Faunal Perspectives on Occupation Intensity and Use of Space at Neolithic Kfar HaHoresh

Summary

During the transition to agriculture in southwest Asia, patterns of settlement site use reflect a major shift in the use of space by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. Diverse types of sites were utilized by this time, including locales primarily for ritual activities. More studies of ritual site use are needed to clarify how space was organized and used during the Neolithic Transition. This paper presents evidence of animal selection and refuse management to investigate the intensity of site occupation and use of space at Kfar HaHoresh (10,600–8,700 cal. BP), the only Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in the southern Levant that served a primarily mortuary function. I employ zooarchaeological methods to assess the intensity of site occupation based on the degree of hunting pressure that humans placed on small game from the environment immediately surrounding the site. Taphonomic analysis of faunal refuse deposition is used to further illuminate the use of space, namely cleaning practices. These combined results reveal continuity in the organization of ritual space over time, despite a shift in occupation intensity, and clarify the interrelationship of ritual and habitation site use as farming life-ways developed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22263