Katheryn Twiss, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Stony Brook University

Abstract:

Recent excavations at Tell al-Muqayyar (تل ٱلْمُقَيَّر), ancient Ur, have yielded faunal remains dating primarily to the early 2^ndmillennium BCE. The animal bones clearly represent food remains. They also suggest that inside Ur, food debris was buried quickly and then left undisturbed, countering expectations and raising important questions about how garbage may have been managed inside this ancient city.

Additional questions exist as to where the animals—livestock, game, birds, and fish—were coming from. Currently, the lack of a regional isoscape map limits our ability to establish the origins and mobility of ancient Mesopotamian humans as well as animals. Dramatic changes in regional hydrologies and ecologies further complicate inferences. I will discuss current work aimed at opening opportunities for high-quality isotope analyses in southern Mesopotamia, focusing particularly on how novel isotopic data and methods may clarify ancient ecologies and food systems.