An Introduction to Archaeozoological Studies of Nishapur in the Islamic Period Up to the 7th H. /13th CE. Century

Nishapur as one of the main Urban centers of Khorasan played an important role in the history of Iran and the Islamic world. Agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry have been continually the foundation of Nishapur subsistence economy. The Citadel (Kohandež) of Nishapur constitutes the oldest parts of the city.
The first faunal collection of Kohandež was discovered during excavations of joint Iranian-French expedition in 2004 and 2005. Nearly 2470 pieces of animal bones were found in these excavations. This paper presents the results of archaeozoological studies on the collection. The main volume of the remains could be dated to the early Islamic period up to the 7th H./13th CE, and a small portion, based on the results of absolute dating, belongs to the Sassanid as well as the late Parthian period. This paper aims to identify the exploited animals Nishapūr by re-identifying the animal based human diet and the role of livestock and stockbreeding in various aspects of the local society such as diet, farming, trade, and transportation. The results indicate that sheep and goat were in the most exploited animals for both meat and secondary products such as milk and in particular wool for the textile industry.
Keywords: Nishapūr, Kohandež, Subsistence Economy, Archaeozoology, Animal Husbandry.
 
Introduction
Khorasan and in particular Nishapur enjoyed social, political, and economic eminence in the early Islamic period. The political position, the obvious location of the city on the major trade routes and extensive transportation network, climatic and agricultural features, and thriving livestock all add to the importance of this city.
The economic life of rural and urban entities was based on agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry. The abundance of water sources promoted farming and gardening at these rural settlements and at the same time affected the growth of the essential pastures around them, all of which supplied the city with protein and dairy (Lambton, 1392:125). We find in written sources, recurrent mentions of the importance of stockbreeding in Khorasan, especially concerning food provision and transport of the raw material needs of the local industry (Al-Balādhurī, 1364: 42). Nishapūr had also an important role in the production of silk, wool, and cotton and their further transformation into precious textiles and their export throughout the Islamic and even Occidental world, which contributed to the empowerment of this urban center (Maḳdisī, 1361: 323; Lorzadeh and Laleh 2018).
The formation of the city and its citadel during the Sassanian period (Al-Hakim Neyshabūri, 1375: 195) and its peak in the Islamic period until the 13th A.D century, attracted the attention of many researchers (Fraser, 1821; Sykes, 1911; d’Allemagne 1911, William Jackson 1911). Archaeological studies in Nishapur has begun by excavations of the Metropolitan Museum from 1934 (Hauser, 1937; Hauser and Wilkinson, 1937). Excavations conducted by the joint Iranian-French team resulted in the discovery of a significant amount of animal remains in the citadel (Labbaf and Kervran, 2005 and 2006). This paper presents the results of the archeozoological studies on this animal remains and offers a small window onto the diet of the inhabitants of Nishapūr.
 
Faunal Collection
The collection of animal bones was recovered from 13 trenches in the citadel and consists of 2470 pieces (approximately 33 kg), collecting from two seasons of excavations and studied in Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Central Laboratory of the University of Tehran in 2012 and 2013.
The assemblage was analyzed at both quantitative and qualitative levels. Caprinae, including sheep and goats, show the highest frequency in the assemblage (e.g. Barone, 1986; Pales and Garcia 1981; Schmidt, 1972; Hilson, 1986; Walker, 1985; Boessneck, 1969; Helmer, 2000; Payne, 1985; Clutton-Brock et al., 1990). Other considerable species are cattle (Bos taurus), gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), camels (Camelus sp.), pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), horse (Equus caballus), and donkey (Equus asinus). Carnivores were mainly represented by dog (Canis familiaris) remains. Also, an interesting find is a complete right mandible from a brown bear (Ursus arctos), which is rarely attested in medieval sites.
We compared the size of sheep and goats populations using LSI normalization method (Meadow 1999) and compared our data from Nishapur Citadel with other contemporaneous and modern collections from Iran.
Results of the comparative analysis suggest that the domestic goat and sheep from the Citadel of Nishapūr belonged to very large animals comparable to modern traditional breeds found in the Bakhtiari region.
 
Conclusion
Textual evidence indicates that the geographical and environmental setting of the Nishapūr Plain were determinant in the development of regional agriculture. The plain offered a sustainable habitat thanks to its climatic and ecological conditions, and these same promising factors laid the foundations for farming and raising livestock to be exploited for different purposes, including consumption, trade. Results of the archaeozoological studies showed that the faunal collection from Nishapūr citadel consisted of domestic species, in particular sheep, that were vital for city food supply but also essential for the manufacture and export of textiles. We examined the lower teeth wear of goats and sheep to determine the kill off patterns to gain a better insight into the strategies of stockbreeding in old Nishapūr. The results suggested that they were invariably killed at the age of two years or more for getting the highest protein yield and also fiber.
Bovines were also used for nutritional purposes. It also may be possible that equids and camels were consumed. In the meanwhile, these three species have played an important role in transport and agricultural activities. In order to increase the chronological precision of the recovered archaeozoological remains, some animal bones were C14 dated. These analyses were supported by the UMR 7209, archaeozoology, archaeobotany research team from the CNRS, and the National Museum of Natural History of Paris. Radiocarbon results dates were highly informative and surprising, revealing the existence of pre-Islamic deposits dated to the Sassanian and Parthian periods that had not been explicitly described in the archaeological reports of the site.
 This study relies on a small assemblage yet extremely important because it belongs to one of the major medieval cities of the North East Iran. The results have highlighted the role of sheep in the economy of the site and possibly wider on a more regional scale where trade and exchange were having a place. This archaeozoological study has alluded the complexity of both the subsistence economy of Nishapur and its chronology.