ABSTRACT
Four diverse perspectives on animal husbandry in ancient Israel were presented in this book: comparative, spatial perspective, sagittal and ethnographic. Each study contributed to our understanding of livestock and their remains from a different angle. Before making concluding remarks on the theme of this book, the survival subsistence strategy, other issues that require further study are worth noting. The spatial distribution analysis of faunal remains from Tel Beer-Sheba points to an interesting phenomenon: the relative frequency of animal bones found indoors is nearly twice the bones found outdoors. Does this phenomenon reflect taphonomic processes in tel sites or cultural habits of the Tel Beer-Sheba dwellers? This issue should be addressed by investigating additional tel sites. Another issue that requires further study is the models of food consumption in urban sites and their applicability to the Southern Levant. The spatial distribution of meat-rich and meat-poor body parts at Tel Beer-Sheba refutes models of indirect provisioning of meat. Is this phenomenon unique to Tel Beer-Sheba or does it reflect a pattern occurring in other urban sites in the Southern Levant? The taphonomic study carried out on the bone assemblage of Tel Beer-Sheba shows that cattle bones are more fragmented than caprine bones due to post-depositional processes and the archaeological excavation. Does this phenomenon reflect taphonomic processes in tel sites or is it unique to the faunal remains from Tel Beer-Sheba? Despite three decades zooarchaeological research of the Southern Levant, many methodological issues remain unanswered. The taphonomic and GIS studies presented above raise additional questions and refine others. There is no doubt that further studies and more comparative data on food consumption in urban sites, interior and exterior bone accumulations, bone fragmentation and fresh breaks on bones, will bring us closer to answering these questions.
