Putting the Baa Back in Urbanism: Affordances, Herding, and the Social Zooarchaeology of Early Cities in Northern Mesopotamia

Abstract

I present here a path for thinking differently about the archaeology of urbanization, one that is explicitly rooted in social zooarchaeology. I argue first that studies of early urbanism have failed to take into account the multispecies nature of cities. In order to develop a framework for thinking about the role of animals in urbanization, I draw on the concept of affordances. I argue that explicit engagement with animal affordances offers a means of developing a new methodological toolkit for social zooarchaeological research. I focus in particular on behavioural affordances to explain how the sociality of herds underpins the world’s first cities. A case study based on zooarchaeological analysis conducted at the site of Hamoukar in northern Mesopotamia illustrates the potential of a multispecies approach to the world’s first cities. My goal is to reinvigorate archaeological studies of urbanism and urbanization by opening up space for thinking differently about the social foundations upon which cities were built.