Ungulate ethoarchaeology: Interpreting Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene archaeological ungulate assemblages from southwest Asia

Abstract

Zooarchaeologists are beginning to produce more data on age profiles and sex ratios in archaeological faunal assemblages, but often lack the ecological basis to interpret these data. This thesis reviews the ethological literature on four main prey species found in southwest Asia faunal assemblages during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene: gazelle (Gazella sp.), Fallow deer (Dama dama mesopotamica), wild goat (Capra ibex) and wild sheep (Ovis sp.). This ethological review is used to develop models which predict the age and sex composition of archaeological faunal assemblages that were produced during different seasons and by different hunting techniques. Finally, a review of the archaeological record from the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in southwest Asia puts the age and sex ratios from archaeofaunas into the context of economic intensification and domestication.