Jebel Khalid, Syria in the Hellenistic Period: A Zooarchaeological Analysis

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of the faunal remains collected between 2006-2010 from the Hellenistic site of Jebel Khalid, Syria. Jebel Khalid is located in north-eastern Syria, on the Euphrates River, immediately south of the Tishreen Dam and at the margins of rain-fed agriculture on the Syrian steppe. With no evidence of built occupation prior to the Hellenistic period and the virtual abandonment c. 70 BC, its Hellenistic character is uniquely preserved. The population of Jebel Khalid, a fortified military garrison, would have comprised the local indigenous population, polyethnic mercenary soldiers and settlers of Graeco-Macedonian backgrounds from other large Seleucid cities, or from Greece and Macedonia. The large corpus of evidence from the site suggests that the cultural identity of this town was a fusion of both Greek and indigenous Late Iron Age traditions. This study of the faunal remains from distinct and separate areas on the site, specifically the Acropolis, Housing Insula and Commercial Area, in conjunction with the material culture, has contributed to our understanding of the cultural identities of both the colonisers and those indigenous people living and working at Jebel Khalid. A comprehensive analysis of faunal studies from Classical Greece and environs; Persian/Late Iron Age Levant; Hellenistic Greece, Turkey and the Levant; the Roman Levant and Turkey, has been undertaken. The purpose of this analysis is to determine what would be considered a typically Greek and/or Levantine diet prior to the Hellenistic period, and what changes might have occurred in the meat diet during the period of Seleucid rule. The analysis of the faunal remains from the Acropolis shows a strong Greek cultural bias, with the material and faunal evidence suggestive of animal sacrifice and consumption of meat in large gatherings. The presence of fish bones on the Acropolis this virtual absence over the rest of the site, suggests that local religious beliefs in the sanctity of fish did not preclude the consumption of fish. The diversity of species consumed on the Acropolis, including a number of wild species, is in keeping with the elite past-time of hunting, more associated with Greek rather than regional Levantine culture. On the other hand, the Housing Insula shows a predictable Levantine faunal footprint. There is a strong local influence seen in the cooking vessels, with links to the previous Iron Age forms. Overall, the faunal remains show a town that relied heavily on traditional sheep/goat pastoralism, as had been the case for centuries before and continuing to the present day, due largely to environmental considerations. On that basis we see a divided society with one group of elite or privileged who embraced Greek practices in relation to acquisition and consumption of meat, with a strong connection to the sacrificial or ritual world, and the other local indigenous residents or workers who embraced some of the dietary preferences and traditions of these immigrants, but firmly within a local framework.