Es-Sifiya excavations reveal role of livestock in shaping early Neolithic settlements in Jordan

AMMAN — Domesticated sheep and goat herding was essential for support of large settlements in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB).

Small-bodied sheep appeared suddenly in the middle Euphrates region in the mid-8th millennium BC, indicating their importation from the north where intensive exploitation of sheep had been already underway for over a millennium and were present in the Damascus Basin by the mid-8th millennium BC.

“Sheep were likely first incorporated into LPPNB subsistence systems in the Jordanian highlands by ca. 7300 cal. BC, although they may have been introduced to the Balqa highlands somewhat earlier during the mid-8th millennium BC, inferred by the presence of a few sheep bone specimens identified in the late Middle PPNB layers of ‘Ain Ghazal,” noted the scholar Cheryl Makarewicz from the University of Kiel.

Makarewicz added that it remains to be seen, however, if these trace specimens represent the initial translocation of sheep to the region or are younger intrusive specimens from overlying LPPNB deposits.

"Direct dating of the bone specimens in question and, in the case of sheep and goats which are difficult to distinguish in some skeletal elements on the basis of morphology, collagen peptide fingerprinting is needed to securely identify the temporal and species assignments of each bone specimen," the scholar noted.

"For goats, small herds were loosely managed in the Upper Tigris by the late 9th millennium BC, increasingly exploited at roughly contemporaneous sites located in the upper Euphrates, and first appeared in the middle Euphrates basin during the early 8th millennium BC," Makarewicz explained.

The scholar noted that morphologically wild goats appear to have spread by the mid-late 9th millennium BC to the Damascus Basin and, later by the late 9th-early 8th millennium BC, were intensively managed, indicated by young male culling and horn core torsion associated with domestication.

Further to the south in regions adjacent to the Jordan Valley, morphologically wild goats were under management during the mid-9th millennium BC, indicated by an intensification in the exploitation of goats at the expense of gazelles, the harvest of juvenile animals, and the augmentation of goat diets by human caretakers and however, if these managed animals were the progenitors of domesticated goats that were exploited at LPPNB settlements east of the Jordan Valley during the late 8th millennium BC, the professor elaborated.

Es-Sifiya is a large LPPNB settlement situated on the broad flood plain of the lower Wadi Mujib.

"Perennial water flow in the wadi is supported by an expansive catchment zone that includes numerous smaller wadi systems, fed by precipitation run-off, which flows into the Wadi Mujib. Excavations at es-Sifiya were undertaken in 1994-2000 after the discovery of the site during construction of the Mujib Dam," Makarewicz highlighted.

The professor pointed out that surface survey and excavations indicate that the settlement spreads over ca. 10 ha and shares architectural features with other LPPNB settlements located in southern Jordan including Basta, Ba’ja, Khirbet Hammam, Hamarash, and Hemmeh.

Buildings at es-Sifiya are comprised of substantial, agglutinative, two-story stone architecture that likely served as domestic dwellings and are characteristic for LPPNB settlements in central and southern Jordan.

Furthermore, interior spaces consisted of a large room connected to small, ca. 1-2m2 rooms by small openings framed by thresholds and lintels, Makarewicz said, adding that these smaller rooms likely functioned as storage rooms. Many rooms interior floors and walls of the rooms were lime plastered and, occasionally, this plaster was painted red.

"Numerous large stone querns, stone bowls, pestles, and unbaked clay vessels found in situ on the plaster floor of a large room indicate intensive food processing was regularly carried out in larger interior spaces," the scholar said.

"Six radiocarbon determinations obtained from unidentified wood charcoal recovered during excavations of Area C yielded a summed distribution of 7060-6800 cal. BC and suggest occupation at es-Sifiya took place during the latter half of the LPPNB," Makarewicz underlined.

Faunal remains were recovered through handpicking and also occasional sieving of sediments through a 5-mm mesh, said the professor.

Taxonomic frequencies of macrofauna recovered by handpicking are comparable to frequencies generated from sieved assemblages and bone specimens belonging to small mammals, micro-fauna, and young and infant-aged medium-sized animals, are also not well recovered in un-sieved assemblages and are underrepresented in abundance measures, according to Makarewicz.

These findings strongly suggest that young, infant-aged animals and small mammals are underrepresented in the es-Sifiya assemblage.

"Decisions regarding the timing of livestock slaughter are influenced by short-and long-term production goals for ante-mortem products of milk, fibre and traction as well as post-mortem products of meat, fat and skins," Makarewicz said while fodder availability and pasture access also structure the timing of animal harvest. Relative proportion of male and female animals in livestock herds also influences harvesting decisions.

"For example, the intensive slaughter of juvenile males reflects subsistence decisions concerned with optimal production of meat, while extended survivorship of females is strongly associated with dairy production and progeny," the professor underscored.