PALEORIENT, vol. 17/1 - 1991
THE ANALYSIS OF MAMMALIAN BONES
FROM BAŠTA, A PRE-POTTERY NEOLITHIC SITE
IN JORDAN : PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL
С BECKER
Few topics in archaeozoology have generated more interest and debate over the past decades than the socio-economic developments which led to the domestication of animals and the first occurrence of domestic animals in the Near East. Some of the main points in this discussion concern the earlier distribution of the wild ancestors of domestic livestock; others deal with the period and place of their domestication and their spread into adjacent regions. Furthermore, recognition of the various stages of this process from the archaeological record and, of course, interpretation of the archaeozoological results still remain problematic. The long list of arguments, hypothetical explanations and probable solutions will not be shortened unless theories are based on a broader range of archaeofaunal data. Concerning our knowledge of the developments in the southern Levant, key positions belong to the numerous assemblages of bones uncovered in Neolithic levels of Jericho (1), Beidha (2) and 'Ain Ghazal (3). However, as the analyses have already pointed out, many basic problems remain unresolved. An opportunity to examine aspects of animal exploitation in the Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic В period was presented when excavations at Basta (fig. 1) uncovered another huge collection of bones (more than
CLUTTON-BROCK 1971 1979 HECKER 1975 1982 1989 PERKINS 1966 HLER-ROLLEFSON 1987 1989 HLER-ROLLEF- SON et al. 1985 1988
100 000 specimens), dating to the 7th millennium B.C. (4).
In this paper, an attempt is made to outline some archaeozoological and zoogeographical problems (5) and results from Basta, in order to clear away some dead wood (6).
BECKER 1987 in press in preparation CLUTTON-BROCK 1978 UERPMANN 1979 ARMI TAGE 1986 DAVIS 1989 The paper was presented at the Sixth International Confe rence of the International Council for Archaeozoology CAZ at Washington D.C in may 1990 GEBEL et al. 1988 GEBEL 1986 HENRY 1986
The site and the excavation
The site of Basta is located in the southern Levant near the famous Nabatean site of Petra (Jordan), about 12 km south-south east of Wadi Musa (fig. 1). It lies at 1420-1460 m above sea level in a limestone-area within a mountainous belt that parallels the Jordan Rift Valley along its eastern margin. This region which today receives about 100/200 mm (dry/wet years) annual rainfall in winter, is characterized by a semi-arid, cold climate and by vegetation of the Irano-Turanian steppe (7). Since 1986, the site has been excavated by a team of Jordanian and German archaeologists under the direction of Hans
59
