Late Bronze and Iron Age Livestock of the Southern Levant: Their Economic and Symbolic Roles

The faunal assemblages of the Late Bronze and Iron Age southern Levant reveal a great complexity of objectives and methods of livestock exploitation. The assemblages come from sites located in diverse climatic settings populated by individuals engaged in a variety of activities. Analyses of the sites reflect a uniformity of practices related to livestock and reveal that the animals were symbols of wealth. The article reveals the symbolic values linked to the husbandry of assorted livestock based on their economic potential and their interaction with humans. The author concludes that differential access to specific animals and their meat played a socio-cultural and economic role in building social structure.