Birds in ancient Jerusalem

OSTEOLOGICAL ORNITHOLOGY: Bird study backs Bible: Pigeons, doves sacrificed in ancient Jerusalem. From the story of Noah and the dove in the Book of Genesis to the issues of ritual sacrifices and dietary restrictions, birds play a very important role in the biblical text (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). It looks as though people ate chickens, but sacrificed pigeons and doves.

This article is based on a technical article in BASOR 383 (May 2020 - current issue), pp. 61-78: “Birds in Transition: Bird Exploitation in the Southern Levant During the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age I, and Iron Age II,” by Abra Spiciarich. It is behind the subscription wall, but you can read the abstract here.

Some past PaleoJudaica posts on pigeons and doves in biblical etc. antiquity are here, here, here, here, and here. And for one on ancient chickens, see here.

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