Breeding and Exploitation of Animals Among the Inhabitants of the East Central Zagros in the Late Chalcolithic Age: Fauna Study of Kuy-e Keyvan Tepe

Abstract

Behzad Hoseyni Sarbisheh and Fatemeh Zeinali Khaledabadi

Kuy-e Keyvan Tepe of Azna is located in the East Central Zagros of Iran. This archaeological site was excavated during an emergency project in 2019 by the first author. Azna plain is one of the most important intercultural plains in Iran. Due to its rich ecosystem, suitable climatic conditions, and strategic geographical location, Azna has been a desirable area for the settlement of different communities and could have been one of the important cultural centers of interaction between nomadic life and sedentary life. Kuy-e Keyvan Tepe, located in this plain, has favorable conditions for settlement and its findings obtained from archaeological excavations indicate the settlement of human communities at this site during prehistoric, historical, and Islamic periods. In addition, the study of bone remains at this site can provide very important results in terms of the subsistence system of its inhabitants. The animal remains studied in this article belong to the cultural layers of the Late Chalcolithic Age. In general, most of the animal bone collection at this site is divided into two groups: large mammals and small ruminants. According to the analysis of the frequency of identified animal species (Caprinae, Bos taurus, Equidae, Sus scrofa Carnivorae), it can be said that the exploitation of domestic animals is much more than wild species and animal husbandry has been one of the main ways to provide the subsistence for the inhabitants of this site in the second half of the fourth millennium BC.

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