Flattening the Wild in the Ancient Near East

Abstract

In this article the authors explore the impact of wild-domestic dualisms on how wild animals are conceived and framed in the zooarchaeology of the ancient Near East. They argue that this dominant framework flattens the wild into an artificially homogenous entity and funnels scholarly engagement with wild animals into a narrow range of topics. They explore examples from the archaeozoological literature as well as ancient texts that suggest that rather than being peripheral and exotic participants, wild animals were ubiquitous and important contributors to hybrid, multispecies Bronze Age societies. They further suggest a more robust zooarchaeology of the wild through application of flat ontologies and related decentering frameworks.