THE “PITHOI” EXCAVATION AT THE MARKUL SETTLEMENT: ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ANIMAL BONES FROM CULTURAL LAYERS AND VESSEL FILLS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32653/CH223%25pKeywords:
Colchis, Markul settlement, antiquity, Byzantine period, pithoi, archaeozoology, osteological spectra, meat consumptionAbstract
The Markul settlement is a multi-layered archaeological monument situated on the left bank of the Mokva River in the Ochamchira district of the Republic of Abkhazia, 10 km from the ancient coastal polis of Gyuenos. Excavations conducted on the southwestern slope in 2021 exposed the structural remains of a 3rd–7th century AD pithos warehouse alongside a Roman-period cemetery, beneath which lay stratified cultural deposits dating to the Late Hellenistic and Hellenistic eras. This study presents a comprehensive archaeozoological analysis of two distinct bone assemblages: microfaunal and macrofaunal remains recovered from the interior fill of storage pithoi, and animal bones collected as dietary refuse across three chronological horizons: Hellenistic, Late Hellenistic, and Roman–Early Byzantine. Osteological identifications were carried out according to the standardized methodological protocol established by the Laboratory of Natural Science Methods at the Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences. The faunal remains indicate that domestic ungulates served as the primary source of animal protein throughout all three chronological phases. The meat-consumption profile across all layers was consistently dominated by domestic pig, followed by cattle, whereas small livestock and horse remains occurred in markedly lower proportions. During the Roman–Early Byzantine period, dietary patterns shifted noticeably relative to earlier epochs, with pork accounting for the largest share (47.2%) alongside a substantial representation of beef (45.0%). Concurrently, the identification of rodent and insectivore bones within the pithos matrix confirms that these large ceramic vessels were deployed during the Early Byzantine period for bulk grain storage. Stratigraphic evidence demonstrates that the storage facility was destroyed by an earthquake in the mid-7th century AD and never restored. Notably, one surviving large pithos contained the butchered yet nearly complete skeleton of a sacrificial goat, pointing to the ritual practices of the site’s later inhabitants.
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