One central question which archaeologists pose concerns the processes which gave rise to the complex large scale societies in which almost all humans live today. The roots of one major civilization lie in the Near East and the goal of this research is to gain understanding into an early stage of this development which was closely tied to the domestication of plants and animals.
Hannah Lau, under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Carter, will employ data from animal bones from archaeological contexts (faunal assemblages) to assess cooperation and interaction among settled and mobile farmers and herders at the Late Neolithic Halaf (ca. 6100-5200 cal. BCE) site of Domuztep in Kahramanmara Province, Turkey. Lau will combine data gleaned from both zooarchaeological analysis and analyses of strontium, carbon, and oxygen isotopes from teeth specimens of domestic animals to examine economic coordination among people in both daily subsistence activities and in the feasting events at Domuztepe. Through these analyses this study will reveal ancient peoples? management choices regarding their livestock, an important aspect of their political economy.
Mesopotamian case studies are among the most frequently invoked in anthropological discussions of the evolution of social complexity. This study evaluates the scale of cooperative social and economic networks in the Halaf social system and will clarify the processes by which political complexity arose in Upper Mesopotamia. The extent and degree of political complexity during the Halaf period in Northern Mesopotamia is strongly contested. The objective of this research is to use zooarchaeological and isotopic data to explore several interrelated processes: 1) to document resource and labor coordination at the site, 2) to determine whether more mobile groups contributed to and participated in large-scale feasting events, and if so, to determine if such cooperation differs or mirrors day-to-day subsistence practices, and 3) to assess the elaboration of communal rituals like feasts and their impact on animal management practices among fulltime residents at Domuztepe and possible mobile components of the population. Feasts provide a way to study Neolithic socioeconomic and political organization since they entail explicit cooperation among participants and offer an opportunity for social and political relationships to be reified, amplified or even transformed.
This study has implications beyond the immediate project of clarifying resource and labor coordination at Halaf Domuztepe, and in the region more broadly. The project contributes critical data to broader discussions of how political complexity emerges, contextualizing modern processes of political complexity and resource management. It will contribute to the developing body of knowledge of heavy and light isotope profiles found throughout southern Turkey, laying the foundation for future work in the area. Additionally, this work will enable Lau to undergo essential training to develop new analytical skills, including valuable laboratory experience analyzing and understanding stable isotopes. These skills will further her ability to interpret faunal assemblages, broadening the scope of future research projects that will contribute to understandings of human-animal relations. Finally, this project facilitates international scholarly exchange as part of a longterm international research collaboration between institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The results of this study will be made available to the public through open access data publication, public presentations and traditional scholarly venues.
