Archaeological Settlement Research Articles

Archeologia del paesaggio e relazioni uomo-ambiente: risorse, natura e luoghi in Italia settentrionale tra V e X secolo d.C.

Lanscape archaeology and human-environment relationship: resources, nature and settlements in northen Italy between 5th and 10th century The role that the environment has played in human past has taken on an ever greater presence in archaeology literature, following the progressive abandonment of the idea that the times of change of environmental ecosystems were necessarily of a very long period. The reconstruction of the topographical structures of forest spaces has in some researches assumed a decisive role to understanding the rhythms of life of the communities. The possibility of making different types of data converge: from archival to topographical ones (from the document to the ground, we could say) undoubtedly opens up roads in this direction. The paper addresses the man-environment relationship in the Middle Ages through recent different case studies of the Po area, starting with sites such as the plain village of Nogara, or the Benedictine monastery of Leno or the alpine village of Piuro. The basic problem remains that of relating the archaeological settlements with the paleoenvironmental elements in a systematic and ever more precise way. In the long phase between the 5th and 10th centuries, the paleoenvironmental data that seem to emerge in northern Italy would show a progressive consolidation of a man-environment relationship mainly centered on the management of natural resources, such as the forest. The changes in residential construction, towards almost exclusively wooden building, seem to involve the management of these collective, public or private assets. The changes, however, which seem to occur mostly within the 5th-7th century AD, should be evaluated with greater precision: processes of erosion, denudation of slopes in mountain areas, rather than the development of swampy or wooded areas in lowland areas underline a diversification of environmental transformations, which perhaps could translate, on a local scale, more general climatic dynamics. Regarding 9th-10th century, the study, not only of some sites, but of the surrounding landscape, has shown how the correlations with human activities are never completely absent and there is to changes in the shape of resource management, rather than to real abandonment of spaces. From this perspective, it is evident, on a methodological level, the need to systemically use paleo-environmental investigations/ multidisciplinary approaches, within the more ‘traditional’ archaeological research, in order to restore the complexity of environmental changes and the characteristics of different landscapes. [Author]

The coastal lowland of northwestern Germany as an archive of Holocene landscape evolution: basis for a spatial evaluation of Stone Age settlement patterns in the Dornumer tidal basin

Abstract The ‘Wadden Sea Archive of landscape evolution, climate change and settlement history’ project (WASA) focuses on the analysis of marine sediment archives from the East Frisian Wadden Sea region. It aims at understanding the formation of palaeolandscapes since the end of the last ice age. One part of the project studies the possible correlation and shift of archaeological settlement patterns, climate change and sea-level rise through time in order to derive archaeological expectancy maps. In this paper we present our findings for a quantifiable set of Stone Age sites in the area of the prehistorical Dornumer tidal basin, discussing them against the background of coastal environmental factors and the applied methodology of our modelling. To enable spatial analysis of these sites, we developed a palaeographic elevation model, which was subsequently flooded at 2000-year intervals between the Boreal and early Subboreal periods. Particular challenges are posed by the dynamics of marine transgression, the related changes in the natural environment and their spatial extent. As a result of our GIS-based approach, the model can be extended geographically and provides a basis for future research.

Sampling density and spatial analysis: a methodological pXRF study of the geochemistry of a Viking-Age house in Ribe, Denmark

This study explores the significance of spatial sampling resolution on portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of an archaeological settlement site with favorable preservation conditions and clearly defined stratigraphic contexts as a benchmark study to interpret geochemical mapping of anthropogenic elemental markers. We present geochemical elemental mapping of a Viking-Age house floor in Denmark based on an unprecedented sampling density of a 0.25-m grid. In order to establish a fast, cost-efficient, comparable approach of how different sizes of data resolution affect the spatial elemental patterns, the data is analysed using three different grid sizes: 0.25 m × 0.25 m, 0.5 m × 0.5 m, and 1.0 m × 1.0 m. We analysed each grid size with selected anthropogenic markers (CaO, Cu, P2O5, and Sr) using ordinary kriging. The CaO, P2O5, and Sr patterns display a strong inter-correlation between data points up to a distance of 1–1.5 m from one another. At the highest resolution (0.25-m grid), all of the elements display a high degree of detail in the variation of the elements across the indoor surface with low standard deviations. Hence, the precise position of hot and coldspots, and spread of bounded concentration zones, is easily recognized in the maps. With the low resolution (1.0-m grid), the borders between high and low concentrations become more blurred and the indications of smaller hotspots (possible activity areas) are completely lost. Especially, Cu displays a high degree of clustering, which the high-resolution sampling could best reveal. This benchmark study shows that it is realistic to perform large-scale geochemical surveys of archaeological settlements using pXRF spectrometry in a standard archaeological excavation context, but also that sampling distances of 0.5 m × 0.5 m or finer are best suited to in indoor contexts.

The theory of rank-size distributions in archaeological settlement patterns

Archaeologists of Mesopotamia discovered a four-level administrative and political hierarchy that characterised first generation kingdoms. They used a model developed by geographers to describe settlement size distributions. This paper provides a more complete theory that accounts for all known data.

КОНФИГУРАЦИИ УКРЕПЛЕННЫХ ПОСЕЛЕНИЙ СИНТАШТИНСКО-ПЕТРОВСКОГО ТИПА: ФОРМЫ, РАЗМЕРЫ, ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ

The article aims to analyze the configurations of fortified settlements of the Sintashta-Petrovka type (SPT settlements). Sources of information about the configurations are the results of remote research (aerial photographs, geomagnetic maps, topographic maps) and data from archaeological excavations. The study of configurations is one of the aspects of settlement archaeology at the level of research of the structure of the whole settlement. The article summarizes and compares the characteristics of forms, layouts, sizes, variants of transformations. The forms of SPT settlements can be divided into two types: rounded, with a radial arrangement of rows of dwellings, and subrectangular, with a linear arrangement. Eight sites are classified as rounded, sixteen are subrectangular. In the forms of many settlements there are mixed signs that emphasize the common architectural tradition: rounded settlements have separate straightened segments and straight rows of buildings, and subrectangular ones have rounded bends of building lines and rounded corner sections. In summarizing the size indicators, small, medium and large settlements were identified. The small ones have an area from 6 to 13 m2; thousand nine sites – subrectangular, with two rows of dwellings, and rounded, with one ring of buildings – are small. The small m2. settlements have about 20 to 30 buildings. The number of medium settlements is also nine, their area is from 15 to 21 thousand Most medium-sized sites are either subrectangular, with four rows of buildings, or rounded, with two rings of buildings. The medium m2. sized settlements have about 40 to 60 buildings. There are six large settlements; their area is 23 to 32 thousand Two of the large settlements are oval, four subrectangular, with traces of significant rearrangements. Due to the small volume of field research, it is difficult to estimate the number of dwellings in large settlements. The generalization of the remote data and the results of the excavations allows the author to propose a scheme of transformations of the SPT settlements. The structural component of their configurations is a row of closely spaced dwellings, enclosed by a line of fortifications. Several rows, most often two or four, oriented linearly or radially, form the inner space of the closed fortified settlement. While the fortified settlements functioned, they were restructured, with preservation of the general principles of regularity and isolation of the living environment. There are three main scenarios for rebuilding: the completion of rows to the early section, the overlapping of fortified villages, the reduction of the area of a fortified settlement. The final stage of the life of settlements is associated with the gradual abandonment of the cramped and closed configurations. The Srubnaya-Alakul settlements, successors of the SPT settlements, use more spacious, dispersed layouts, with partial preservation of the tradition of building rows of closely spaced dwellings and with refusal to build fortifications.

Out of the Darkness, Into the Light. A Review of Archaeological Research on Early Medieval Rural Settlements in Northern Francia

Notwithstanding its considerable potential from a socio-economic and environmental perspective, the current state of knowledge on Early Medieval rural settlement in northern Francia lags behind compared to other regions of north-western Europe. In particular, the growth of development-led archaeology has led to an increase in data and important new insights in many European countries. Although the modern region of Flanders, which makes up most of northern Francia, has seen a similar increase of archaeological fieldwork, and thus of information on Early Medieval rural settlement, research has not yet kept pace. This paper reviews the current state of affairs on Merovingian and Carolingian rural settlement archaeology from a historiographical point of view and presents a new and rich dataset based upon recent developments in archaeological practice. To illustrate the potential of this dataset, rural settlement patterns in two microregions will be discussed, highlighting regional diversity in aspects such as settlement location, stability, and chronology within northern Francia.

Tunceli Iron Age and Hellenistic Survey - 2018

Carried out in the province of Tunceli since 2016, the ‘Tunceli Iron Age and Hellenistic Survey’ project is aimed at the discovery of new settlements and acquisition of new data mainly regarding known archaeological remains that have not yet been researched thoroughly. During the final observation and documentation of the survey project’s 2018 season, many new archaeological settlements with elements dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Ages were identified in the Tunceli region. The aforementioned settlements consist of the Koteric (Guneyharman) Settlement, the Indere Valley settlements, the Obrukbasi (Lemk) Fortress, the Obrukbasi (Lemk) Village Kilise Settlement, and the Yilanli Fortress. In addition, certain previously undescribed characteristics of the Mazgirt/Kalekoy Fortress, Til-Kale and Goktepe/Konaktepe Mounds will be discussed in this paper. Another goal of this paper is to describe a sample house located in the Yasaroglu (Koman) village, in the Mazgirt district which reflects the residential architectural tradition of the region.

Archaeological research in the Petra Valley: preliminary remarks from the excavation at the Corinthian Tomb

Archaeological research in the Petra Valley: preliminary remarks from the excavation at the Corinthian Tomb
 The Italian Archaeological Mission ‘Medieval Petra’: archaeology of Crusader-Ayyubid Settlement in Transjordan started an archaeological excavation within the site of Petra, in the Corinthian Tombarea, during the 2015 and 2016 campaigns. The main aim was to clarify the presence and the nature of a potential medieval structure whose evidences were identified during the surveys of 2012 and 2013. This brief paper intend sto present some preliminary remarks on the excavation data coming from the stratigraphic analyses and from the ongoing study of the pottery findings related to the context.

Open canopy forests of the loess regions of southern Poland: A review based on wood charcoal assemblages from Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites

This review paper presents a comprehensive study of all available up to date anthracological assemblages recovered from 79 archaeological settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods from the loess regions of southern-Poland. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the character of the woodland developed in the loess belt (1) in the Atlantic phase, with a focus on the primeval forests, the successive cultural phases and their impact on local forests, and (2) in the Subatlantic phase, characterized by a late-migrating of trees such as hornbeam, beech and fir. For the Early Neolithic period, related with the first appearance of the stable and agrarian settlement, the research aims at testing the hypothesis about the existence of open oak-dominated forests in the Atlantic phase , with patches of steppe-like vegetation. The anthracological data indicate that indeed open canopy forests prevailed in the loess-mantled areas and this result has important implications for understanding the expansion of the first farmers into Central Europe, who settled mainly in loess belt zones. It is likely that open oakwoods played a significant role in the selection of the landscape suitable for settle down as well as was an indicator of rich soils developed on loess-substratum. Finally, the last-arriving trees in southern Poland, that are principal constituents of present-day forests communities, appeared in high shares in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, but became important forest components mostly in the Carpathian Foothills.

A Late Iron Age/early Roman Enclosed Settlement at Basing View, Basingstoke

Excavation in advance of housing development at Basing View, Basingstoke, revealed the remains of an Early Roman enclosed settlement that possibly originated in the Late Iron Age and was occupied to the early 2nd century. The settlement was fairly low status, focussed on mixed farming practices, but was notable for the presence of a possible sunken- featured building with a baby burial. The site adds to current knowledge of the Late Iron Age/Early Roman settlement archaeology of the area south of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum).

Wave? What wave? Testing for impact of the Garth tsunami (3500 BCE) on Neolithic coastal settlements in Western Norway

This paper evaluates to what extent archaeological settlement sites from the Norwegian west coast exhibit traces of a paleotsunami impact in the mid-4th mill BCE. The timing of the Garth tsunami (~3500 cal BCE), as inferred from lake basins in Eastern Shetland and in Western Norway, coincides with the Early-Middle Neolithic transition in the Western Norwegian chronology. Before and after the Garth tsunami, the west coast of Norway was populated by hunter-fisher-gatherers highly adapted to a marine environment. If the Garth tsunami had a direct impact on coastal settlements, the event could become an important mediating factor for research on the Early-Middle Neolithic transition in this region. The paper investigates radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic evidence from 15 coastal settlement sites. It applies Bayesian sequence calculation to test for congruence between site activity phases and the tsunami event, and a Monte Carlo based frequency analysis to test for population fluctuations. Results from these analyses do not support the hypothesis of a catastrophic impact on the hunter-fisher-gatherer population in Western Norway.

Remote Sensing, Archaeological, and Geophysical Data to Study the Terramare Settlements: The Case Study of Fondo Paviani (Northern Italy)

During the Middle and Recent Bronze Age, the Po Plain and, more broadly Northern Italy were populated by the so-called “Terramare”, embanked settlements, surrounded by a moat. The buried remains of these archaeological settlements are characterized by the presence of a system of palaeo-environments and a consequent natural gradient in soil moisture content. These differences in the soil are often firstly detectable on the surface during the seasonal variations, with aerial, satellite, and Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) images, without any information on the lateral and in-depth extension of the related buried structures. The variation in the moisture content of soils is directly related to their differences in electrical conductivity. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and frequency domain electromagnetic (FDEM), also known as electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements, provide non-direct measurements of electrical conductivity in the soils, helping in the reconstruction of the geometry of different buried structures. This study presents the results of the multidisciplinary approach adopted to the study of the Terramare settlement of Fondo Paviani in Northern Italy. Remote sensing and archaeological data, collected over about 10 years, combined with more recent ERT and FDEM measurements, contributed to the analysis of this particular, not yet wholly investigated, archaeological site. The results obtained by the integrated multidisciplinary study here adopted, provide new useful, interesting information for the archaeologists also suggesting future strategies for new studies still to be conducted around this important settlement.

Cultural spaces and climate change: Modeling Holocene archaeological settlement patterns on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States

Ideal free distribution (IFD) models generally predict that populations, including human populations, will distribute themselves across the landscape such that resource access is optimized. However, links between ecology and human responses to it are not always straightforward, especially during periods of climate change when people often act based on incomplete information and for reasons not connected directly to ecological output. Here, we analyze archaeological site distribution across the coastal plains of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to test the roles that both ecology and knowledge of a region, as estimated based on past site occupations, played in human decision making during the Middle and Late Archaic periods. These periods correlate to substantial climatic, environmental and ecological change during the middle Holocene and beginning of the late Holocene. We find that IFD models that include both ecological variables and past landscape use fit both cultural periods, but to different degrees.

Traces of Strong Eneolithic and Medieval Earthquakes Hitting the Durankulak Archaeological Settlement in Northeastern Bulgaria

We have conducted paleo- and archaeoseismological surveys in the Durankulak Eneolithic archaeological settlement in northeastern Bulgaria, identifying many earthquake-related deformations of different ages. The ubiquitous presence of counterfort walls added to damaged original (nearly north–south) walls on the eastern side provides evidence of the first significant earthquake in Durankulak that seems to have occurred during Middle to Late Eneolithic time (4650–4100 B.C.). This seismic event made the north–south walls tilt westward, so that the ancient residents had to build counterfort walls to prevent the original walls from collapsing. However, the upper excavations in the archaeological settlement show that the next, later, seismic deformation induced a tilting and collapse of remains of the original walls eastward, producing a gap of a few tens of centimeters between the original walls and the counterfort walls. Afterwards the settlement was abandoned. It may be surmised that the later earthquake was stronger than the earlier one, which left room for reconstruction work. The local seismic intensity of the earlier earthquake seems to have been at least Il ≥ VIII, while the later event had Il ≥ IX on the МSК-64 scale. Considering that the masonry of both walls, the original and the counterfort ones, is about the same age, the time interval between the two seismic events must have been short, one or two hundred years. Nevertheless, the epicenters of both of these earthquakes were to different directions from Durankulak. The seismic motion (compressive waves and shocks) went from the west during the first earthquake and from the east during the second. The rupture zone of the first seismic event was obviously related (1) to an earthquake-generating zone in continental Bulgaria situated west of the archaeological settlement in question, or (2) to the Intramoesian active fault that was responsible for the large earthquake of 1444. The rupture zone of the second seismic event was nearby, in the coastal part of the Black Sea; the responsible feature seems to have been the Shabla–Kaliakra seismogenic zone. Considerable seismic deformations were also identified in structures on the southern slope of the island in a dwelling dating back to the First Bulgarian Kingdom (the 9th century A.D.). This seismic event produced distortions in the walls (in map view), sigmoidal patterns, as well as fractures and rotations in the walls. The local seismic intensity due to this earthquake is supposed to be at least Il ≥ VIII. The rupture zone of a third seismic event was likely to be nearby, in the coastal part of the Black Sea, and the responsible feature must have been the Shabla–Kaliakra seismogenic zone.

Escritura, Serpientes de Guerra y culto al Dios del Maíz en un sector de la región Puuc

This contribution shows the results obtained from the study of the texts and images of some monuments carved in the Early Puuc style from several archaeological settlements in the wester sector, in sites such as Xcalumkín, Xcochá, Xculoc and Itzimté Bolonchén, the latter belonging to the eastern sector of the area. The investigation allowed to identify that several subordinate or sajal lords, influenced by the maya of the Usumacinta represented the War Serpent and some others the God of the Maize-Cacao, in addition to several toponymic records strikingly rare in these latitudes of the Mayan area as well as hieroglyphic groups such as K’ihn Ha’, “Hot Water”, and K’ihn Ajaw, “Solar Lord”, detected in Xcalumkín, linked to the Piedras Negras region. Also, the recognition of the supernatural place Nah Ho’ Chan Bob, “The Flowery place is the First Five Heavens”, in an inscription of Itzimte Bolonchen, in addition to identifying the Building of the Carved Columns of Xculoc, with a sacred space known as Wuk Chit K’an Nal, “Place of the Seven... Precious”, associated with the cult of the God of Maize-Cacao and the flowery tree. The message we wish to present in this essay is that through art and writing, several dignitaries legitimized their social position by disseminating images, symbols and scriptural discourses not well known to this region. The study offers new political and religious episodes in the life and cultural history of the Puuc Maya during the first half of the 8th century.

Järnålderns bebyggelsearkeologi i backspegeln

The article aims at reviewing Iron Age settlement archaeology before the 1990s. This is done with special regards taken to ‘historism’, i.e. taking into consideration the knowledge and values at the time when the interpretations where made. Early settlement archaeology in Scandinavia regarded settlement development as ever continuous and expanding and starting with a few farms in the Early Iron Age. In the absence of settlement sites, place-names and cemeteries were used to indicate the settlements. This was possible since cemeteries, place-names and modern day’s farms were comprehended as a unit while situated at the same place. From the 1990s the settlements sites themselves, when discovered, revealed a different spread in the landscape as well as a development with both expansions and regressions. The article discusses the weaknesses and defects with the construction farm-cemetery (gårdsgravfält ) and with place-names when used in settlement archaeology.

Large‐scale geochemical survey by pXRF spectrometry of archaeological settlements and features: new perspectives on the method

AbstractOver the past several decades the geochemical study of archaeological sediments has experienced an increase in interest from archaeologists in search of new methods to investigate spatial organization and space function. Used with other proxies like geophysics, archaeobotany and micromorphology, geochemistry provides a new insight into microscopic pollution generated by past human activities, and thus can explain or confirm the function of features and spaces. Portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry offers new perspectives to the archaeological community to test, develop and integrate geochemical surveys in the daily routine of fieldwork, especially in the developer‐funded archaeology sector. We have undertaken over 20 geochemical surveys using pXRF spectrometry, both in the field and on bulk samples, and from a wide variety of sites, sedimentological, and chronological contexts. Working exclusively on developer‐funded projects, we present a series of results detailing a range of chemical element associations, including details on how the data is organized spatially and how these data may be interpreted. For some associations, such as that between phosphorus, calcium and strontium, our work confirms and builds on existing studies. For other elements such as zirconium, or the association between potassium, chromium and vanadium, our work presents new data patterns as well as a series of new hypothesis; the interpretation of these patterns remains at an early stage and we hope that further work will be done to test and detail the origins of these chemical associations and enrichments, with the goal of confirming the human activities and/or natural processes from which they originated. The rapidity and cost‐efficiency of pXRF, especially when used in situ in the field, makes it the ideal method for documenting the geochemical characteristics of landscapes; the approach we have developed means that geochemical survey can become a regular part of archaeological practice.

Middle Age Settlement Structures of the South of Eastern Europe

Over the past decades, in many countries of Europe and America, the concept of “archaeology of settlements” has been actively developed, which is based on the recognition of the enormous role of ancient settlements in the process of studying and reconstructing the socio-economic institutions of various diverse human groups and entire nations. This fully applies to the settlements of the south of Eastern Europe — first of all, to the territory of modern Ukraine — in medieval times. In this area, numerous cities, castles, open settlements have been recorded, the history of which in many cases has a centuries-old extent. First of all, it concerns urban centers, which is established on the basis of written and archaeological data. Many of them carry out archaeological research, but the volumes of modern field work, are clearly insufficient to obtain new information for further reconstruction of their development in space and time. Moreover, they are concentrated mainly only in areas of modern construction work, and not where it is necessary for a common understanding of life here over the centuries. At the same time, the issue of the interaction of composite structures in different territories and at different times remains relevant, which is especially important for explaining the effect of different mechanisms of functioning of all different-time state organisms: Kievan Rus, the Ukrainian Cossack State, or as a part of various foreign entities — the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rus and Samogitian, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, etc. However, in general, all available information convincingly confirms the feudal nature of social structures of the middle ages time among indigenous population under consideration, in this case, territory. In connection with the mentioned above, the clarification of the terminology currently used should undoubtedly be adjusted for its conformity with the new refined model of perception of a specific social structure, which has been constantly developing in a civilizational sense over the past many centuries under the conditions of an agricultural society, which undoubtedly left its mark on all social structures (including settlement) throughout the medieval period in the life of every nation. It is necessary to constantly remember and clarify for oneself the fundamental differences between agricultural and subsequent industrial societies, each of which had distinctive main features, although in some details both could overlap in some ways.

A Landscape in Transitions: Guletta, a Multiperiod Settlement along the Mazaro River in Western Sicily

ABSTRACTThe Prospecting Boundaries project explores the Mazaro river corridor from a landscape archaeological perspective, using integrated prospection techniques to recover traces of past human activity and environmental contexts. One key research area is Guletta, a zone of dense multiperiod activity situated on the rocky plain above the river. In this paper, we detail results from recent work at Guletta, which has revealed numerous previously undocumented archaeological settlement features that appear to have been built in successive phases. Artifact analysis from corresponding surface survey indicates a mixture of locally produced and imported materials dating from the Middle Bronze to Archaic periods. Using these new results together with existing archaeological and environmental information, we present an initial interpretation of the occupation sequence of the settlement and explore the concept of Guletta as a connecting point between emerging indigenous, colonial, coastal, and interior interdependencies and interests in later pre- and protohistory.

Animals and Pastoral Groups in the Mountainous Ömerli District of Southeast Anatolia

ABSTRACTSoutheast Anatolia has been an ideal place for pastoralism since the Neolithic period. However, there is a lack of information on human–animal relationships from both archaeological settlements and contemporary societies in the region. Through ethnographic fieldwork and exploratory case studies in the mountainous Ömerli district, we explored the dependency and complex relationships between pastoral groups and various animal species in Southeast Anatolia. The case studies revealed affectionate and emotional bonds between shepherds and some individuals of domestic herds, similar to pet–human relationships in urban societies. Shepherds gave human names to certain animals; sometimes these were the names of their close friends or the names of their own children. Grief and prolonged grief was also common among Ömerli shepherds following the loss, death, or sale of these emotionally bonded animals. It was further observed that a single species (domestic or wild) often had complex and multi-purpose relationships with shepherd groups. While tortoises and hares, for instance, were used as sources of meat, the bone, blood, intestine, skin, and shell of these species were often used in traditional medicine. Although pastoral groups are completely dependent on domestic herds for their basic subsistence, Ömerli shepherds were observed to be regular hunters. It appears that the economic benefits were not the only promoters for pastoral subsistence in the study area; compassion and emotional affection for particular animals also reinforced enthusiasm for the practice. Therefore, it can be argued that the data obtained from pastoral villages in the mountainous Ömerli district help us understand interactions and relationships between humans and nonhuman animals in pastoral societies of Southeast Anatolia.