Drs. Anna Russell

Visiting address
Reuvensplaats 3, room 201D
2311 BE Leiden

Postal address
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Telephone
+31 (0)71 527 2279

E-mail 
a.russell@arch.leidenuniv.nl

Changing patters of animal exploitation (c. 6800-6200)

Tell Sabi Abyad Research
Anna is currently a member of the Tell Sabi Abyad research team and is undertaking the PhD entitled ‘Changing Patterns of Animal Exploitation: The Archaeozoological Analysis of the c. 6800-6200 BC Faunal Remains at Tell Sabi Abyad’. This project aims to explore the developments and changes in the exploitation of animals in the Late Neolithic. An extensive sample of animal bones (c. 15,000 fragments) from well-defined archaeological contexts will be analysed from the early period (c. 6800-6200 BC) at Tell Sabi Abyad, Northern Syria.

Research
This analysis will include aspects of taphonomy, ageing and osteometry, the reconstruction of the local spectrum of domestic and wild fauna, the role of domestic animals in the subsistence economy, the composition of herds and the strategies of herd management, the exploitation of the wild and its integration into the subsistence economy, the contribution of hunting to the diet, the (dis)continuity in the exploitation of both domesticated and wild animals through time, and the relationship between fauna and its natural environment.

Potential
These analyses will integrate previous work on the animal bone material from the later (6200-5800 BC) Neolithic period. Developments in the use of animals versus the impact of the 6200 BC (8.2K BP) climate change event will also be evaluated, as there is evidence of a substantial change in the exploitation of animals, in terms of increasing pastoralism and exploitation of secondary products, at this time. The potential of this bone sample is quite considerable in light of the general paucity of comparative material from other sites excavated so far.