Open AccessPigeons at the edge of the empire: Bioarchaeological evidences for extensive management of pigeons in a Byzantine desert settlement in the southern Levant
Author(s) -
Nimrod Marom,
Baruch Rosen,
Yotam Tepper,
Guy Bar-Oz
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0193206
Subject(s) - byzantine architecture , domestication , context (archaeology) , geography , southern levant , desert (philosophy) , flock , habitat , archaeology , biology , ecology , bronze age , philosophy , epistemology
Metric data of 6 th century CE pigeons from the Negev Desert, Israel, are employed to test competing hypotheses on flock management strategies: that directed selection for size or shape took place under intensive management; or, alternatively, that stabilizing selection was a stronger determinant of size and shape under extensive management conditions. The results of the analysis support the second hypothesis by demonstrating that the Byzantine Negev pigeons were like wild pigeon ( Columba livia ) in shape, albeit small-sized. The inferred extensive management system is then discussed in the context of pigeon domestication and human micro-ecologies in marginal regions.