Between sacred and profane: human–animal relationships at Abu Tbeirah (southern Iraq)in the third millennium BC

The site of Abu Tbeirah, excavated since 2012 by an Iraqi-Italian archaeological mission, is located about 15 Km NE of Ur (Nasiriya, Dhi Qar province, Southern Iraq) and covers a surface of about 42 ha. The investigations in different areas of the settlement evidenced so far some buildings, several burials and a harbor dated to the second half of the third millennium, between the end of the Early Dynastic and the beginning of the Akkadian period (D'Agostino, Romano, in press; D’Agostino et al. in press). A large faunal assemblage has been collected during the last seven field seasons from residential contexts as well as in association with human burials (Alhaique et al. in press). Archaeozoological analysis identified mainly domestic animals, while wild species are more rare; furthermore, fish and mollusk remains show that the environment in the surroundings the site was probably similar to the present-day Iraqi Marshes. The presentation will explore the role played by the animals in the different contexts of the site integrating faunal data with with other archaeological and environmental evidences.