Agropastoralism in Middle Bronze through Early Iron Age Naxçıvan: zooarchaeological and paleoethnobotanical data from Qızqala

Abstract

Excavations at the site of Qızqala in the Şərur Rayon of Azerbaijan’s Autonomous Republic of Naxçıvan have yielded evidence of a fortified settlement occupied from the Middle Bronze through the Early Iron Ages (2500–800 BCE), as well as a rich mortuary landscape of monumental kurgan burials dating to the Middle Bronze Age. This study describes the combined faunal and macrobotanical evidence for agropastoral production from the settlement at Qızqala and from animal offerings incorporated into nearby contemporaneous mortuary contexts. Such data provide a unique opportunity to elucidate the underlying subsistence system supporting the inhabitants at Qızqala, and to compare this system with the choices ancient people made when interring their dead in the nearby kurgans. While this dataset is modest, our goal is to integrate both plant and animal data stemming from different types of social practices in order to draw a more holistic view of agropastoral production and ritual practice during this period.