Shaping the Herd: Early Evidence of Caprine Management at Tell Halula

At the ASWA 2025 meeting in Munich, Roger Alcàntara Fors presented new insights into early goat husbandry at Tell Halula, highlighting research that READ will continue to develop.

From 25 to 28 May 2025, the 16th International meeeting of the ICAZ Working Group on the Archaeozoology of Southwest Asia & Adjacent Areas (ASWA) was held in Munich, hosted by the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeoanatomy (SNSB). This biennial conference brought together archaeozoologists and related specialists to share new findings on animal–human interactions in prehistory.

As part of the programme, Roger Alcàntara Fors, together with Carlos Tornero Dacasa and Maria Saña Seguí, delivered a talk entitled “Shaping the Herd: Early Evidence of Caprine Management at Tell Halula.”

The presentation explored Tell Halula’s extensive 2,000-year occupation sequence, beginning in the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (~8100 cal BC), as a crucial context for the study of early goat husbandry. Drawing on previous work combining bone biomechanics and sequential stable isotope analyses (δ¹⁸O), the team showed how reductions in cortical bone mass and changes in birth seasonality point to deliberate human intervention in mobility, feeding, and reproductive cycles.

Building on these findings, the talk also introduced ongoing analyses of carbon (δ¹³C) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) isotopes from goat teeth, which will provide a finer reconstruction of feeding strategies and seasonal herd management. This integrated approach shifts the focus from morphological markers to the management practices themselves, offering a more nuanced view of how Neolithic communities shaped the behaviours of caprines.

The results from Tell Halula illustrate the dynamic interplay between humans and animals during the Neolithic and lay the groundwork for the broader goals of the ERC READ project, which will continue to investigate this site’s material in the coming years.

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