Papers by Haskel Greenfield
Animals
Most studies of ritual and symbolism in early complex societies of the Near East have focused on ... more Most studies of ritual and symbolism in early complex societies of the Near East have focused on elite and/or public behavioural domains. However, the vast bulk of the population would not have been able to fully participate in such public displays. This paper explores the zooarchaeological and associated archaeological evidence for household rituals in lower-stratum residences in the Early Bronze Age (EB) of the southern Levant. Data from the EB III (c. 2850–2550 BCE) deposits excavated at the site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, are illustrative of the difficulty in identifying the nature of household rituals. An integrated analytical approach to the architecture, figurines, foundation deposits, and domestic donkey burials found in lower-stratum domestic residences provides insights into the nature of household rituals. This integrated contextual perspective allows the sacred and symbolic role(s) of each to be understood and their importance for EB urban society to be evaluated.
Quaternary, 2022
This paper presents a new macroscopic method for identifying chop marks on archaeological faunal ... more This paper presents a new macroscopic method for identifying chop marks on archaeological faunal assemblages and highlights the major differences in the morphology of chop marks created by stone and metal axes. The method provides macroscopic criteria that aid in the identification of both complete and incomplete chop mark types as well as the raw material of the axe. Experiments with modern stone (chipped and ground) and metal (copper and bronze) axes found that the degree of fragmentation within a chop mark is related to both the width and sharpness of the axe and can be classed on a scale from 1–5 using a variety of criteria. The experiments demonstrate that sharp chipped stone axes are fragile (often break upon impact) and do not create clean and well-defined chop marks. Ground stone axes are more durable but tend to create very fragmented chop marks without a clean cut (sheared) surface. Unalloyed copper metal axes can create sheared chopped surfaces; however, the relatively so...
Current chaîne opératoire approaches for classifying ceramic assemblages prioritise surface featu... more Current chaîne opératoire approaches for classifying ceramic assemblages prioritise surface features indicative of fashioning techniques. Microstructures identifi ed in petrographic thin-sections confi rm macroscopic observations and are used to characterise clay recipes. However, surface features indicative of vessel fashioning are rare in most ceramic assemblages. Consequently, the majority of the assemblage is fi ltered out of the study sample. This approach is therefore not wellsuited for small assemblages where the diversity of fashioning techniques is not represented. For the chaîne opératoire method to achieve its full potential in ceramic analysis, additional imaging protocols are required. This paper presents the results of a low-cost study for identifying production groups, by classifying mesoscopic signatures of fashioning techniques on freshly-cut thick sections. Data from the Early Bronze Age strata at Tell eṣ -Ṣ âfi /Gath, Israel, are used to illustrate the utility of this approach for understanding how an early urban settlement was provisioned with pottery technology. Comparisons of chaînes opératoires are routinely used worldwide to discriminate between pots made by diff erent potting communities, and in doing so understand group relatedness, historical affi nities and the organisation of production. In several synthetic overviews, Roux (2013, 2016: 10) celebrates the 'worldwide success' of chaîne opératoire research and its methodological and epistemological strengths. In the absence of direct evidence of pottery manufacture (e.g. workshops), the challenge for the archaeologist is how to access, describe and identify material signatures indicative of forming techniques on fi nished objects, which are rarely found whole and are heavily worn by site formation and taphonomic processes in mixed assemblages. Investigations into the organisation of production are often approached at regional scales of analysis through petrography and/or geochemical techniques to identify the general source locations of fabric types and production zones. This approach can be useful for identifying locational nodes of production from which models of the larger regional production systems and economies can be inferred. For example, in the Early Bronze Age (henceforth EBA) of the southern Levant, chaîne opératoire approaches have aided in resolving long-term debates over the origin and cultural signifi cance of specifi c wares and vessel types, such as Khirbet Kerak Ware , wheel-made bowls (Roux 2009) and Egyptianised vessels . Such studies usually require an underlying heterogeneous geological landscape, or distinct temper types to relate pots to specifi c sites and production nodes. However, the use of ceramic provenance studies is extremely limited for reconstructing patterns of production and service provision within and between
Starinar, 2021
Systematic archaeological excavations at the multicultural site of Foeni-S?la? in the Romanian Ba... more Systematic archaeological excavations at the multicultural site of Foeni-S?la? in the Romanian Banat conducted during the first half of the 1990s uncovered evidence that the site was inhabited during the Early Neolithic, Copper, Bronze, Early Iron, Late Antique and Medieval Ages. This paper summarises the cultural history of the settlement at the site and describes the relevant deposits and material culture in each period.
Puppy Sacrifice and Cynophagy from Early Philistine Tel Miqne-Ekron Contextualized
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2018
The discovery of a sacrificed puppy at Tel Miqne-Ekron, a major Philistine settlement in Israel&#... more The discovery of a sacrificed puppy at Tel Miqne-Ekron, a major Philistine settlement in Israel's southern coastal plain, highlights the role of dogs in Iron I Philistia. Though dog sacrifice is described in Hittite religious texts and attested in lands bordering the Aegean during the second–first millennia BCE, evidence for this practice, or even of dog bones, is largely absent from Late Bronze and non-Philistine Iron I (ca. 1550–1000 BCE) Levantine contexts. What distinguishes the Tel Miqne-Ekron puppy interment from later Persian- and Hellenistic-period dog burials, is the placement of its severed head between its hind legs. Microscopic analyses of cut marks on several vertebrae indicate that the iron knife found nearby was likely used in its decapitation. This article examines the Tel Miqne-Ekron puppy burial within its eastern Mediterranean milieu and explores the ritual role of dogs and cynophagy (dog-eating) in second–first millennia society.
The Intrasettlement Spatial Structure of Early Neolithic Settlements in Temperate Southeastern Europe: A view from Blagotin, Serbia
Space and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology
PloS one, 2018
Analysis of a sacrificed and interred domestic donkey from an Early Bronze Age (EB) IIIB (c. 2800... more Analysis of a sacrificed and interred domestic donkey from an Early Bronze Age (EB) IIIB (c. 2800-2600 BCE) domestic residential neighborhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, indicate the presence of bit wear on the Lower Premolar 2 (LPM2). This is the earliest evidence for the use of a bit among early domestic equids, and in particular donkeys, in the Near East. The mesial enamel surfaces on both the right and left LPM2 of the particular donkey in question are slightly worn in a fashion that suggests that a dental bit (metal, bone, wood, etc.) was used to control the animal. Given the secure chronological context of the burial (beneath the floor of an EB IIIB house), it is suggested that this animal provides the earliest evidence for the use of a bit on an early domestic equid from the Near East.
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2016
Recent archaeological excavations at the early urban settlement of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel pres... more Recent archaeological excavations at the early urban settlement of Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel present the opportunity to reconstruct the life-history of basalt ground stone artefacts of an early urban domestic neighbourhood. Tell es-Safi/Gath is a multi-period site located on the border between the Judean foothills and the southern coastal plain of central Israel. Survey and excavations over the last two decades demonstrated that it was a major urban centre for the region during the Early Bronze Age (EBA) III. At the eastern end of the site, a neighbourhood of commoner residences (some perhaps associated with mercantile activities) have been exposed. This paper describes and analyses the basalt ground stone tools found in association with this domestic neighbourhood. It seeks to establish the nature of production, distribution, consumption, and discard associated with ground stone tools within a domestic context. The study involved several forms of analysis including typology, macros...
‘Go(a)t milk?’ New perspectives on the zooarchaeological evidence for the earliest intensification of dairying in south eastern Europe
World Archaeology, 2015
Abstract The origins of secondary product exploitation for domestic livestock, in particular milk... more Abstract The origins of secondary product exploitation for domestic livestock, in particular milking, is a long-standing debate in archaeology. This paper re-analyses zooarchaeological age-at-death data from the central Balkans of south eastern Europe to demonstrate that the earliest intensive milking in this region probably occurred through the exploitation of goats, and not cattle or sheep, and that they were exploited in this manner from the beginning of the Neolithic. The analyses also suggest that there is a change in cattle and sheep exploitation patterns beginning during the Eneolithic, when secondary product exploitation becomes visible in age-at-death patterns, which can be interpreted as an increased scale of secondary products exploitation. This proposal is congruent with the ceramic lipid and zooarchaeological data from the region and has larger implications for understanding and identifying the origins of milking throughout the Old World.
Where are the gardens? Early Iron Age horticulture in the Thukela River Basin of South Africa
World Archaeology, 2005
Page 1. Where are the gardens? Early Iron Age horticulture in the Thukela River Basin of South Af... more Page 1. Where are the gardens? Early Iron Age horticulture in the Thukela River Basin of South Africa Haskel J. Greenfield, Kent D. Fowler and Leonard O. van Schalkwyk Abstract Despite substantial botanical evidence for the ...
New evidence for Late Pleistocene human exploitation of Jefferson's Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) from northern Ohio, USA
World Archaeology, 2012
The nature and extent of early human exploitation of late Pleistocene mega-mammals of North Ameri... more The nature and extent of early human exploitation of late Pleistocene mega-mammals of North America have been vigorously debated; however, direct evidence of predation has been established for a small number of taxa. Until now, evidence of butchering and human utilization of ground sloths has been limited to South America. Osteological and taphonomic analyses of one curated collection of Jefferson's
The Secondary Products Revolution: the past, the present and the future
World Archaeology, 2010
Andrew Sherratt's (1981) model of the Secondary Products Revolution explored ... more Andrew Sherratt's (1981) model of the Secondary Products Revolution explored the effects of changes in the scale and nature of domestic animal exploitation on Old World societies. He proposed that the earliest domestic stock animals in the Near East (sheep, goat and cattle) were initially domesticated during the Neolithic for their primary products (meat, hide and bone), but that their
“The Fall of the House of Flint”: A Zooarchaeological Perspective on the Decline of Chipped Stone Tools for Butchering Animals in the Bronze and Iron Ages of the Southern Levant
Lithic Technology, 2013
Abstract In recent years, it has been recognized that chipped stone tools continue to be used aft... more Abstract In recent years, it has been recognized that chipped stone tools continue to be used after the end of the Neolithic in spite of the introduction of metallurgy. However, the rate of change from a lithic to metal-based economy is affected by the type of tool and its various functions. Traditionally, this change is monitored through the frequencies and presence/absence of the various lithic tool types. These data are often negatively affected by the haphazardly collected lithic collections from Bronze and later sites. Recently, an alternative approach to monitoring the shift in technology has been proposed. Microscopic examination of butchering marks on animal bones allows the type of raw material (stone versus metal) and the type of implement (blade versus scraper) to be reconstructed. In this paper, zooarchaeological data from the southern Levant (Israel and Palestinian Authority Territory) will be used to demonstrate the nature and rate of change from a stone to a metal-based animal butchering technology during the Bronze Age. The data demonstrate that chipped stone tools use continues to be widespread during the Early Bronze Age at both urban and rural sites for the butchering of animal remains and tool making. From the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (II), there is a dramatic shift in emphasis to a metal-based technology (ca. 80 percent) corresponding with the spread of high quality tin-bronze metal knives. In the Late Bronze Age, the frequency of chipped stone tools continues to decline. The transition from stone to a metal-based butchering technology is almost complete by the Iron Age, but chipped stone tools never fully disappear in the butchering process even in subsequent periods. Chipped stone tools continue in use long after the end of the Neolithic.
Spatial patterning of Early Iron Age metal production at Ndondondwane, South Africa: the question of cultural continuity between the Early and Late Iron Ages
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2004
The spatial relations of metal working areas and domestic areas in Early Iron Age sites are impor... more The spatial relations of metal working areas and domestic areas in Early Iron Age sites are important because they have implications for models of continuity and change in the southern African Iron Age. Metal working remains recovered during the 1995–1997 field seasons at the Early Iron Age site of Ndondondwane (AD 650–750) offered an opportunity to quantify the distribution of
Absolute age and tooth eruption and wear sequences in sheep and goat: determining age-at-death in zooarchaeology using a modern control sample
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008
... E, 29–33, 2–3 years, 24–47 months, Subadult, Old. ... The sheep were all slaughtered on the s... more ... E, 29–33, 2–3 years, 24–47 months, Subadult, Old. ... The sheep were all slaughtered on the same day of the month, while the goats were slaughtered at the rate of ... are long and very cold winters (average January temperatures −20 °C, but dipping to −40 ° C) and briefer and warmer ...
The Origins of Metallurgy: Distinguishing Stone from Metal Cut-marks on Bones from Archaeological Sites
Journal of Archaeological Science, 1999
This paper presents an analytical procedure for identifying and mapping the introduction and spre... more This paper presents an analytical procedure for identifying and mapping the introduction and spread of metallurgy to regions based upon the relative frequency of metal versus stone tool slicing cut-marks in butchered animal bone assemblages. The author conducted ...
Comment on “Holocene tsunamis from Mount Etna and the fate of Israeli Neolithic communities” by Maria Teresa Pareschi, Enzo Boschi, and Massimiliano Favalli
Geophysical Research Letters, 2008
ABSTRACT Abstract Available from http://www.agu.org
Geoarchaeology, 2004
Burrowing activity is a widely recognized source of site modification. Most taphonomic studies of... more Burrowing activity is a widely recognized source of site modification. Most taphonomic studies of burrowers emphasize their destructive aspects on the archaeological record. Excavations at Ndondondwane, South Africa, suggest burrowing activity is destructive in some ways, but may also preserve cultural behavior. Drawing on both direct and indirect sources of evidence, we discuss how burrowing activity by rodents, earthworms, and termites can inform about pedogenic and depositional processes at archaeological sites and both preserve and destroy evidence of intra-settlement patterns and early African cultigens. Specifically, we demonstrate the limited effect of earthworms on site stratigraphy, how the localized activity of termites have preserved casts of early African cultigens, and how the ability of archaeologists to distinguish the devastating effects of rodent burrowing from remains of architectural features have permitted important inferences about social and ritual life in early African farming communities.
Integrating surface and subsurface reconnaissance data in the study of stratigraphically complex sites: Blagotin, Serbia
Geoarchaeology, 2000
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Papers by Haskel Greenfield