Pig

The bone material from Gonur concerns all the age groups, from newborn to old specimens, although most of them were under 2 years (i.e., were slaughtered when they were young). Although pig was less common than sheep, goats, and cattle, domestic pigs were raised, and pig was one of the staple sources of meat. It should be underlined that pig is not an especially exotic species in arid zones. At Tell Khazna I in northeastern Syria, for instance, during the Early Dynastic I period (beginning of the 3rd millennium BC) the percentage of domestic pig sometimes reaches 44% (Antipina and Lebedeva 2008: 381). Considering that the share of pig in the meat diet at Gonur was small, several hypotheses can be advanced. This species could be a relict brought to Gonur by one of the groups who came from the foothills of the Kopet Dagh and was an element of their traditional culture, or its meat was used only on certain occasions, for example during burial and remembrance rituals. However, it has to be underlined that domestic pig seems to appear in southern Turkmenistan only during the BMAC (Oxus Civilization) since its presence earlier is doubtful. A.I. Shevchenko (i960) and Ermolova (1979), for instance, consider pigs from Chalcolithic sites as wild, and V.I. Tzalkin (1970) as domestic, while Kasparov (2006: 42) accepts the possibility that pigs were kept enclosed in Chalcolithic settlements of southern Turkmenistan, but believes that they were wild.

Double-humped camel

The use of double-humped camel for meat is uncertain. Camel remains, just as those of pig, are found practically in all the areas and all periods at Gonur, but their percentage in kitchen-household waste is extremely low. At the same time, as this zooarchaeological material includes purposefully split and charred bones of camels of various ages, one can assume that some of the animals, rejected for certain reasons, could have been slaughtered for meat. Thus, we cannot exclude that camel meat was eaten on certain special occasions.

To sum up, one can state that the inhabitants living in the vicinity of the Gonur North palace-temple complex (possibly, the personnel that served the administrative and religious elite) either kept a limited amount of animals for meat, or received their meat from the exterior (i.e., from “rural” satellite settlements). The animals kept in households were probably mainly used for milk and as a working force (draft or pack animals).

Other animal use

Animals were not only used as meat sources. Ovicaprines were also bred for wool, as confirmed by the presence of textiles made of animal wool, and of special tools like bone combs for wool.

Cattle was probably also bred for its physical force, for milk, and for dung to manure the barren soils. In the arid conditions in which this BMAC farming culture existed, cattle raising was vital for its development. Bullocks were intensively used as draft animals even before the domestication of camel and horse. G.N. Lisitsina considered that plowing in Turkmenia had started in the second half the 3rd millennium because of Bronze Age finds of miniature terracotta models of chariots with bull and camel heads applied on their front sides, which prove their use as draft animals in agriculture (Lisitsyna 1978: 213). At Ulug Depe in southern Turkmenistan, “some figurines of bulls, probably for rituals, have painted harnesses” (Lisitsina 1978: 55)? Moreover, a fragment of a clay “bull” figurine with a distinct groove around its neck possibly depicting also part of a harness was found at Gonur (Figure 15.6).

The suggestion that the population of Gonur milked its cattle is directly supported by the discovery of remains of a millet porridge cooked with milk in a vessel from burial 3901 (Sataev and Sataeva 2012a: 160). It is possible that some of the undecorated bone tubes, which, according to V.I. Sarianidi (2002: 151) were used to drink hallucinogenic drinks, were also used to increase milk output during milking operations, by blowing air into the animal’s vagina (a practice widely used by pastoralists).

Undoubtedly, the inhabitants used hides of cattle and ovicaprines to make clothes and shoes, despite the fact that no such archaeological remains are preserved. From Gonur, for example, come anthropomorphic statuettes dressed in kaunakes - a wide dress sown from hides or a fabric imitating hide patches using the so-called filikli technique, a variety of nodular wool weaving (Tsareva 2009, 2012; for these statuettes see Chapter 7). Clay models of shoes have also been discovered (Sarianidi 2008: 233, fig. 143), most probably originally made of leather.

Camels and donkeys were used as draft and pack animals and were often harnessed into four-wheeled wagons. Camel skeletons have been discovered in several elite

Figure 15.6

Bull clay figurine with a distinct groove around its neck, from Gonur Depe, room 12, Area 18. © Margiana Archaeological Expedition.

burials of the “Royal Necropolis” (in the courtyards of the so-called “houses of the dead”) and in pits/ditches (burials 3225, 3240, and 3900) (see Chapters 10 and 12) together with four-wheeled wagons. It is also possible that camels and donkeys were harnessed together to draw carts, depending on the weight of the cargo and the distance of the journey, as shown by the remains of two camels and two donkeys found in pit 3900 together with one wagon.

After eating, the bones of the slaughtered animals were also used as technical raw materials, mostly for the manufacture of various artifacts including tools, weapons, jewelry, or cult items. Tools include awls, needles, and combs. Awls are the most common bone tools discovered at Gonur Depe. Bone arrowheads were probably used for hunting. Bone jewelry includes “hairpins” and beads. Cult artifacts concern decorated “tubes” for ritual drinking and “ceremonial axes.” Another specialized category of bone items includes “astragals” - worked or not (i.e., worn on one or both sides) from small ungulates (sheep, goat, pig). Astragals of ovicaprines were found in significant quantities at Gonur either in rooms, in burials, or in other structures. Besides singular finds, astragals were also found in sets. Their functional purpose is still unclear and one can assume that they had multiple purposes: utility (leather polishers), sacral-symbolic (amulets, charms), and for games (gambling dice).

Bone items also include numerous horn antlers from ungulates, mostly Persian gazelle. These horns testify to intentional break-off (removal) and/or preliminary processing. The studied finds fall into several groups reflecting the first stages and/or different stages of use. As the “cult of horns” is one of the constituents of the religious tradition at ancient farming centers (Antonova 1984), it is possible that these horns may have had a double function: The horn itself was used for crafting (raw material for bone carving), while the pith was preserved for rituals, which could explain their frequent presence in burials. As other bones of Persian gazelles on the site are rare, it is possible that these animals (males) were mainly hunted for their horns and that the animals were butchered and eaten directly at the hunting posts outside the major settlement. This may also indicate the existence of professional groups of hunters leaving the sites for expeditions of various length.

To sum up, though few bone artifacts have been identified at Gonur Depe, their use as tools show that bone had not lost all its value as a technical raw material, despite the more frequent use of metal tools. This was especially the case for leather or textile activities.

In conclusion, cattle breeding was an important part of the economy of the BMAC society, as was the use of specific species, like Bactrian camels, donkeys, or bullocks as draft or pack animals. The burials of some of them in rich graves show that they were highly prized. The very limited number of animal bones found in middens tends to support Sarianidi’s hypothesis that Gonur was not a living place but rather an administrative and religious specific center.