Summary
Samartzidou Eleni
The secrets of a lake: Animal husbandry and hunting activities at the neolithic lakeside settlement of Dispilio (prefecture of Kastoria, Greece)
The aim of the present thesis was the analysis of the faunal assemblage of the Neolithic lakeside settlement of Dispilio. In this research a total of 74,190 bones were recorded, of which, 27,512 (37%) were identified to species level or to a more general taxonomic category. The importance of domestic fauna is evident in all phases, whereas there is a gradual increase in the percentages of wild fauna from the earlier to the later phases of occupation. Among the domesticated animals, sheep (Ovis aries) is the most common species, followed by pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), cattle (Bos taurus), goat (Capra hircus) and dog (Canis familiaris). The interpretation of eqiud bones presence needs further research. Among the wild taxa, the red (Cervus elaphus) and the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) prevail numerically, followed by the wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) and the hare (Lepus capensis). The least common species are: aurochs (Bos primigenius), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), brown bear (Ursus arctos), badger (Meles meles), otter (Lutra lutra), marten (Martes foina), squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). Bones of rodentia/insectivora, Ranidae and Bufonidae, birds (Aves) and Testudo species were, also, recorded. Cattle were raised for meat and milk, while there are not any pathological lesions on their bones, which could have implied stress imposed to articulations due to hard work. Pigs were slaughtered for their meat and fat, while sheep and goats were exploited for meat, milk and wool/hair with an emphasis on meat production. Concerning hunting, the age-at-death of deer, as indicated by their bones, reveals a preference for the consumption of young adults’ carcasses. As a general observation, a strategy aiming to maximum food quantity rather than maximum food quality is evident, with animal body parts corresponding to all three classes of nutritional value. Bone fragmentation for marrow extraction was more intensive in cattle and less in sheep/goats and pigs as well as in mature animals when compared to bone fragmentation for marrow extraction in younger ones. The fauna of Dispilio have significant similarities with Neolithic faunal assemblages of Greece, while it presents important differences in comparison to the same kind of data coming from contemporary lakeside settlements of Europe or terrestrial sites of the Balkans.
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