Zebu: harbingers of doom i Bronze Age western Asia?

n
ROGERMATTHEWS
The significance of zebu, or humped. cattle as potential indicators of episodes of aridification in the Bronze Age of western Asia is explored through study of figurines and faunal remains from Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia.
Key-words: zebu, cattle, climate change, western Asia, Bronze Age

Collapse and climate in the Bronze Age A major area of study in recent years has been that of the collapse of complex human societies (Tainter 1988). In parallel with issues of the rise of civilization and the growth of complex states, there has been a developing interest in their decline and fall, especially as correlated against episodes of climatic change (Butzer 1995).Few areas of the world offer such rich, varied and chronologically deep material on this topic as western Asia. Throughout the late prehistory and early history of western Asia long periods of relative stability, in gross terms, were punctuated by short, sharp episodes of disruption and change. Three major phases of massive and widespread cultural disruption appear to have occurred. These episodes took place at the start, in the middle and at the close of the Bronze Age, that is at approximately 3000, 2200 and 1200 BC. In each case there is persuasive, although not universally accepted, evidence for the collapse of Bronze Age societies. The first of these punctuations is attested in the collapse of the Uruk world system at the very transition of the Chalcolithic: and Bronze Ages (Algaze 1993). At this time, the end of the 4th millennium, there is evidence for a sharp curtailment of the previously broad spread of south Mesopotamian cultural influence and for substantial social and political upheaval across vast areas. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, in the late 3rd millennium, well-established empires and civilizations fell apart and died. In Mesopotamia, the empire of Akkad shrank rapidy

short-lived core in the south. Large-scale settlement upheavals and social collapse are attested by archaeological evidence from much of the Mediterranean world and beyond, including the Iberian Peninsula, Greece and the Aegean, the Levant, Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran and the Indus Valley (Peltenburg 2000; Weiss 2000; Wciss & Bradley 2001). Effects of this dramatic episode appear to linger on for a period of a millennium or more in marginal regions most sensitive to climatic flu(:tuations, such as the western Habur River area of north Syria, completely abandoned by permanent settlement through the later 3rd and all of the 2nd millennia BC (Hole 1997). A thousand years later, at the end of the Late Bronze Age around 1200 BC, a comparable scale of social and state collapse is attested by archaeological and historical evidence from an equally broad geographical range (Neumann & Parpola 1987; Ward & Joukowsky 1992). In Anatolia the Hittite empire came to a sudden end, and there is convincing evidence for widespread disruption across much of the Mediterranean world. Many scholars believe that climatic factors were heavily implicated in the timing and nature of these vast and complex processes. Based on examination of climatic evidence from a range of sources, Butzer has underlined the importance of three incisive episodes of major ecological significance, perceptible to some degree or other throughout the Near East, occurring at approximately 3000,2200 and 1300B<: (Butzer

from its greatest spread to an embattled and

* Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WClII OPY, England. roger.matthews@ucl.ac.uk

Received 23 January 2001, rcvised 20 June 2001, accepted 24 September 2001, revised 24 October 2001
ANTIQUITY (2002): 438-46 76

ZEBIJ: HARBINGERS OF DOOM I BRONZE AGE WESTERN ASIA? N

439

FIGURE Zebu at rest 1. between jobs, Rajasthan, India. (Photo Mike Wells, 1982. Permission sought of Expression Printers Ltd, London.)

FIMJRE. Zebu 2 hauling a plough, Xajnsthan, India. (Photo Mike Wells, 1980. Permission sought of Expression Printers Ltd, London.]

1995: 136-8). In environmental terms, the single major element of these devastating episodes, called dry shifts by Butzer, is a substantial decrease in precipitation, as attested by fluctuations in the water levels of Lake Van (east Anatolia) and Lake Zeribar (west Iran), and in oak-pollen records obtained from sediment sequences from these two lakes (Butzer 1995: figure 2 ) . In addition, evidence from deep-sea sediments from such widely separated locations

as the North Atlantic (deMenoca1 2001) and the Gulf of Oman (Cullen et al. 2000) reinforces the picture of regular and protracted episodes of excessively cool and dry climate in the Bronze Age, putatively caused by fluctuations in solar irradiance and volcanism (deMenocal 2001: 668). The Gulf of Oman evidence, in particular, shows an abrupt increase in wind-borne dust of Mesopotamian origin lasting for a period of 300 years from about 2300 BC (Cullen

440

ROGEK MATTHEWS

et nl. 2000: 379). In short, aridification appears to have been involved in all three of the Bronze Age mega-collapses. Although our interest naturally focuses on the human and societal implications of major climatic shifts, plant and animal communities are as likely to be affected by even subtle and small alterations in prevailing climatic regimes. Major alterations in the structure and components of plant and animal communities may rapidly ensue from climatic changes. In this article I wish to discuss the evidence concerning a single animal subspecies which, due to its special characteristics, may be a uniquely sensitive marker of climatic variation in general, and aridification in particular: the zebu cow, Bos indicus.Although not a distinct animal species, as it is capable of fruitfully interbreeding with common cattle, Bos taurus, it is, however, a very distinct subspecies, characterized by a substantial hump on its anterior back and a marked dewlap, or flap of skin along its throat, amongst other attributes.
Zebu - the nature of the beast Zebu or humped cattle are hardy creatures with metabolic rates well below that of non-humped or taurine cattle. They have larger and more efficient sweat glands and are more resistant than taurine cattle to tick-borne diseases and gastro-intestinal parasites (Epstein 1971: 5235 ; Epstein & Mason 1984).Zebu are better able to withstand high temperatures and water shortages, and can survive on marginal browsing of coarse vegetation not acceptable to taurine cattle (Meadow 1984). The zebus hump, which comprises mainly muscle and connective tissue, may have evolved, or become accentuated, by human-directed artificial selection, as in the case of the fat tail and rump of certain breeds of sheep (Epstein 1971: 328). In terms of morphology, zebu have long legs and narrow bodies with a slender skeleton and skull (Grigson 1980). In most cases, but not all, their thoracic vertebrae have distinctive bifid spinous processes (Epstein 1971: 198. figures 2 0 3 4 ) , presumably in order to support the weight of the hump. In concert with their morphological and physiological properties, zebu are tough and reliable working animals (FIGLIKES A pair 1,2). of zebu can haul up to 900 kg by cart over rough

roads, double that amount with pneumatic tires over paved roads, covering 40 hn in 10 hours. Their possible uses are manifold, including ploughing, harrowing, threshing, transport, water-drawing and many other domestic or agricultural tasks (Joshi & Phillips 1953).They are also good providers of milk and beef. Where zebu have been introduced to areas with existing taurine cattle types, such as north and east Africa following Arab migrations there from the 7th century AD onwards, they have succeeded in genetically absorbing and superseding older, long-established breeds (Epstein 1971: 340; MacHugh et al. 1998: 136). An A to Z of zebu history - distribution and chronology Recent studies in cattle DNA have shone new light on the question of zebu origins and their relation to the early dcvclopment of taurine cattle (MacHugh et d. 1998). Previously there had been two main schools of thought, one holding that all domesticated cattle stemmed from a single wild ancestor, the aurochs, in the Neolithic period, and that humped cattle then evolved as a distinct subspecies from that same stock (Epstein 1971).The second school believes that zebu evolved independently of taurine cattle from a separate wild ancestor, Bos narnndicus (Zeuner 1963: 239; Meadow 1984: 329; Badam 1984: 341). Principal components analysis of microsatellite DNA variation in 20 modern cattle populations in Africa, Asia and Europe shows strong divergences between Bos indicus and Bos tnurus samples, suggesting a lapse of at least 600,000 years since the existence of a common ancestor for these two subspecies (MacHugh et al. 1998: 1 3 7 ) . It therefore appears that throughout the Holocene, at least, zebu have evolved separately from taurine cattle, and that a common ancestor lies far back in the past, long before domestication. It is hoped that future DNA studies, this time on archaeological remains, may help to answer the question of whether the early domesticated cattle of India a n d Pakistan are zebu or taurine (MacHugh st nl. 1998: 142).In the Ganges river area of north lndia large quantities of bones, putatively from Bos indicus, have been recovered from the Mesolithic site of Sarai-NaharRai, dated to around 8000 BC, and there is a

ZEBU: LWBINGERS OF DOOM LN BKONZE AGE WESThKN ASIA?

441

FIGURE. Zebu figurines from selected Bronze Age sites of western Asia. A11 at scale 1 :2. 3 1 Tepe Gawra. Iraq, after Speiser ( 1 935: plate 77:5].2 Tell Brak, Syria, see also FIGLRE 4. 3 Tell Brak, Syria, after McDonald (1997: 279: 20). 4 Tell Brak, Syria, aftcr ,WcDonald (1997: 279: 22). 5 Tell Munhaqa, S-vria, after Czichon 6 Werner (1998: Tafel 82: 4561. 6 i2leskene-Emar, Syria, after Beyer (1982: 1 0 4 , figure 6). 7 Geven Gedigi, Turkey, after Miller ( 1 999: A h h 27:Z).

suggestion that some of the bones are from domesticated zebu (Allchin & Allchin 1982: 77). More convincing evidence comes from sites in Baluchistan, modcrn Pakistan, with morphologically attested domestication of zebu at the site of Mehrgarh by 6000 BC (Meadow 1984; Rissman 1989: 17), and at Rana Gundai in the 5th-4th millennia RC: (Allchin & Allchin 1982: 101). Large-scale, long-term herding and pcrhaps taming of zebu herds appear to be attested by the so-called ash-moundNeolithic sites of south-central India, such as Utnur (Allchin & Allchin 1982: 123).

Within the context of ancient western Asia there are three categories of evidence which bear on the issue of zebu; 1 depictions on seals, plaques or painted pots; 2 figurines; 3 faunal remains. While the recovery of relevant faunal remains uniquely gives some assurance that zebu were present in a particular locality at a particular time, the recovery of zebu figurines, unlikely to be highly mobile objects per se, is a strong indicator of their presence. Recovery of seals and pots disporting zebu motifs, however, does

442

ROGER MATTHEWS

FIGURE Zebu figurine from Tell Brak, 4. see also FIGURE 3 2 .

FIGURE . Bifurcoled 5 vertebra of zehu from Tell Brak.

not necessitate the proximity of actual zebu to the findspot. Uncertain early occurrences of zebu depictions in Mesopotamia include a highly dubious figurine from Arpachiyah near Mosul in north Iraq, of 5th-millennium date (Mallowan &Rose 1935: figure 48:14), depictions on seals from Nineveh of about 3000 BC (Zeuner 1963: 239), a clay tablet from Larsa with seal impression showing a zebu (Epstein 1971: 508), and

a marble amulet from Ur in the form of a zebu (Hornblower 1927),both the Larsa and Ur items perhaps dating to around 3000 BC. At about the same time, late 4th millennium, representations of zebu are found as figurines and painted pottery motifs at Susa in southwest Iran (Epstein 1971: 508; Zeuner 1963: 239). These often questionable occurrences suggest that zebu may have been familiar beasts to some of the inhabitants of south Mesopotamia by 3000 BC, although their

ZEBU: HARBINGERS OF DOOM IN BRONZE AGE WESTERN ASIA?

44 3

physical presence there has yet to be confirmed by the scant archaeozoological evidence. Significantly, zebu are not so far attested in any form, artistic rendering or faunal remains, in regions to the west or north of Mesopotamia before 2000 BC. From 2500 BC onwards there are increasing representations of zebu in the form of figurines and motifs on seals and painted pottery in the material culturc of the Indus valley and beyond, at sites such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, as well as the Quetta-Pishin valley and the Makran coast of Baluchistan (Epstein & Mason 1984: 15; Zeuner 1963: 236). From here zebu probably reached Oman and the head of the Persian Gulf (Potts 1997: 257), and spread to the ivorld-view of south Mesopotamia by the 3rd millennium RC. A stone howl sherd, ofmid 3rdmillennium date, from Tell Agrab in the Diyala region northeast of Baghdad, shows an impressive zebu bull [Zeuner 1963: 217), and a wellexecuted sketch of a zebu head and shoulder is preserved on a clay tablet of later 3rd-millennium date from Tell Asmar, also in the Diyala region (Frankfort1934:figure 18).InIranian Scistan zebu bones and figurines are attested in great quantities at the site of Shahr-i Sokhta in the period c. 2900-2500 BC (Potts 1997: 255), while later, questionable, examples occur at Anau in Turkmenistan (Pumpelly 1908: plate 47:4). As to north Mesopotamia, a well-shaped and painted example of a zebu bull from l e ~ e IV l at Tepe Gawra (FIGURE 3:l) dates probably to the mid 2nd millennium BC but may be earlier (Speiser 1935: plate 77:5). Also in north Mesopotamia, zebu are attested at Tell Brak in the form of figurines (FIGURES 3:2,4) and bifurcate vertebrae (FIGURE from levels dating to 17005) 1600 BC (Matthews 1995: 98-9), as well as figurines from mid 2nd-millennium levels (McDonald 1997: 131) (FIGURES 3:3-4). Perhaps significantly. zebu are not depicted in the glyptic art of Brak in the 3rd millennium, a rich source of depictions of domesticated and wild animals (Matthews et nl. 1994), nor are they depicted on the elaborately painted ceramics of highland Anatolia and the Caucasus of the early 2nd millennium which host depictions of many other animals (Ozfirat 2001). Approximately contemporary with the Brak zebu evidence, at around 1700 RC, is a fine example of a figurine

from the nearby site of Chagar Bnzar, sporting a painted representation of what may be a harness (Mallowan 1937: figure 10:30). From Beydar, to the northwest of Tell Brak, comes an ivory furniture inlay with zebu in relief, dated to 1400 BC (Bretschneider 2000: 65) and a plain zebu figurine comes from mid 2nd-millennium BC levels at Tall Harnad Again north Iraq (Spanos 1988: Abb 182). An early 2nd-millennium context at Ishchali in the Diyala region yielded a fine clay plaque depicting a bull zebu ridden by a man who grasps the animals hump in one hand while inserting his knees under a simple belt around the its waist (Frankfort 1954: plate 5 9 : ~ ) . A fragmentary zebu figurine cumes from late 2nd-millennium levels at Tell Sabi Abyad in northwest Mesopotamia (Akkermans 1993: 31, figure 23:85). Large quantities of zebu figurines, varying in their degree of elaboration, have been found i n Late Bronze Age deposits at Tell Munbaqa in north Syria (Machule et al. 1986; 1990; Czichon & Werner 1998: Taf 80-5) (FIG URE 3:5). There are also zebu figurines from the Late Bronze Age site of MeskBn6-Emar on the north Syrian Euphrates not far from Munbaqa (Bcyer 1982: 104) (FIGURE 3:6), from mid 2ndmillennium BC period I1 at Umm el-Marra west of the Syrian Euphrates (Curvers & Schwartz 1997: figure 21) and from level VII of Alalakh in northwest Syria, dated to earlyjmid 2nd millennium (Woolley 1955: plate 57:a). Cylinder seals of 13th-century BC date from Upper Mesopotamia depict humped cattle pulling ploughs (Wiggermann 2000: figure 7) and there is a zebu pendant of 13th-century BC date from ASSur on the Tigris i n north-central Iraq (Boehmer 1972: 168, Abb 51). Zebu figurines appear in level 3A of Haradum on the Iraqi Euphrates, dated to the mid 17th century BC (Kepinski-Lecomte 1992: figure 159:6-7).On a Kassite seal from Mesopotamia, dated to c. 1500 BC, zebu are depicted drawing ploughs (Epstein 1971: 515). A study of cattle astragali from archaeological sites of western Asia has detected the gradual dcvclopment of distinctive cattle breeds throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, followed by an episode of rapid change at the end of the 2nd millennium, that is at the end of the Late Bronze Age (Buitenhuis 1984: 216). Buitenhuis connects this episode with the large-scale in-

444

KO(;EK MATTHEWS

troduction of zebu into western Asia at this time, cated form, are found in early Neolithic conleading to cross-breeding of taurine and zebu texts of Baluchistan, culminating over time in stock (Buitenhuis 1984: 216). As we have seen their frequent depiction in the art of Mohenjo above, it is possible that zebu had already been Daro and Harappa in the 3rd arid 2nd millenintroduced to Mesopotamia by the mid 3rd nia BC. Zebu are attested, directly or indirectly, millennium RC, but it seems that their spread by the early 3rd millennium in east Iran, by into Syria and the Levant did not occur until the mid 3rd millennium BC in south Mesopothe mid-later 2nd millennium. tamia, through the mid-late 2nd millennium The earliest occurrences of zebu evidence in north Mesopotamia, by the mid-late 2nd from the Levant come in the form of bifurcated millennium in the Levant and Egypt, and by vertebrae from Late Bronze Age, c. 1400-1200 the later 2nd millennium and into the early 1st BC, and Early Iron Age, c. 1000 BC, levels of millennium in Anatolia. What might be the Deir Alla in the Jordan valley (Clason 1978: significance of this distributional chronology? figure 2; Clason & Buitenhuis 1998: 239). Zebu figurines and vertebrae occur in Late Bronze Cattle at the edge of disaster? Age levels at Tell Jemmeh in the north Negev It is hoped that future researches will considof Israel (Hesse 1997: 442), and figurines come erably amplify the data-base on the topic of zebu from Late Bronze Age Tell el-Ajjul [Miller 1999: in western Asia, especially by the identification of zebu bones in archaeoxoological col96). In Egypt zebu are commonly depicted from the time of the XVIIIth dynasty onwards, c. 1570 lections. We can be sure that the evidence summarized above is only a tiny proportion of BC [Zeuner 1963: 226, 239-40), although earlier portrayals occur in tombs at Beni Hasan, the actual zebu representation in western Asia Amarna and Thebes (Epstein 1971: 505). The during the Bronze Age. As one commentator occurrence of zebu depictions in Egypt earlier has put it, since only a few skeletal characterthan in the Levant may argue for movement of istics permit its identification in archaeologizebu through two diverging routes to these two cal debris, the animal [zebu] may have been regions, or may simply be an indication of the far more important in early economies than is comparative wealth of pictorial depiction in currently recognised (Hesse 1995: 214). On the basis of the evidence summarised above I wish Egypt as compared to the Levant. Moving into Anatolia, zebu are so far attested to propose, as a working hypothesis, that the solcly as figurine representations and only from spread of zebu in Bronze Age western Asia is the late 2nd millennium onwards. A couple of associated with episodes of climate change basic figurines were found in imperial Hittite involving aridification. From independent evilevels, c. 1400-1200 BC, at Alishar (von der Osten dence, including the Van and Zeribar sediment 1937: figures 239:dl241, d24751, and from the cores, we know of the occurrence of major arid same period at Alaca Hoyuk (KoSay & Akok phases at c. 3000, 2 2 0 0 and 1300 BC (Butzer 1995: 136-8). We also know that zebu are su1966: plate 25:i256), both i n north-central Anatolia. A silver pendant from imperial Hittite perbly adapted to thrive in dry and tough conlevels at Bogazkoy-Hattusa(Boehmer 1 9 7 2 : no. ditions which taurine cattle would find 1759) and an unprovenanced zebu figure from intolerable. In the archaeological record from somewhere in Cappadocia (DuprB 1993: plate Bronze Age western Asia, summarized above, 12:126) also come from north and central we have seen how the evidence for zebu, in Anatolia. At Geven Gedigi near the important the form of bones, figurines and depictions, Hittite site of KuSakli in east-central Anatolia, forms a distinct chronological and geographia surface collection of zoomorphic figurines cal pattern. The earliest western Asia attestations. often includes four representations of zebu (FIGURE 3:7), dated by associated pottery to the Iron Age of debatable reliability, concentrate in the very and perhaps also Late Bronze Age (Miller 1999). late 4th-early 3rd millennia BC in south MesoThe above account is by no means exhaus- potamia, featuring depictions of zebu in a range tive but the general outlines are clear. In sum, of media, including figurines and glyptic art, the earliest occurrences of zebu, in domesti- from sites such as Ur, Larsa and Susa, as well

ZEBU: HARBINGERS OF DOOM IN RRONZE AGE WESTERN ASIA?

445

as Nineveh in the north. Chrcinologically this cluster follows the collapse of the Uruk world system at the start of the Bronze Age. Attestations of zebu at the Diyala sites of central Mesopotamia by the mid-later 3rd millennium might be connected with the second episode of aridification documented in the Van and Zeribar sediment cores. There is a sharp increase in zebu evidence from the mid 2nd millennium, with bones and figurines from a wide range of sites in north Mesopotamia and northwest Syria. Their presence in this area correlates well with the largescale abandonment of thc western Habur Kiver region, which is thought to have been clirnatically stimulated (Hole 1997). By the last centuries of the Late Bronze Age, zebu are attested in the Levant for the first time, at Deir' A h , Tell Jenimeh and Tell el-Ajjul. It is highly sign i f i u n t that zebu appear for the first time also in central and north Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, at Geven Gedigi, Alaca Hoyuk, Alishar and BogazkoyHattuSa. Suggestions of climatic influence in the collapse of the Hittite empire around 1200 BC (Gorny 1989: 91) take on a new significance in light of the appearance of arid-tolerant zebu in north and central Anatolia, the homeland or the Hittites, by the last decades of the Late Bronze Age. In and around each of the three Bronze Age mega-collapses, then, we can discern, however faintly, the distinctive profile of the zebu cow, steadily expanding its distribution throughout western Asia in concert with episodes of environmental stress involving aridification. No doubt welcomed and encouraged by human communities as a hardy and hard-working beast, which could outperform taurine cattle when the going got tough, a more substantive signifirance of zebu was to be their role as harbingers of change, generally for the worse. The
References AKKERMXNS, P.P.M.G. lq93. On the frontier nf Assyris: excavations a t Tell Sabi Abyad. 1991, Akkadica 84/85: 1-52, ALGAZE, C. 1893. The Uruk world sysiern. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press. ALLCHIN, fir R. ALLCHIN. U. 1982. The rise of civilization in India andPakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. HADAM. G.L. 1984. Holocene faunal material from India with special reference to domesticated animals, in Cluttonbuck & Grigsun (cd.): 339- 53. UEYER, D. (ed.]. 1982. Meskene-Emar, d i x a n s de travaux 19721982. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations.

evidence for zebu in significant quantities in north Mesopotamia and the Levant by the mid 2nd millennium BC, that is at least 2 0 0 years before the late 2nd-millennium climate shift attested in the Van and Zeribar cores, might suggest that zcbu are more sensitive than oak pollen as indicators of aridifiration. Or it may be the case that, following modern African parallels (Epstein 1971: 340), once introduced to a region, zebu succeeded in genetically absorbing previously established cattle breeds and in taking over their pasture lands and economic roles within human communities, particularly in areas with marginal rainfall. Zebu may thus have dominated the cattle ecology of north Mesopotamia throughout the 2nd millennium RC and beyond. To address this issue, and many others related to the spread of zebu in western Asia, we need much more information on the representation of zebu in faunal assemblages horn excavated sites. In conclusion, it is hoped that on-going and future studies of faunal and botanical evidence from western Asia will pinpoint and explore other possible indicators of environmental stress and change during the critical centuries of the Bronze Age. One such candidate might be pigs, animals which, unlike zebu, do not thrive in arid conditions and whose distributional chronology, at least in terms of intensity of exploitation, might therefore be expected to show a very differentpattcrn. In addition, textual studies of cattle and other fauna as attested in cuneiform documents of the Mesopotamian ( S o l 1995) and Hittite worlds will need to take into consideration the possible occurrence and significance of zebu within the realm of economic and agricultural activities reported on in those often highly detailed sources.
Acknordedgernenfs My thanks to Dr Roger Moorpy, Dr James Conolly and two anonymous rcferees for helpful uxnrneiits and input. A11 errors remain niy own

R.M. 1972. Die Klt?iiifiiridt? nus Bogazk6-y ous den (7rtiburigskninpognrn 19.71-1 939 und 1952-1 969.Berlin: Gcbr. M a i n . RogaLkdy-HattuSa VII. RRETSCHNEIDEK, J. 2000. Nabada: the hiiried city, Scientific American 28314: 62-9. BUITENHUIS, H. 1984. Some remarks o n the possible develupment of Uos taurus breeds in the Near East, in CluttunBrock 8r Grigson led.): 213-21. BLTITENHUIS, L. BARTOSIEWICZA.M. CHOYKE H., Er (ed.). 1998. Archaeozoologyafthe iVear East 111: 233-42. Groningen: ARC.
Rr)KHh.lt,K,

446

ROGER MATTHEWS
1990. Ausgrabungen i n Tall MunbBqa 1088. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 122: 9-42. MALLOWAN, M.E.L. 1937. The excavations at Tall Chagar Ba-

BUTZER,K.W. 1995. Environmental change i n the Near East and human impact on the land, i n Sasson (ed.): 123-51. CLASON, A.T. 1978. Late Bronze Age-Iron Age zebu cattle i n Jordan?. lourno1 o j Archoeological Science 5: 91-3. CLASUN, T. & H. BLIITENHUIS. A. 1908. Patterns i n animal food resources i n the Bronze Age in the Orient, in Buitenhuis CI.IITTON-BROCK, J. & C. GKlGSUN (ed.]. 1984. Ariiiiinls und arrhoeology 3 . Early herders U I I iheirflocks. Oxford: Urit~ ish Archaeological Reports. International series S202. CULLEN, H.M., P.B. DEMENOCAL,HEMMINC, HEMMING, S. G. F.H. HROWP;, T. GUILDERSON & F. SIROCKO. 2000. Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: evidenre from the deep sea, Geology 28: 379-82. CIJRVERS, & G.M. ~CHLvAK.L.%. H.H. 1997. Umm el-Marra, ii Bronze Age urhan center in the Jabbul plain, western Syria, American /ournu1of Archacology 101: 201-39. CZICHON, R.M. & P. WERNER. 1998. ?all Munbaqa - Ekalfe I. Die bronzezeitlichen Kleinfunde. Saarbriicken: Saarhriicker Druckerei u n d Verlag. DEMENOCAL, P.B. 2001. Cultural responses to climate change during the Late Holocene. Science 292: fi67-73. DEPRA:, 1993. Restinire de Cuppudore: terres cuites zoomorphcs S. anatoliennes du lle niill6iiaire ovunt J.-C. aii Musee du 1,ouvre. Paris: RBunion dcs Museees Nationaux. I EPSTEIN, 1971. l & e origin of the domestic animals of / f H. rica. New York [NYI: Africana. H. EPSTEIN, & I.L. MASON. 19x4. Cattle, in I.L. Mason (cd.), E:rwIotiuri o/ domesticated animals: 6-27. London: Longman. FRANKFORT, 1934. Iraq excovntions oftlie Oriento1Ins;lilule H. 1932/33. Thirdpreliminary reporf oJllie Iiuq expedition. Chicago (IL): liniversity of Chicago Press. Oriental Institute Cnmmunications 17. 1 0 5 4 . T h e art and orchitecfure of the ancient Orient. Harrrrondswortn: Penguin. GORNY, 1i.L. 1989. Environment, archaeology, a n d history in Hittite Anatolia, Biblical Arr:hoeologisl 52(2-31: 78-96. GRIGSON, C. 1Y80. The craninlogy a n d relalionships of four species of Bas. Joiirnol oJ Archeological Science 7 : 3HESSE, 1995. Animal husbandry and human diet in the anB. cient Near East, i n Sasson (ed.):2U3-22. New York [NY): Scribners. 1007. Cattle and oxen. in E.M. Meyers (ed.). The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in flie Near East: 442-3. Oxford: Oxford Unioersily PI.HSS. HOLE, 1997. Evidence for mid-Holocene environmental change F. in the western Khahur drainage, northeastern Syria. i n H.N. Dalfcs, C.Kukla & H .Weiss led.), Thirdmillenninm IXrlimute change and Old World collapse: 99-66. Rep I i n : Springer. G.D. HORNBLOWER, 1927. An humped bull of ivory, lourno1 of Ea,yptian Archaeology 1 3 : 222-5. JORHI, N.R. & R.W. PHILLIPS. 1953. Zebu coftle of India and Pakistan. Rome: Food and A g r i c ~ ~ I I Organization of ~re the United Nations. F A 0 Agricultural Sludies 19. KEPINSKI-LECOMC. 1992. Huruduni 1. Une villenouvelle sur I t., Ir .Woyen-Euphrcite [XVllle-XVlle siecles av. J.-C.). Paris: Editions liecherche sur les Civilisations. 1966. Ausgrabungen voii Aluco Hiiyiik KOSAY, H.Z. g: M. AKOK. 1940-1948. Ankara: Tiirk Tarih K u r u m u . MCDONALD, 1997. The clay objects, i n D. H. Oatcs, J. Oates & H. McDutiald. Exmvations a t Tell Brak 1: the Mitanni ond Old Rnlr,vloiiinn periods: 131-4. Cambridge: McDonald Institiite/BriLish School of Archaeology i n Iraq. MA4CHUGH, L).E., R.T. LOFTIJS, C.S. TROY D.G. BRADL~:Y. & 1998. DNA analysis and the origins and history of clorncsticatcd cattle, in Buitenhuis et al. led.): 135-44. Groningen: ARC. M A C H U E , D. et ol. 1986. Ausgrahuigen in 'la11 Munbaqa 1984, Mitfeilungen der Deutsche~~ Orienf-Geselkkzft118: G7-145.
32.

m r , and an archaeological survey of the Hahur region. Second campaign, 1936, Iruq 4: 01-177. MALLOWAN, M.E.L. & J.C. KoSE. 1935. Excavations at Tall Arpacliiyah, 1993. Jroq 2 : 1-178. MATTHEWS. R.J. 1095. Excavations at Tell Brak. 1995, Iraq 57:
87-11 1.

MATTHEW,R.J., W.MATTIIEWS & H. MCDONALD. 1994. Excavations at Tell Brak. 1994, Iraq 56: 177-94. MEADOW. H. 1Y84. Animal domestication in the MiddleEast: R. a view from the eastern margin, i n Cluttoii-Rrock & Grigson MILLER, J. 1999. A collection of zoomorphic tcrracotta from Geven Gedigi, Mitteilungen der Deutschen OrientGesellschaft 131: 91-6. NEIJMANN,& S. PARPOLA. 1987. Climatic change and the e1e.i.J. enth-tenth-century eclipse of Assyria and Babylonia, lonrnol of Neor. Eoskrii Sludies 46: 161-82. O%FIK.KI.. 2001. r)o@ Aiiuciolu yayla kiilliirleri. Istanbul: A. Arkcoloji ve Sanat. E.J. PELTENBURG, 2000. From nucleation to dispersal. Late third millennium BC settlement pattern transformations i n the Near East and Aegean, in Ronanlt K- Wafler led.): 183-

[d): 309-37.

POTTS,D.T. 1997. iMcsopotamian civilization. The material foundations. London: Athlone Press. PTJMPELLY,1908. Explorations in Turkeslon. Expedition oJ R. 7.904. Prehistoric cirilizalions o/Antru. Washington (UC): Carnegie Institution. RISSMAN: 1989. The status of research o n animal domesticaP. tion i n India and its cultural context. in P.J. Crabtree, TI. Campana l(r K. Ryan (ed.). Eorly uniniul dorriesticulioii aridits cullurul context: 15-23. Philadelphia (PA):MASCA. MASCA Rcscarcll Papers in Science and Archaeology. IiOUAULT, 0 . & M. WAFLER (ed.]. 2000. La Djezire etl'Enphrate Syriens de la protohistoire B la f i i i d u I k inil1t;riuire ai:, 1.X. Turnhout: Brepols. Suhartu VII. SASSON. [ed.). 1995. Wvilizatiorx o j f h suricierit Neurfiost. J.M. New York [YV]: Scribncrs. SVANOR. P. Z. 1088. Ausgrabungen in Tall Durdara (Eski-MosulPrujekt) u n d ' M I Hamad Aia as-Sajiir [Cazira-Praiekt), Nordirak, 1986, Mitteilungen der Deutschen OrientGcsellschaft 120: 59-92. SPEISER, E.A. 1935. Excavotiom ot Teps Gnwrii I. Philadelphia [PA): University of Pert nsylvarria. STOL,M. 1995. Old Bahylonian ~ a l l l eUullctin on Sumerion ,
Agricullure 8: 173-213. TAINTER, J.A. 1988. The collapse of complex societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. VON DER OSTEN, H.H. 1937. The Alishor HijyijX sei~s~ins of283032, part 11. Chicago [IL): University of Chicago Press. Oriental Institute Publications 29. WARD, W.4. & M.S. JOUKOWSKY (ed.). 1992. The crisis years: the twelfth century fir: from hepond the Danube to the Tigris. Duhuque (10): Kendall Hunl. , H. 2000. Causality and chance. Late third millennium collapse i n southwest Asia, in Rouault & Wafler [ e r l , ] :

206.

WEISS,H. & R.S. BRADLEY. 2001. What drives societal collapse?, Science 291: 609-10. 2UflO. Agriculture iri thc northern Balikh o f Middle Assyrian Tell Sabi Abyad, in R.M. Jas [erl.), Roinrjall ond agriculture in northern Mesopofomio: 271-231. Lcidcn: Ncderlands lnstituut voor het Nabije Oostcn. WOOLLEY. C.L. 1955. Alalakh. An accoirnt oftlie exroimtions at Zbll Atchana in theHatay, 1937-1948. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ZEUNER,F.E. 1963. A history of domesiiculed uriirnuls. London: Hutchinson.

2 0 7-1 7.