An important facet in the study of complex societies involves documenting how the extraction of resources to support political structures (the political economy) impacted the subsistence economy of everyday life. Caprine production was a central feature of ancient Mesopotamian subsistence, while ancient texts reveal that wool was centrally important to the region’s political economies. It has long been thought that at some point in the Chalcolithic or Bronze Age (c. 4500–1500 BC) caprine husbandry was reorganized at the regional level to support the wool industry that was so dear to state finance and elite wealth. Here, we use kill-off patterns and biometrics to test whether caprine husbandry patterns across northern Mesopotamia underwent a regionwide transformation. We synthesize existing data and use Bayesian modeling to estimate average sheep size, male–female ratio, and harvesting patterns targeting older sheep. We confirm previous assessments that document an increase in sheep size in the 4th millennium BC. We find no pattern in male–female ratios. Diachronic kill-off data from across the region show subtle and local shifts in the slaughter of older caprines. While ambiguities in the data persist, there is no evidence of a dramatic shift toward intensive wool production at the regional level.

中文翻译：

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他们羊毛，不是吗：从动物考古学角度看美索不达米亚北部羊毛的政治​​和生存经济


研究复杂社会的一个重要方面涉及记录为支持政治结构（政治经济）而提取资源如何影响日常生活的生存经济。山羊生产是古代美索不达米亚生存的一个核心特征，而古代文献表明羊毛对该地区的政治经济至关重要。长期以来，人们一直认为，在红铜时代或青铜时代（约公元前 4500-1500 年）的某个时刻，山羊饲养业在地区层面进行了重组，以支持对国家财政和精英财富来说至关重要的羊毛工业。在这里，我们使用捕杀模式和生物识别技术来测试美索不达米亚北部的山羊饲养模式是否经历了区域性转变。我们综合现有数据并使用贝叶斯模型来估计羊的平均大小、雌雄比例以及针对老年羊的收获模式。我们证实了之前的评估，记录了公元前四世纪绵羊体型的增加。我们没有发现男女比例存在任何模式。来自该地区的历时屠宰数据显示，老年山羊的屠宰情况发生了微妙的局部变化。尽管数据仍然存在模糊性，但没有证据表明区域层面出现了向集约化羊毛生产的巨大转变。