Human-bird interactions in the Levant during the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene: Multi-scalar analysis of avifaunal remains

作者：Lisa Yeomans, Camilla Mazzucato · 发表于：Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1007/s12520-024-02090-6 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology、Archaeology and ancient environmental studies、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Abstract This paper describes analyses of avifauna from Levantine Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites at contrasting scales. We present avian osteological data at Shubayqa, in northeast Jordan, illustrating human-bird-environment interactions over 4000 years offering interpretation of environmental change on avifaunal communities and reorientation in the nature of multi-species relationships at a wetland environment. Comparisons to published avifaunal assemblages investigates bird-human relationships across a broader temporal and geographical span. During the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, some of our species gradually transitioned to agriculture. People hunted birds for subsistence but extensive evidence for the symbolic importance of birds suggests complex relationships between species. Avifaunal evidence, therefore, presents insights into two commonly suggested primary causes for the shift from hunter-foragers to agriculturalists – resource pressure and symbolic expression. In this paper, we investigate and try to clarify the relationship between humans and birds at this transitional period in human history, furthering discussions of the shift towards agriculture. We argue humans gradually modified the landscape but this was not a reactionary response to resource stress. Nevertheless, this resulted in the productivity of the landscape increasing and allowed further intensification. Feathers and talons of birds were used for millennia preceding the shift to agri...