Economic developments of urban proportions: Evolving systems of animal-product consumption and distr...

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منو

" Economic developments of urban proportions: Evolving systems of animal-product consumption and distribution in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages in Syro -Mesopotamia "
Jill A. Weber R. L. Zettler

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	55531
Doc. No	:	TL25485
Call number	:	‭3211164‬
Main Entry	:	Jill A. Weber
Title & Author	:	Economic developments of urban proportions: Evolving systems of animal-product consumption and distribution in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages in Syro -Mesopotamia\ Jill A. Weber
College	:	University of Pennsylvania
Date	:	2006
Degree	:	Ph.D.
student score	:	2006
Page No	:	357
Abstract	:	During the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1300 BC) in what is now northern Syria, dramatic changes occurred in the size and distribution of settlements as successive populations coalesced and dispersed around shifting, urban centers. The dynamics of regional interaction were altered as these centers modified their internal, institutional structures to implement new strategies of production and exchange. As the size and status of a settlement grew or declined, the process required for its residents to fulfill their own economic needs changed. Urban-sized settlements located in and environmental zones were particularly challenged to adequately sustain their populations and institutions. Assessing the adaptive, changing relationships in ancient economies is made difficult by a lack of direct evidence for these structures. Predictable ramifications of increasing complexity on the economic behaviors of goods production, accumulation and distribution were identified from anthropological literature from the modern Middle East, as well as economic documentation from the ancient Near East. These correlates of increasing complexity were then used as a framework with which to interpret animal bone data from Bronze Age archaeological sites in northern Syria---Hajji Ibrahim, Tell es-Sweyhat, and Umm el-Marra, to elucidate those ancient economies, and to test the suitability of animal-bone trash as an economic indicator. This study revealed that animal bones are visible artifacts of economic development. Spatial variations in the distribution of bones across settlements are proxy data for ancient consumption patterns, which can be used to infer economic structure. Urban, economic development at these ancient settlements in and environmental zones was described. Their evolution was spurred by their general socio-political milieu and economic interactions with other settlements. But, their specific solutions of economic reorganization employed to adapt to growth and decline were shaped by particular natural and cultural characteristics of each settlement, its environmental setting, and its population.
Subject	:	Social sciences; Animal products; Bronze Age; Consumption; Economic developments; Syro-Mesopotamia; Archaeology; Physical anthropology; 0327:Physical anthropology; 0324:Archaeology
Added Entry	:	R. L. Zettler
Added Entry	:	University of Pennsylvania