Animal Economy at Karkemish from the Late Bronze to the Iron Age. A Preliminary Assessment

A systematic zooarchaeological study of the faunal assemblages from the excavations carried out between 2011 and 2016 by the Joint Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition at Karkemish (province of Karkamış, Gaziantep, Turkey) has been based on a sample of about ten thousand osteological remains. The evidence derives from different sectors of the urban settlement, including administrative, cultic, productive, residential and funerary areas, from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age down to the Iron IV / Achaemenid period. The faunal assemblage presents a good level of preservation with almost 40% of the sample determined to species level. Domestic animals were predominant in all periods, with sheep and goats that cover almost half of the Number of Identified Specimens (NISP), followed by cattle and equids (both donkeys and horses), while pigs, dogs and camels are rather scarce. Wild animals were rare and included deer, fallow deer and gazelle. The animal economy of Karkemish was consequently based on pastoralism, including the exploitation of both primary and secondary products as showed by the estimation of the age at death.