The development of goat and sheep herding during the Levantine Neolithic
This thesis examines the development of goat and sheep herding in the Levant during the Neolithic period, and focuses particularly on the emergence of caprines as major early domesticates and the development of specialised pastoral economies. It is divided into two sections. The first consists of a critical review of published palaeoclimatic, archaeological, archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data, which are integrated to provide baseline interpretations of caprine domestication and the development of specialised pastoral economies. The second section presents the results of a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Neolithic site of 'Ain Ghazal, located in the Jordanian Highlands, which are evaluated in the context of the two baseline interpretations presented in the first section. The relative merits of the different methods by which archaeological caprine remains can be identified to species are also discussed. It is argued that goats were probably first domesticated in or immediately adjacent to the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains during the 10th millennium b.p., and that mouflon were probably first domesticated in the piedmont zones of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains during
Wasse, Alexander Michael Richard
Jordanian Highlands; Pastoral economies
The development of goat and sheep herding during the Levantine Neolithic. This thesis examines the development of goat and sheep herding in the Levant during the Neolithic period, and focuses particularly on the emergence of caprines as major early domesticates and the development of specialised pastoral economies. It is divided into two sections. The first consists of a critical review of published palaeoclimatic, archaeological, archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data, which are integrated to provide baseline interpretations of caprine domestication and the development of specialised pastoral economies. The second section presents the results of a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Neolithic site of 'Ain Ghazal, located in the Jordanian Highlands, which are evaluated in the context of the two baseline interpretations presented in the first section. The relative merits of the different methods by which archaeological caprine remains can be identified to species are also discussed. It is argued that goats were probably first domesticated in or immediately adjacent to the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains during the 10th millennium b.p., and that mouflon were probably first domesticated in the piedmont zones of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains during
development goat sheep herd levantine neolithic examines_development goat sheep herd levant neolithic_period focus_particularly emergence major early domesticates development specialise pastoral_economy divide_two section first consist critical_review publish palaeoclimatic archaeological archaeobotanical zooarchaeological_data integrate provide baseline interpretation caprine domestication development specialise pastoral_economy second_section present zooarchaeological_analysis faunal_assemblage neolithic_site locate highlands evaluate context baseline interpretation present first_section relative_merit different_method archaeological caprine remain identified specie also_discuss argue goat probably first domesticate immediately adjacent lebanon anti lebanon mountains probably first domesticate zone taurus mountains