ANTH 260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Tell Abu Hureyra, Chalcolithic, Weaning
3 Jun 2018
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Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Lecture Notes
Cattle (Continuation of Notes from Thurs.)
• Early Pre-Dynastic Egyptian Culture 5th Millennium BC
o While occupation sites are ephemeral, burials are not.
o Around the body were grinding tools, ceramics, cosmetics, etc.
o Pastoral ideology- resulted in the burial of whole animals. In some burials there
was evidence for shaped horns, cows buried like people (with mats around them),
and one burial of an infant with a calf.
o Some sites had cattle figurines.
• Early Dynastic Egypt
o Narmer’s palette- the unification of Egypt (the red crown of lower Egypt; the
white crown of Upper Egypt). Kings lists appear to connect political power with
ancestral rights.
o Cattle Imagery abundant
• The Faunal Remains
o While botanical remains indicate ubiquitous dung, few cattle were consumed.
o The village consumed lots of pigs.
o Interpretation- The site was a center of cattle rearing by a central authority.
Secondary products and young males were distributed from here. Locals only had
access to dung and cattle that had died of natural causes- the very young and old
females. Pigs were the main local resource, and potentially goats.
• Kom el-Hisn
o Nile Delta Old Kingdom Village 2500-2100 BC
o In text, the Nile Delta was an area historically dedicated to cattle production. The
principle deity at Kom el-Hisn was the cow goddess Hathor. Another form of
Hathor was Sekhat-Hor, the protectress of cattle.
• Giza- the Workers Town (Old Kingdom)
o Excavations of a town that housed a portion of the workers, specialists, and
administrators, associated with the construction of the third pyramid- Menkaure
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Document Summary
Secondary products and young males were distributed from here. Locals only had access to dung and cattle that had died of natural causes- the very young and old females. Pigs were the main local resource, and potentially goats: kom el-hisn, nile delta old kingdom village 2500-2100 bc, in text, the nile delta was an area historically dedicated to cattle production. The principle deity at kom el-hisn was the cow goddess hathor. They had lots of sheep/goats, but relatively high in goat meat. They also mainly had catfish, a less desirable fish in egypt: north gate house (low-level administrators_- they had some young cattle and. Nile perch: the eastern town (craftspeople or locals)- their faunal remains were like kom el- Perhaps not provisioned: the pottery mound- outside the western town and royal admin building. This was an elite area where they ate cattle (ration to sheep/goats is 13:6:1), and all were young, with hind legs particularly popular.
