DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Osypińska, Marta: Animal bone remains from the cemetery in el-Zuma (2007 season)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42093#0498
MtoM - EL-ZUMA
SUDAN
The absence of bones facilitating
evaluation of animal morphology (skulls,
distal parts of limbs) makes it difficult to
estimate the actual varieties of animals bred
in the region. Moreover, most of the bones
came from morphologically immature
animals which are not usually measured
because they are not suitable for comparison
with adult specimens. However, since some
of the animals had reached practically full
size, their bones were measured [Table 4] in
order to provide comparative data for studies
of osteological remains from other sites or
from this site but discovered in the future.
A distinctive characteristic of the El-Zuma
finds compared to other sites of the same
chronology is the presence of camel bones
in the burial deposits. Like all the other
animal remains from the burial provisions,
they must have had a consumptional
character as well. This is indicated by the
anatomical distribution, as well as traces
of butchering, sometimes even into quite
small portions, as if ready for consumption.
This is the case of ribs which were chopped
into smaller sections of more or less equal
size.
The archaeozoological analysis of faunal
remains from the El-Zuma cemetery has
confirmed the unusual richness of the
material from this burial ground in Sudan in
terms of the practice of providing the dead
with meat, the amounts of the meat and
foremost the range of species recorded. An
examination of the faunal assemblage from
El-Zuma contributes to the study of burial
customs of the elites inhabiting the region
in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.
The good condition of the preserved bones
and their number may also facilitate future
studies of breeding and consumption
patterns, as well as the economic model that
was in operation in a still little known
period in Nibian history after the fall of the
kingdom of Meroe but still before the
formation of Makuria.
Table 4. Butchering traces on the bones
Boae
Traces on the bones
Cattle Bos primigenius f. domestica
Tibia
Traces of cutting
Talus
Traces of cutting
Camel Camelus dromedarius f. domestica
Costae
Traces of cutting
Costae
Sectioning: 8 cm; 8.3 cm; 9.1 cm; 10.4 cm; 12.8 cm;
17.5 cm
Sheep/goat Ovis orintalis f. domestica /
Capra aegagrus f. doemstica
Costae
Traces of cutting
Costae
Sectioning: 5-5 cm; 5.5 cm; 6 cm; 7 cm; 7 cm; 7 cm; 7
cm; 7 cm
492
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007
SUDAN
The absence of bones facilitating
evaluation of animal morphology (skulls,
distal parts of limbs) makes it difficult to
estimate the actual varieties of animals bred
in the region. Moreover, most of the bones
came from morphologically immature
animals which are not usually measured
because they are not suitable for comparison
with adult specimens. However, since some
of the animals had reached practically full
size, their bones were measured [Table 4] in
order to provide comparative data for studies
of osteological remains from other sites or
from this site but discovered in the future.
A distinctive characteristic of the El-Zuma
finds compared to other sites of the same
chronology is the presence of camel bones
in the burial deposits. Like all the other
animal remains from the burial provisions,
they must have had a consumptional
character as well. This is indicated by the
anatomical distribution, as well as traces
of butchering, sometimes even into quite
small portions, as if ready for consumption.
This is the case of ribs which were chopped
into smaller sections of more or less equal
size.
The archaeozoological analysis of faunal
remains from the El-Zuma cemetery has
confirmed the unusual richness of the
material from this burial ground in Sudan in
terms of the practice of providing the dead
with meat, the amounts of the meat and
foremost the range of species recorded. An
examination of the faunal assemblage from
El-Zuma contributes to the study of burial
customs of the elites inhabiting the region
in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.
The good condition of the preserved bones
and their number may also facilitate future
studies of breeding and consumption
patterns, as well as the economic model that
was in operation in a still little known
period in Nibian history after the fall of the
kingdom of Meroe but still before the
formation of Makuria.
Table 4. Butchering traces on the bones
Boae
Traces on the bones
Cattle Bos primigenius f. domestica
Tibia
Traces of cutting
Talus
Traces of cutting
Camel Camelus dromedarius f. domestica
Costae
Traces of cutting
Costae
Sectioning: 8 cm; 8.3 cm; 9.1 cm; 10.4 cm; 12.8 cm;
17.5 cm
Sheep/goat Ovis orintalis f. domestica /
Capra aegagrus f. doemstica
Costae
Traces of cutting
Costae
Sectioning: 5-5 cm; 5.5 cm; 6 cm; 7 cm; 7 cm; 7 cm; 7
cm; 7 cm
492
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007