Economies in Transformation: A Zooarchaeological Perspective from Early Iron Age Arslantepe (South-Eastern Turkey)

The transition from the Late Bronze to the IronAge is considered a period of great turmoiland profound changes in the whole easternMediterranean. Large political and culturaltransformations are attested as well as mobilityand interrelations of human groups. Buthow these affected the subsistence economyof the societies involved is a topic that has notyet been precisely discussed in the literature.Recent excavations carried out at the site ofArslantepe have generated interesting new datathat can shed fresh light on this question. Thisarticle presents the main characteristics of theEarly Iron Age zooarchaeological remains unearthedat Arslantepe. A diachronic analysisof the Late Bronze Age material and comparisonswith other sites and regions will help tohighlight wider potential transformations inagropastoral habits and associated craft productionsduring the last centuries of the secondmillennium BC. The contribution improves ourunderstanding of the changes that occurred inthe agro-production patterns of a site that was first at the margin of the Hittite sphere of influenceand later the capital of one of the mostinfluential independent Iron Age kingdoms