Animal Exploitation in Early Chalcolithic (Dalma) in Northern Zagros; a Zooarchaeological Study of Bone Remains in Tepe Silveh, Piranshahr, Northwestern Iran

There are few animal remains collections of Early Chalcolithic or Dalma in northwest Iran, yet a small part of them have been under zooarchaeological studies. Therefore, our knowledge about subsistence mechanisms and their possible patterns in Chalcolithic communities needs to be improved. This study on the vertebrate remains of Early Chalcolithic period in Tepe Silveh, Piranshahr, indicates multiple animal exploitation mechanisms in subsistence activities. The results show that, in the 5th millennium BC in this area, the subsistence economy was based on the exploitation of domesticated species such as Capra hircus, Ovis aries and Bos taurus. The largest set of animal remains found in Early Chalcolithic layers of this area is Ovis aries. A little evidence for the presence of wild animals such as Dama mesopotemica, Gazella subgutturosa, Testudines and Equidae has also been found. The less abundant bone remains of wild animals compared to domesticated animals, can indicate that hunting was probably less preferable than animal husbandry in the area. On the other hand, according to the time of death estimation, the cows were slaughtered in their adulthood and sheep in their pre-adulthood and adulthood. These multiple exploitation mechanisms can represent different ways of animal exploitations (as draft animals, their meat and secondary products), increasing of human skills in adapting to the environment and controlling animals, paleoclimate, as well as how the human population was balanced in the Northern Zagros ecosystem in the 5th millennium BC.