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‘Atiqot 55 (2007)
ISBN 2948-040X
Faunal Remains from A Late Chalcolithic–Bronze Age Dwelling and Burial Caves at Shoham (North), Lod Valley
(pp. 1*–15*)
Liora Kolska Horwitz
Keywords: archaeozoology, burial offerings, donkey, horse
Four Late Chalcolithic burial caves were excavated at Shoham (North). Within these caves, 1052 identifiable animal bones were recovered: 712 bones originated from Chalcolithic deposits; 179, from Early Bronze Age I deposits; 9, from Intermediate Bronze Age deposits; and 152, from mixed Chalcolithic/EB I sediments. The identified species were similar in both Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age samples, representing mainly domestic animals, e.g., sheep, goats, pigs and dogs, as well as large-sized equids (wild ass?). The samples differ, however, in their relative frequencies, which might represent different activities in the cave. The data presented in this article suggest that both human and carnivore activities contributed to the creation of the faunal assemblage at the site.