4.1.2. Were the Animal Bones Found in Intentional Deposits?

While thousands upon thousands of animal bones were discovered as scatter throughout the complex, the analysis (Greer 2013) focused on seven deposits: two from the western chamber complex and five from the central courtyard around the altar. Each was identified by the excavators as an intentional deposit based on architectural features, such as a slot created by two walls in one case or as clearly defined pits in other cases (one even ringed with small stones), or architectural features that were used secondarily as a deposit location, such as an olive press basin from an earlier stratum reused as a bone repository in the subsequent stratum.
