Animal husbandry, isotopes, and land use at the Late Bronze Age Hittite city of Şapinuva (Šapinuwa), Turkey: insights from strontium isotopes

Land use, distribution, and ownership are important elements of the economic strategies applied by any given society, and hence of wide interest for various disciplines. Here, we examine whether it is possible to recognise land allocation for the pasture of sheep, goats, and cattle at the Late Bronz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archaeological and anthropological sciences 2023-05, Vol.15 (5), p.65, Article 65
Main Authors: Pişkin, Evangelia, Köksal, Serhat, Durdu, Gamze
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
14th century
Animal husbandry
Animals
Anthropology
Archaeology
Bronze Age
Chemistry/Food Science
Cities
Differentiation
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Geography
Isotopes
Land use
Life Sciences
Ownership
Pasture
Sheep
Strontium
Teeth
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Summary:Land use, distribution, and ownership are important elements of the economic strategies applied by any given society, and hence of wide interest for various disciplines. Here, we examine whether it is possible to recognise land allocation for the pasture of sheep, goats, and cattle at the Late Bronze Age Hittite city of Şapinuva (fourteenth century BC), Turkey, through strontium isotope analyses, with particular attention to possible differentiation of Palace and Temple lands. We first created an Sr isotope distribution on the map of the region using rock and snail samples, against which we plotted data from archaeological animal teeth. Whilst we found clear evidence for winter and summer pastures, we had weak indications for land provisions to different institutions and separation according to species. Importation of animals to the city from elsewhere seemed plausible. The major difficulty in reaching fine resolution results was the limited range of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr data, which at the same time were very widespread over the landscape around Şapinuva.
ISSN:1866-9557
1866-9565
DOI:10.1007/s12520-023-01759-8