PhD candidate Sarah Joy Martini has co-authored a new article in PLOS One examining how
inter-polity borderlands shaped agro-pastoralist herd management strategies in the Iron Age
(10 th – 8 th centuries BCE) Levant. Using oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope analyses of
sheep, goat, and cattle teeth recovered from Tel Hazor, the study demonstrates that herders
had access to multiple pastures – including those across the nearby border between Aram and
ancient Israel – during periods of both political concord and conflict. Rather than the hard
borders implied by elite and military conflict, the study reveals that non-elites often encountered
borders as permeable in daily life.
Link to article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0328934