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Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e102

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Journal of Archaeological Science

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Archaeozoological evidence for traditional consumption ofspiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia) in Saudi Arabia

Hervé Monchot a,c,*, Salvador Bailon b, Jérémie Schiettecatte c

a Labex Resmed, PRES Sorbonne Universités, Université Sorbonne Paris IV, 1 Place Victor Cousin, 75005 Paris, FrancebMuséum national d’Histoire naturelle, UMR 7209 du CNRS Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements case postale 55,55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, FrancecUMR 8167, Orient & Méditerranée, Mondes sémitiques 27, rue Paul Bert, 94204 Ivry sur Seine cedex, France

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 20 September 2013Received in revised form10 February 2014Accepted 16 February 2014

Keywords:Spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia)ZooarchaeologyConsumptional-YamâmaSaudi Arabia

* Corresponding author. 51 Bd JF Kennedy, 510France. Tel.: þ33 (0)632694948.

E-mail addresses: herve.monchot@wanadoo.fr (H(S. Bailon), jeremie.schiettecatte@cnrs.fr (J. Schietteca

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.02.0120305-4403/� 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

a b s t r a c t

A total of 145 skeletal remains belonging to the Arabian spiny-tailed lizard, locally called ḍabb (Uromastyxaegyptia) were found in various archaeological levels of the Late Pre-Islamic/Early Islamic site of al-Yamâma, Saudi Arabia. All the skeletal parts of the lizard were identifieddskull, trunk, forelimb andhindlimbdand represent a minimum of 22 individuals. The presence of lizard bones mixed with otherbones considered mostly as food-waste, and the identification of a cut mark on a tibia made by a cuttingtool, suggest an anthropogenic origin for some of this material. Their strong skin was a source of leather,while their meat was often considered as an alternative source of protein. This appears to be the firstzooarchaeological confirmation of the consumption of lizards by the medieval Arab population of CentralArabia, a custom known in the written tradition.

� 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

If lizards are abundant in the desert environment of the ArabianPeninsula or more generally in southwestern Asia and adjacentareas, there are few remnants of these species among the faunallists from archaeological sites. Its primarily small taxa that are oftenmentioned as in faunal reports as “small lizards”, as for examplefrom the Middle Pleistocene site of Qesem cave in Israel, whichcontains thousands of remains of lizards (i.e., Laudakia sp., Cha-maeleo sp., Varanus sp., Maul et al., 2011) or in the site of ed-Dur inthe United Arab Emirates (very rare bones of a small lizard, VanNeer and Gautier, 1993). These species, which are even not al-ways contemporaneous with the rest of fauna, are generallyconsidered as intrusive animals that died naturally on the site or asa bird prey andwere not consumed by people. Contrarily to the NileArea (EgypteSudan), where large lizards as Varanus or Uromastyxare oftenmentioned among the faunal list from archaeological sites(e.g., Peters, 1986, 1991), theses species are rarely described in theArabian peninsula, excepted maybe some vertebrae of Varanus in

00 Châlons-en-Champagne,

. Monchot), bailon@mnhn.frtte).

Tell Aswad in Syria (Helmer and Gourichon, 2008). Generally, thesespecies do not pertain to animals killed by people for consumption,but in the western desert of Egypt in a Neolithic site there is someevidence of Uromastyx consumption albeit without any cutmarks(Van Neer and Uerpmann, 1989).

However, none of these sites has provided sufficient data for azooarchaeological analysis. The lack of evidence in archaeologicalrecords can perhaps be explained by taphonomic and certain cul-tural traits: (1) the small size of the lizard’s bones reduces thechance of surviving the many sources of destruction that usuallyaffect bones in an archaeological context; (2) the absence of sys-tematic sediment screening; and (3) lizard bones stand a slimchance of being found in archaeological context if the consumerswere nomadic peoples (Elmahi, 2002: 40).

Several species and subspecies of the genus Uromastyx live inthe arid desert lands that extend from northern Africa to south-western Asia, including Pakistan and Northwest India (Fig. 1, Wilmsand Böhme, 2007). Currently 15 species are considered to be valid,of which 6 are known to occur on the Arabian Peninsula (Wilmset al., 2009). Among these species, Uromastyx aegyptia (Forskål,1775) is by far the largest member of the genus, reaching amaximum body length of more than 700 mm and a weight of up to2500 g (Fig. 1). The Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard or mastigure (U.aegyptia microlepis) is found in central Saudi Arabia, Sultanate ofOman, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and in the north and south

Fig. 1. A. Distribution range of the genus Uromastyx (after Wilms and Böhme, 2007: Fig. 1). B. Distribution of Uromastyx aegyptia aegyptia and Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis (formore details on the localities see Wilms and Böhme, 2007: Fig. 3). C. Photograph of Uromastyx aegyptia taken in South-East Jordan at around 100 km at the east from al-Jafr basin(Photograph W. Abu-Azizeh).

H. Monchot et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e102 97

of Iraq (Fig. 1, Wilms and Böhme, 2000, 2007) and is locally knownin Arabic as ḍabb. It is a burrowing lizard which has a predilectionfor open habitats with sand and gravel substrates, and sparsevegetation (Wilms et al., 2010). This lizard is a diurnal species thatbecomes active during the daytime while the outside temperaturedoes not exceed 40 �C. They have the ability of physiological colourchange. At high temperatures the animals show a light brown toyellow or greenish coloration with a black throat and small blackdots on the neck and dorsum. At low temperatures they show adark grey coloration (Cunningham, 2001, 2013; Wilms and Böhme,2000, 2007; Wilms et al., 2009). Uromastyx feeds on shrubs andother desert plants and occasionally on insects like beetles, ants,grasshoppers and even scorpions (Kevork and Al-Uthman, 1972;Wilms and Böhme, 2007).

The discovery of 145 skeletal remains of spiny-tailed lizards inthe Early to Late Islamic levels of the site of al-Yamâma in SaudiArabia leads us to examine the contexts of their presence and theorigin of these bones (natural or anthropogenic).

2. The site of al-Yamâma (al-Kharj oasis)

The area of al-Kharj is located in the eastern part of the Najd inEast-Central Saudi Arabia (Fig. 2). Within this oasis, the largestarchaeological site is called al-Yamâma (Philby, 1920: 168; Zarinset al., 1979: 27, 30). This site is located in an alluvial plainwatered by one of the largest drainage basins in the ArabianPeninsula (Vaslet et al., 1991). The archaeological area stretchesover 75 ha (Fig. 3). The occupation of the site is dated at least fromthe 2nd century BC to the 18th century AD (Al-Ghazzi, 2010;Schiettecatte et al., 2013, 2014; Schiettecatte and al-Ghazzi, inpress).

Faunal remains come from two archaeological contexts:Sounding 1 (accumulation of waste deposits in open-air area) andSounding 2 (dwelling). In these soundings, four chronologicalphases of occupation have been isolated: phase 1 (15the18thcenturies AD); phase 2 (Abbasid period: 8the12th cent. AD); phase3 (provisionally dated to the Late pre-Islamic/Early Islamic period:4the7th cent. AD); phase 4 (ca. 3rd cent. BCe3rd cent. AD). Uro-mastyx bones were found in eighteen stratigraphic units in bothsoundings, and in phases 1, 2, and 3. Their absence in the mostancient phase, phase 4, in spite of sieving, might be either due todifferent cultural practices or to the limited extension of theexcavated area (9 sq. m. at the bottom of Sounding 1). The bones arealways associated with other faunal remains including mammalsconsidered mostly as food wastes (Table 1, Monchot, 2012). If thesubsistence strategies of the inhabitants of the site were closelyrelated to the exploitation of camels and caprines (sheep/goat),there is a non-negligible portion of wild, humanly-processed ani-mals (gazelles, oryx, ostrich eggshells). Finally, but for Sounding 2(dwelling), Uromastyx bones are always found in open-air areas,frequently along mudbrick walls, mixed with other bones. Thesebone deposits are seen as dumping areas.

3. The lizard bone assemblage

The use of faunal reference collections in the French NationalMuseum of Natural History in Paris made it possible to validate thefield identifications. Among the lizard bone assemblage, the maindiagnostic characteristic of the genus is the presence in adultspecimens of a premaxillary bone forming a sharp (Fig. 4D), tooth-like bone structure replacing the incisive teeth of the juvenile stage(Moody, 1980; Wilms and Böhme, 2007; Wilms et al., 2009).

Fig. 2. The location of the oasis of al-Kharj and its environmental context (J. Schiettecatte e French-Saudi Archaeological Mission in al-Kharj).

H. Monchot et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e10298

Another characteristic is provided by the dentary and maxillarypleurodont teeth, which become firmly ankylosed to the bone asacrodont teeth (Fig. 4A and G). The acrodont teeth are truncatedblunt cylinders with a rounded labial surface. Generally, in theoldest specimens the crowns are worn to such an extent that acontinuous cutting edge is formedwithout distinguishable teeth. InUromastyx, the jugal possesses a strong dorsal process but theinfratemporal process is absent (Fig. 4E); the dentary is short androbust with a squarish anterior profile and a high coronoid process(Fig. 4A). On the dentary, wear surfaces are visible on both thedental bone between the teeth and on the teeth themselves. Thesplenial is fused with the dentary. The vertebrae are procoelus andflattened, possess a broadly rounded and smooth centrum and thecondyle is set off centrum by a neck (Cooper et al., 1970; Cooper andPoole, 1973; Moody, 1980; Augé, 1988, 2005).

Some of the studied elements belong to individuals of relativelylarge size, approximately 500 mm in total length and 300 mm inSVL (snout-vent length). Thus, among the different species ofUromastyx currently present in the Arabian Peninsula, the esti-mated total length of our individuals is only reached, or evenexceeded, by U. aegyptia, also the only species currently present inthe area where the site is located, while in other species themaximum known length is smaller, apparently not exceeding400 mm and their present distribution does not include the regionof al-Kharj (Wilms and Böhme, 2000, 2007; Wilms et al., 2009).

We observed an abundance of vertebrae (n¼ 83, 57.6%), which isnot surprising in view of the number of vertebrae present in theanimal (49: 8 cervical, 16 dorsal, 2 sacral, 23 caudal, El-Toubi, 1949).The trunk is also represented by 91 elements (63.2%). Nevertheless,most elements are present in the different structures studied: 20remains (13.9%) belong to the skull, 10 (6.2%) to the forelimb and 24(16.7%) to the hindlimb (Table 2). The bones are complete or rarelyfragmented and show essentially unaltered surfaces (Fig. 4H),except a vertebra in UF 057 which clearly shows marks of corrosionfrom the acidic gastric juices of a predator (Fig. 4B), while a tibiafound in UF 017 shows a cut mark produced by a cutting tool

(Fig. 4C). An anthropogenic origin seems to be attributable to atleast some of the studied material.

4. Discussion

The presence of spiny-tailed lizard bones mixed together withother faunal remains from domestic or hunted species as well as acut mark likely made by a cutting tool suggest an anthropogenicorigin for some of this faunal material. This origin is confirmed bythe stratigraphic contexts where lizards were encountered, often indomestic dumping areas or in the occupation level of a dwellingstructure (Building 2) (Table 1). While this is the first evidence ofthe consumption of lizards in an archaeological context, such apractice is documented in historical sources, as well as in the Ha-diths of the prophet Muhammad, i.e. the reports of his deeds andsayings, in travellers’ reports from the late 19th and early 20thcenturies, and in recent ethnographic studies.

The Periplus Maris Erythraei (x 30), a description of maritimeroads and trade between Egypt, Arabia and India by an unknownauthor of the 1st century AD, reports that the island of Suqutra,south of Yemen, is a barren land “with huge lizards, so huge thatpeople eat the flesh and melt down the fat to use in place of oil” (x30, translation by Casson, 1989: 69). It might have applied tomonitors, either Varanus griseus or Varanus niloticus.

On the eve of Islam, lizards were a constituent part of the diet ofthe Arabian population, being mentioned in several Hadiths. Arecurrent episode in this written tradition is that of Muhammadrefusing to consume it personally but not condemning it (Lecomte,1965: 350; Bettini, 1998: 80). Contrary to what the 19th-centurytraveller Burckhardt said, lizard was not eaten “in defiance of thelaws of the prophet” (Burckhardt, 1822: 664) since it was notconsidered as harâm (sinful).

In the mid-11th century AD, on his way back from Mecca toPersia, when crossing central Arabia, the Persian traveller Nasir-iKhusraw wrote that as soon as his fellow travellers caught sightof a lizard, they seized it, killed it and ate it (Schefer, 1881: 219).

Fig. 3. Al-Yam�ama: map of the archaeological structures visible on the ground (M. Niveleau, J. Schiettecatte e French-Saudi Archaeological Mission in al-Kharj).

H. Monchot et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e102 99

The Egyptian historian al-Nuwayrî (1279e1332) mentions theconsumption of lizards among the tribe of Banû Tamîm (Shams al-Dîn, 2004: 167), recalling the fact that it was tolerated by Islamiclaw but that other Arabs took this tribe for fools because of thishabit. It is all the more interesting that this nomadic tribe wascentered around the area immediately to the north of al-Yamâma.

European travellers who crossed the Arabian peninsula in thepast two centuries attest to the capture of lizards with severalpurposesdthe use of the scaly skin to preserve butter, water or toform tobacco purses (Burckhardt, 1822: 534, 664; Thesiger, 1978:101), and the occasional consumption of its flesh in the region ofthe Jawf (North Arabia e Burckhardt, 1822: 534, 664), in the desert

of Rub‘ al-Khâlî (Thomas,1932: 238) and in Central Oman (Thesiger,1978: 222e223), that is to say almost the whole distribution area ofthat species in Arabia (Fig. 1).

Recently, a detailed ethnographic study of the spiny-tailed liz-ard’s role in the diet of nomadic and settled populations of CentralOman cast new light on this tradition, showing that it is currentlyhunted and that it represents an occasional food resource for bothnomadic population and oasis farmers (Elmahi, 2002; see alsoCunningham, 2013 for the United Arab Emirates). This lizard is easyto capture, either by digging it out of its hole, or by trapping it withsnares (Elmahi, 2002: 37). Once captured, lizards are usuallyslaughtered. According to the practices performed in the Sultanate

Table 1Faunal list in Number of identified specimens of the different stratigraphic layers (UF) which present some spiny-tailed lizard bones.

UF N Camel Sheep/Goat Gazelle Bovids Donkey Dog Fox Cat Ratel Ostrich Bird Lizard LM MM SM Ind.

UF 002 33 10 9 2 1 2 4 5UF 004 91 40 19 3 9 1 4 1 14UF 005 52 12 22 2 6 1 1 3 9UF 010 182 54 48 9 15 1 6 1 44 4UF 012 159 77 47 1 11 2 1 1 2 8 9 þþþþUF 015 71 9 26 5 1 6 2 17 5UF 017 196 27 51 19 1 55 2 6 39 34UF 020 73 28 27 4 4 1 1 6 2UF 023 86 8 13 1 28 1 1 1 31UF 041 320 31 34 1 3 2 6 16 6 221UF 044 78 8 5 2 63UF 053 1008 39 62 7 3 2 1 1 49 2 10 832UF 055 726 76 32 2 25 1 24 1 4 560UF 056 501 49 34 7 1 6 14 17 370UF 057 722 19 69 4 1 2 4 17 6 19 580UF 058 74 1 8 1 2 61UF 101 167 18 16 1 2 1 1 17 9 8 101UF 102 15 5 3 1 1 1 1 3

LM ¼ Large-sized Mammal; MM ¼ Medium-sized Mammal; SM ¼ Small-sized Mammal; Ind. ¼ indeterminate.

H. Monchot et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e102100

of Oman, the butchery process begins by severing the head and thelimbs, an action likely to cause a cut mark on the tibia much like theone observed at al-Yamâma. Then the lizard is skinned and cut intosmall parts for cooking. The eggs could be cooked with the otherparts of the lizard in a stew or eaten raw (Elmahi, 2002: 41).

Thus, the consumption of spiny-tailed lizards is a long-established practice in the Arabian Peninsula, constituting a sig-nificant nutritional supplement in such a harsh environment.While Arabic tradition associates this dietary customwith nomadicBedouins (Bettini, 1998: 78, 80; Kopf, 1965: 71e72), the ethno-graphic study in Central Oman (Elmahi, 2002), as well as the dis-covery of bones in the urban context of the pre-Islamic and

Fig. 4. Uromastyx aegyptia. A: right dentary UF 005, lateral and medial views; B: trunk vertebview; D: right premaxillary UF 044, antero-dorsal view; E: right jugal UF 017, lateral view; FUF 023, ventral view.

medieval site of al-Yamâma, show that city dwellers in the regionalso used to occasionally augment their diet with this source ofprotein and fat.

5. Conclusion

With the exception of tortoises which have been widelyconsumed by humans at all times (e.g., Klemens andThorbjarnarson, 1995; De Grosso Mazzorin and Minniti, 1999;Speth and Tchernov, 2002; Avery et al., 2004; Blasco, 2008), refer-ences to reptiles in archaeozoological studies aremost often limitedto the description of some invasive or troglophile species hunted by

ra UF 057, dorsal view; C: left tibia UF 017 with a probably cutting mark, medio-ventral: left ilium UF 017, lateral view; G: left maxillary UF 057, lateral view; H: right humerus

Table 2Skeletal elements of Uromastyx aegyptia according to the different stratigraphic layers (UF) of al-Yamâma.

UF Sector Type of deposition/structure Skeletal elements NR MNI

Skull Trunk Forelimb Hindlimb

PM M J D V R S H R U I Is P F T Fi Mt

UF002 S1 CP Aeolian sand deposit 1 1 1UF004 S1 CP Destruction layer 2 2 4 1UF005 S1 CP Aeolian sand deposit 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 1UF010 S1 CP Circulation level 1 1 1UF012 S1 CP Aeolian sand deposit 1 1 1UF015 S1 CP Circulation level 1 1 4 6 1UF017 S1 CP Circulation level 3 2 36 4 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 55 3UF020 S1 CP Circulation level 1 3 4 1UF023 B1 Aeolian sand deposit over Building 1 19 2 1 2 2 2 28 2UF041 S1 CP Circulation level 6 6 1UF044 West B1 Destruction layer over a circulation level 1 1 2 1UF053 S1 NP Aeolian sand deposit, light occupation (hearths) 1 1 1UF055 S1 NP Destruction layer 1 1 1UF056 S1 NP Aeolian sand deposit, light occupation (hearths) 1 1 1 1 2 6 1UF057 S1 NP Aeolian sand deposit, light occupation (hearths)

over destruction1 1 1 1 4 1

UF058 S1 NP Aeolian sand deposit 1 1 1UF101 B2 R109 Destruction layer over an occupation level 3 7 2 1 1 1 2 17 2UF102 B2 R109 Occupation level 1 1 1

Total 1 7 2 10 83 8 1 4 2 3 4 1 4 3 3 5 4 145 22

[S1 ¼ sounding 1; CP ¼ central part; B1 ¼ building 1; NP ¼ northern part; B2 R109 ¼ building 2 room 109] [PM ¼ Premaxillary; M ¼ Maxillary; J ¼ Jugal; D ¼ Dentary;V¼ Vertebrae; R¼ Rib; S¼ Scapula; H¼Humerus; R¼ Radius; U¼Ulna; I¼ Ilium; Is¼ Ischium; P¼ Pubis; F¼ Femur; T¼ Tibia; Fi¼ Fibula; Mt¼Metatarsal; NR¼ number ofremains; MNI ¼ Minimum number of individuals].

H. Monchot et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 45 (2014) 96e102 101

predators such as carnivores or birds (e.g., Bailon and Aouraghe,2002; Blain et al., 2008; Maul et al., 2011). Moreover, thesestudies are usually oriented towards palaeoclimatic or palae-oenvironmental reconstructions.

As such, the discovery of many skeletal remains of spiny-tailedlizards at the Pre-Islamic/Islamic site of al-Yamâma is quiteexceptional.

While human consumption of lizards is seldom documented inthe Near East and Middle East (see introduction), it is attested to inother parts of the world, such as in Peru in South America duringthe ‘Neolithic’ (with the species Dicrodon sp. and Callopistes flavi-punctatus, Béarez et al., 2011), species still eaten today (Holmberg,1957) or in the pre-Columbian Neotropics (Cooke, 1981). The use oflizards as food for humans can be traced back to the middle Pleis-tocene in Java (Auffenberg, 1988; see more references in Klemensand Thorbjarnarson, 1995) to today (Buffrénil and Hémery, 2007).

In the Arabian Peninsula, the spiny-tailed lizard was one of thesources of subsistence for the inland inhabitants. Like other desertspecies such as thegazelle and theEthiopianhedgehog, the Bedouinsand farmers from al-Yamâma harvested these animals, which mighthave provided an important nutritional supplement to their diet.

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to John Speth, Mounir Arbach,Wael Abu-Azizeh and Michel Coutureau for the remarks anddocumentation they shared with them. Hervé Monchot benefitedfrom financial support from the Labex Resmed. The Saudi-FrenchMission benefited from the support of the Saudi Commission forTourism and Antiquities (Riyadh), the King Saud University(Riyadh), the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairs, the French Embassyin Riyadh, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),UMR 8167 ‘Orient et Méditerranée’, the French National ResearchAgency (ANR), the Labex ‘ResMed’ [ANR-10-LABX-72], the Univer-sity of Paris-Sorbonne, and the University of Strasbourg. The au-thors would like to thank these institutions most warmly for theirfinancial and technical support.

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