A ritual deposit of fox remains at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) and its relation with the pastoral nature of Late Chalcolithic communities

The occurrence of wild carnivores remains among faunal assemblages constituted almost exclusively of domestic ruminants raise the question of the status of these rare species. Parts of two foxes were deposited in a jar discovered in a Late Chalcolithic (ca. 4300-3950 cal. BCE) occupation layer at the site of Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan). The skeletal elements were carefully dismembered, selected, exposed to fire for some of them, and disposed in an organised manner in the jar. A detailed analysis led us to suggest that this deposition could be related to rites performed during the periodic abandonment and reoccupation of the settlement. Foxes tend to play a peculiar symbolic role in some livestock-raising communities. It could be also the case in this possibly partly mobile pastoral group. This deposit sheds some light on how this community conceived the occupation of this settlement.