second, the spatial patterning of fauna will be documented across architectural features and public spaces to characterize the degree of social stratification. Finally, analysis of the fauna from individual contexts will be used to identify ritual and feasting behavior at the site. Feasting is a key social mechanism in complex societies that is often used to create and maintain individual prestige and group political boundaries.
Impacts of the research include contributions to the field of anthropological archaeology by incorporating cross-disciplinary techniques, advancing understanding of the development of complex societies, and generating international collaboration. The spatial analysis portion of the study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data collection and analysis techniques that were developed primarily in the field of geography and until a decade ago were rarely utilized in archaeology. This research is part of a slowly growing trend toward high-resolution site level spatial analyses in archaeology. The analysis of the fauna from Tel Tsaf has already and will continue to provide valuable opportunities for student training in animal bone identification. Undergraduate volunteers with sufficient experience will have the opportunity to gain experience by helping with specimen identification in the zooarchaeology laboratory at the University of Connecticut.
This research aims to identify the early emergence of social complexity during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. This is a key transitional period between the egalitarian, village based agricultural social systems of the Neolithic and the hierarchical, socially stratified urban social systems in the Early Bronze. Social change in the Levantine Chalcolithic was examined using a number of lines of evidence for animal production and consumption at the site of Tel Tsaf, Israel. Tel Tsaf is a middle Chalcolithic village located in the Jordan River Valley, dating from 6800-6500 BP. It is one of the most important Chalcolithic sites yet excavated in the Levant. The site contains provocative hints of social stratification. The presence of up to 19 grain storage silos suggests significant surplus grain production, a key prerequisite for specialization and social differentiation. Imported pottery and beads attest to significant inter-regional trade systems, and the presence of clay seals to record economic transactions suggest administrative control of production. The patterned production and consumption of animals at Tel Tsaf provides critical information about the social organization of a small village during this period. On the one hand there is little evidence for a shift towards the specialized production of non-meat animal products, such as wool and milk, which are a hallmark of market economies in more complex societies. However, cattle remains at the site provide some of the earliest evidence for plowing in the region. The use of cattle for plowing likely enabled the large scale surplus production of agriculture. Surplus food production is a key requisite in the development of social differentiation, allowing a portion of the population to be freed from food production. Finally, the distribution of food remains found among households at the site suggest that not all households had access to the same variety of foods. There is a significant variation of species consumed among households, with strong spatial evidence for feasting in some, suggesting the development of social differentiation.
