The faunal material from the Roman fortress and its associated church of Khirbet es-Samra (Mafraq Province, Jordan)

A large amount of faunal remains has been recently recovered from the excavations of the Roman (and Byzantine) fortress and the adjacent building of the village of Khirbet es-Samra (Jordan). The study of this assemblage shows great taxonomic diversity and provides abundant data about the semi-arid environment at that time as well as about the subsistence system of the inhabitants. Moreover, the zooarchaeological data evidence the historical shift from the Byzantine to the Umayyad Empire through the reuse of the church after its abandonment as sheepfold/granary.