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Dimini and the ‘DMP’: faunal remains and animal exploitation in Late Neolithic Thessaly1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Paul Halstead
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield

Abstract

Hourmouziadis' recent analysis of the extensive excavations at Dimini has isolated a series of residential subdivisions or ‘domestic areas’ within the Late Neolithic settlement. Faunal remains from the ‘central court’ and from five surrounding domestic areas suggest a remarkably uniform pattern of animal exploitation. Individual domestic units kept cows, goats, pigs, and especially sheep; sheep and pigs, at least, seem to have been raised principally for meat. The lack of domestic specialization in stock husbandry has implications for understanding both of the ‘neolithic mode of production’ and of the role of specialization in the emergence of the élite which occupied the central court.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1992

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