Everything but the oink on the discovery of an articulated pig in iron age Jerusalem and its meaning to Judahite consumption practices

Lidar Sapir-Hen, Joe Uziel, Oral Chalaf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pork consumption and avoidance during the Iron Age in the southern Levant is extensively discussed in the context of the identity of the populations of ancient Israel. It is often examined by calculating pig frequencies in faunal assemblages (Hesse 1990; Hesse and Wapnish 1997, 1998; Faust and Lev-Tov 2011; Maeir, Hitchcock, and Horwitz 2013; Meiri et al. 2013; Sapir-Hen et al. 2013; Faust and Lev-Tov 2014; Sapir-Hen, Meiri, and Finkelstein 2015; Maeir and Hitchcock 2017; Sapir-Hen 2019a). Recent studies that reviewed data on pig frequencies in correlation to the subphases of the Iron Age have shown that while frequencies of pork consumption fluctuated in the Northern Kingdom, it remained constantly low in Judah throughout the Iron Age (Sapir-Hen et al. 2013; Sapir-Hen 2019a). In Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, low frequencies or absence of pigs (0-2 percent of livestock) were found in all excavated sites (see further below). Thus, the discovery of an articulated pig in an Iron Age IIB (eighth century BCE) building during recent excavations along the eastern slopes of the City of David is intriguing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)110-119
Number of pages10
JournalNear Eastern Archaeology
Volume84
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Archaeology
  • History
  • Archaeology

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