Ashleigh Haruda
Department: Archaeology
Discipline: Archaeology
Project Summary
Sheep and goat formed the foundation of pastoral activity across the Central Asian steppe through the Bronze Age. Theories of pastoral activity have assumed that flocks were uniform in association with ethnic groups that crossed the steppe with new ceramic forms and technologies. This study investigated differences between flocks of sheep and goat across the eastern Kazakh steppe in the Late and Final Bronze Age to elucidate the nature of animal exchange and mobility.
Geometric morphometric methods were applied to archaeological Ovis aries and Capra hircus astragali. The methods for measurement and analysis were carefully developed to control only for inherited characteristics that relate to environmentally driven adaptations in the movement of the hind limb. Efficiency of movement in this limb is tied to survival and reproductive success. Specimens were selected from three archaeological sites located in different ecozones in the steppe to maximize ecological variability. Geometric morphometric results revealed that each population of sheep had significantly different morphology, indicating that crossbreeding and exchange did not occur between sites.
Zooarchaeological analyses of all skeletal remains from these sites revealed that each site had unique subsistence strategies that were related not just to local resource availability and environment, but also material cultural group membership. Animals with high cultural status, such as horses, had similar exploitation patterns to sites with similar material culture, but differing environmental conditions. In contrast, lower value animals, such as sheep and goat, had uniform exploitation patterns across all sites. These results indicate that while material culture and highly mobile, culturally valuable animals such as horses may have moved between linked settlements, local subsistence and pastoral strategies were specific to local ecologies.
Supervisory Team
Dr. Alan Outram (University of Exeter) Dr. Chris Knusel and Dr. Linda Hurcombe (University of Exeter) additional support from: Dr. Victor Varfolomeev (Karaganda State University)
Wider Research Interests
Geometric Morphometrics, Ecomorphology, Pastoralism, Animal Health, Palaeoecology, Bone Morphology, Culture and Economic Exchange in Central Asia, Central Asian Archaeology
Authored Publications/Reports
Haruda, A. (2013) Lisakovsk Bone Tools, памятники лисоковской округи: археологические сюжеты (Monuments of the Lissakovsk Region: Archaeological Investigations. Usmanova, E. (ed.), 241-2043
Haruda, A. (2012) Animal Bones from Turgen II, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A. (2011) Fingers and Teeth: an example of zooarchaeological methods, Серия история, философия, 4/64, 107-111
Haruda, A. (2012) Animal Bones from Serektas II, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A. (2012) Animal Bones from Lisakovsk, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A. (2011) Animal Bones from Kent, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A.; Pilaar-Birch, S.; Outram, A.K. (2011) Animal Bones from Botai, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A. (2010) Animal Bones from Tuzusai, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
Haruda, A. (2007) Animal Bones from Taldy-Bulak 2, Zooarchaeological report submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kazakhstan
