Bronze Age agropastoral management in central Cyprus and along the Jordan Rift

Abstract

We compare ancient landscapes and agropastoral management in a variety of environmental settings in the Eastern Mediterranean. Agropastoral practices are inferred across Early and Middle Bronze Age landscapes based on evidence excavated from four rural settlements in the northern Jordan Valley (Tell el-Hayyat, Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj), the Dead Sea Basin (Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 1), and the Troodos foothills of Cyprus (Politiko-Troullia). Comparative analyses using AMS dating, carbonized seed to charcoal ratios, charcoal, seed and bone frequencies, and stable isotope ratios (δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C) from seeds and animal bone collagen enable discussion of contrasting natural and agrarian landscapes. Villages in the Jordan Valley burned dung fuel along with wood from riparian trees, while wood from desert trees was utilized near the Dead Sea, and pine, oak, and olive trees provided fuel in central Cyprus. Bone assemblages reveal animal husbandry based on high frequencies of sheep and goats, supplemented by domestic pigs at Tell el-Hayyat and Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj. Politiko-Troullia is distinguished by the hunting of deer and feral pigs as inferred from stable isotope analysis of bone collagen. Plant cultivation strategies are inferred from δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C, which have similar values for cereals and pulses at Tell el-Hayyat and Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj despite different environmental conditions and societal contexts. Values of δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C from barley and wheat at Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 1 suggest the greatest amount of management (irrigation and manuring), while plant cultivation at Politiko-Troullia involved olive arboriculture and little management of cereals. Ancient plants and animals illuminate the herding, hunting, and cultivation practices that helped mold ancient Eastern Mediterranean landscapes, often in response to environmental stress.