Animal Secondary Products

Animal Secondary Products investigates animal exploitation and the animal economy from the end of the Neolithic to the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Near East and Europe. Incorporating current zooarchaeologial theory and cutting-edge methodological developments, it critically assesses Andrew Sh [...]
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Animal Secondary Products investigates animal exploitation and the animal economy from the end of the Neolithic to the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Near East and Europe. Incorporating current zooarchaeologial theory and cutting-edge methodological developments, it critically assesses Andrew Sherratt s highly influential concept of a Secondary Products Revolution. The model presented here argues for a genuine shift in development with a combination of both primary (meat hide, bone) and secondary (milk, wool, traction) products. It conceptualises changes between the Neolithic and Bronze Age that dramatically transformed the nature of animal exploitation strategies, cultivation practices, land management strategies, nature of settlement, and political and economic organisation in Europe. The 13 papers present a holistic discussion of Sherratt s concept and investigate theoretical developments in our understanding of milking and the nature of Secondary Products, as well as examining contextualised zooarchaeological analysis and harvest profiles from a wide geographical range of sites. The book bridges an important divide by cross-referencing statistical and scientific data with more traditional archaeological techniques and demonstrates the necessity of using diverse techniques to analyse data before interpreting patterns as exploitation practices. Offering fresh insight into the development of civilisation from the end of the Neolithic to the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Near East and Europe, this book will be important for archaeozoologists and prehistorians.