A New and Extensive Ethnoarchaeological Dung Reference Collection for Investigating Animal Occupation, Seasonality and Diet in the Past

The Neolithic (c. 12,000–8000 BP), which saw the beginnings of sedentism along with plant and animal domestication, is a key period in human history. Initially occurring in the Middle East these developments subsequently spread to other regions. Understanding and pinpointing important transformations, such as the domestication of animals, can be challenging: common methods rely on the interpretation of archaeological remains up to 12,000 years old, and biological remains, such as animal bones and plants, are often poorly preserved, fragmented or absent. Increasingly, alternative methodologies are being implemented in order to detect the beginnings of animal management and domestication.

New innovative multi-methodological scientific research is currently being developed that integrates scientific analyses with ethnoarchaeological and archaeological datasets to investigate sedentarization, domestication, seasonality and diet. Recent studies based on the microscopic analysis of dung deposits demonstrate the potential to investigate important phenomena, such as sedentarization, animal domestication, secondary product use and animal diet. For example, isolating compacted animal dung to detect animal penning and identifying micro-remains from dung are a rich source of data for reconstructing past animal husbandry (grazing, fodder regimes, or past vegetation and seasonality). This approach is proving useful in conjunction with established methods of archaeological investigation.

My PhD research at the University of Reading, completed in 2015, was a pilot project in the use of these new multi-methodology techniques (Fig. 1) to investigate Neolithic archaeological sites in Iraqi Kurdistan. To develop the research further, however, additional reference material and analyses are needed from other regions. Recent samples collected during my CBRL Fellowship (2015–2016) will provide results that can be incorporated into future archaeological analysis and will be available for use as comparative data to understand archaeological sites in the southern Levant: one of the regions where sedentism and farming first developed.

Fig. 1. Example of microscopic analysis of modern dung samples. Left: thin sectioned sheep/goat dung pellets. Top, middle: Microstructure of dung pellet in plain polarised light (PPL) showing grass leaf/stem phytoliths, spongey voids and organic matter. Top, right and bottom right: Dung pellet in crossed polarised light (XPL) showing calcareous faecal spherulites (circled in red). Bottom, middle: Dung pellet in plain polarised light (PPL) showing wheat phytoliths.

My PhD research at the University of Reading, completed in 2015, was a pilot project in the use of these new multi-methodology techniques (Fig. 1) to investigate Neolithic archaeological sites in Iraqi Kurdistan. To develop the research further, however, additional reference material and analyses are needed from other regions. Recent samples collected during my CBRL Fellowship (2015–2016) will provide results that can be incorporated into future archaeological analysis and will be available for use as comparative data to understand archaeological sites in the southern Levant: one of the regions where sedentism and farming first developed.

During my Fellowship I was based at CBRL’s British Institute in Amman. I collected modern dung samples from all four vegetation zones in Jordan so that dietary components extracted from the dung can be compared against grazing conditions; Saharo-Arabian, Irano-Turanian, Mediterranean and Sudanian. Samples were also collected from domesticated pigs on Cyprus (Fig. 2) due to the difficulties in obtaining these in contemporary Jordan where pig raising is restricted. Domesticated and wild animals (Figs 3 and 4) were targeted and dung samples taken throughout the year to establish whether or not seasonal grazing signatures can be observed (Fig. 5). Table 1 lists the full range of samples collected for the modern ethnoarchaeological dung reference collection for the southern Levant. The analysis and comparison of the modern dataset with archaeological datasets will establish how suitable the multi-method scientific analyses of animal occupation signatures are for interpreting Neolithic archaeology.

Fig. 2. Foraging/free-ranging black pigs near to the Avakas Gorge (Lemba), Cyprus.

Fig. 3. Domesticated sheep and goat in a temporary winter pen in Al Ma’tan, Jordan.

Fig. 4. Wild gazelle, RSCN Shaumari nature reserve, Jordan.

Fig. 5. Left: Sheep and goat grazing in the summer near to Adir (Karak), Jordan. Right: Goat grazing on Chenopodiaceae in the winter near to Al Ma’tan, Jordan. This Chenopodiaceae is only consumed by browsing animals in the winter because it is poisonous in the summer (pers. Comm. goat herder Al Ma’tan, Jordan).

Table 1. Full list of dung samples, fodder samples and plant samples collected.

The next stage in developing the reference collection will be to analyse the micro-components for their geochemistry, micromorphology, faecal spherulite and phytolith contents to establish different dung types. The micro-analysis of the reference collections will then be employed to identify and interpret archaeological animal dung signatures from Neolithic archaeological contexts in the southern Levant.

Once fully processed these samples will form the biggest dung reference collection that exists worldwide. This reference collection is also important because wild species have not been extensively studied in previous dung reference collections from other regions. Once processed the reference materials will be available to researchers in both Jordan and the UK. The results and photomicrographs of the microscopic remains will also be available through an online database.

An overall objective is to increase the visibility of dung studies and to encourage the implementation of this approach across archaeological research projects. Archaeological projects in other regions and periods are starting to integrate, as standard, dung studies into research projects. This new innovative approach using dung studies can be used to address a wide range of research questions that can be integrated with archaeozoology to investigate animal management and domestication, and with archaeobotany to investigate animal diet, seasonality, ecology and environment.