Zooarchaeological Evidence for Animal Exploitation at Earlier Neolithic Tsoungiza, Ancient Nemea

by Paul Halstead

Hesperia, Volume 89, Issue 2
Page(s): 191-214
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.89.2.0191
Year: 2020
VIEW ONLINE

ABSTRACT:

Animal bones from the earlier Neolithic open-air settlement at Tsoungiza, Ancient Nemea, are dominated by sheep and secondarily by pigs and goats, with cattle scarce and dogs absent. Slaughter ages suggest management of sheep/goat for meat more than milk production. Sparse evidence for wild animals is restricted to foxes and hares. Domesticate carcasses were butchered into large segments, arguably for sharing between social groups larger than single households. In scarcity of game, dominance of sheep, emphasis on meat production, and low-intensity butchering, Tsoungiza resembles other earlier Neolithic sites in Greece, but preferential slaughter of young adult sheep/goats and selective anatomical treatment are distinctive features, perhaps related to collective commensality.