Domestic and wild animals in ancient Artaxata. Faunal report
Keywords:
zooarchaeology, Artaxata, animal bones, animal husbandry, hunt, Hellenism, Ararat Plain, ArmeniaAbstract
Since 2018, new excavations in the Lower City of Artaxata, Armenia, have yielded thousands of animal bones. They provide valuable inside into the life of the ancient city and the relations between humans and animals in the time between the second century BC and the second century AD. The analysis of the bones is still ongoing. For now, the data proves a heavy focus on sheep and goats to a point where we can speak of specialized production. Cattle was also present and added both to the diet and to help in daily chores such as ploughing and pulling of heavy loads. Chickens and geese were kept within the ancient city. Horses, dogs and pigs are rare. For horses and dogs, this may be due to their special status among the domestic animals. Maybe pigs were sparsely eaten because the effort to raise them was higher than for sheep and goat. Hunted animals such as fox, deer, hare, and rabbit describe an open landscape, while small rodents like the jird point to agriculture. Wild and domestic species show different levels of closeness between humans and animals in ancient Artaxata.
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