Faunal Remains

Katherine Koudele (Agriculture)

Zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains from Tall Jalul, Jordan

This application is for support of the on-going the analysis of faunal remains from an archaeological site, Tall Jalul in Jordan, which was occupied from the Early Bronze to the Persian periods. This excavation is part of the interdisciplinary and intercollegiate Madaba Plains Project which involves Andrews University, Caribbean Union College, Cincinnati Christian University, La Sierra University, and Walla Walla University. (www.madabaplains.org) The analysis of the faunal remains will aid in the reconstruction of ancient subsistence strategies including levels of intensive agriculture and/or pastoralism, basic dietary practices, and provide insights into other aspects of human-animal relationships such as hunting, trade, and information about the natural environment with which the humans interacted. The animal bones found most commonly found (based on work done at our sister site, Tall Hesban, and other sites in the region) will be sheep/goat, cattle, pig, camel, equids (horses, donkeys, mules), with fewer dogs and cats. Occasionally wild species may be discovered which can be identified using comparative skeletal collections housed at major faunal analysis labs in the United States and Germany. The funding requests in the grant application are to cover part of the travel and housing to those labs as well as shared salary for allow the P.I. release time to pursue research.