Animal mobility in Chalcolithic Portugal: Isotopic analyses of cattle from the sites of Zambujal and Leceia

TY - JOUR

T1 - Animal mobility in Chalcolithic Portugal

T2 - Isotopic analyses of cattle from the sites of Zambujal and Leceia

AU - Wright, Elizabeth

AU - Waterman, Anna J.

AU - Peate, David W.

AU - Kunst, Michael

AU - Cardoso, João Luis

AU - Detry, Cleia

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded through an Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), Archaeology in Portugal Fellowship . Thanks to Silvia Valenzuela Lamas for useful discussions on Iberian prehistoric animal mobility, and to Mount Mercy Students Matthew Purl and Nicholas Wilson for their help processing samples at the University of Iowa. Also thanks to Craig Lundstrom, Tom Johnson, and Gideon Bartov of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for their help with the Mass Spectrometry and to the Museu Municipal of Torres Vedras and the Centro de Estudos Arqueológicos do Concelho de Oeiras/Câmara Municipal de Oeiras for allowing access to the material included in this study. Finally, thank you to the two reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2019/4/1

Y1 - 2019/4/1

N2 - This paper outlines the results of strontium isotopic analyses from cattle recovered at the Chalcolithic fortified settlement sites of Castro do Zambujal and Leceia (Estremadura, Portugal). The Portuguese Chalcolithic (c. 3000/2900–1900 BC) was a pivotal time of social and economic change with evidence of increasing social complexity resulting in the formation of hierarchical settlements. With these changes came the emergence of long-distance exchange networks and more complex population movements and interactions. Domesticated animals would have played an important role in these emerging economies, and it is assumed that animals migrated with, and were exchanged by, humans as part of these new networks. While direct evidence of these networks is still limited in this region, new methodologies have the potential to expand our knowledge of animal mobility and exchange. This study uses 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in tooth enamel to identify potential non-local animals at these two settlements. Results indicate that Leceia may have had a higher proportion of non-local animals than Zambujal and had a wider catchment area for its stock, suggesting variations in settlement economies across relatively short distances in this region. These results have important implications for our understanding of animal management at Portuguese Chalcolithic sites, and the involvement of animals in the emerging economies of the time.

AB - This paper outlines the results of strontium isotopic analyses from cattle recovered at the Chalcolithic fortified settlement sites of Castro do Zambujal and Leceia (Estremadura, Portugal). The Portuguese Chalcolithic (c. 3000/2900–1900 BC) was a pivotal time of social and economic change with evidence of increasing social complexity resulting in the formation of hierarchical settlements. With these changes came the emergence of long-distance exchange networks and more complex population movements and interactions. Domesticated animals would have played an important role in these emerging economies, and it is assumed that animals migrated with, and were exchanged by, humans as part of these new networks. While direct evidence of these networks is still limited in this region, new methodologies have the potential to expand our knowledge of animal mobility and exchange. This study uses 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in tooth enamel to identify potential non-local animals at these two settlements. Results indicate that Leceia may have had a higher proportion of non-local animals than Zambujal and had a wider catchment area for its stock, suggesting variations in settlement economies across relatively short distances in this region. These results have important implications for our understanding of animal management at Portuguese Chalcolithic sites, and the involvement of animals in the emerging economies of the time.

KW - Copper Age

KW - Fauna

KW - Iberia

KW - Leceia

KW - Mobility

KW - Strontium isotopes

KW - Zambujal

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062716374&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.005

DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.005

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85062716374

SN - 2352-409X

VL - 24

SP - 804

EP - 814

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

ER -