Alexander David Symons

ALEXANDER SYMONS, then a graduate student at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, was approved funding in April 2024 to aid research on “Walking Walls: Herds, Enclosures and Land Claims in the Late Bronze Age South Caucasus,” supervised by Dr. Nerissa Russell. Research was conducted on animal bones and teeth from Dmanisis Gora, Georgia. A research trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, was undertaken to complete recording of faunal remains. Traditional observational techniques were used to identify key characteristics of bones (animal, age, sex, etc.) from which a profile of the animal economy at Dmanisis Gora was generated. Evidence suggests that animal rearing was non-specialized, animals were kept at the household level and exploited for a range of products. Samples of tooth enamel were measured for carbon, oxygen and strontium isotopes. These indicated that animals were kept in the vicinity of Dmanisis Gora and did not engage in long distance mobility.