Foto Friday – In search of the yakhmur

July 15, 2011 - 5:51 PM by Rachel Neiman

The Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, also known as The Biblical Zoo, features animals from the Land of Israel with special emphasis on those species mentioned in the Bible. Many of those Biblical mentions, it should be noted, relate to their consumption. Specifically, defining which animals are considered kosher and listing ten native ungulate (hoofed) species permitted for consumption: “These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; the ayal, the zvi, and the yakhmur; and the aqqo, the dishon, the teo and the zemer.”(Deuteronomy 14:4-5)

But what are the aqqo, dishon and zemer? A new archaeozoological study conducted jointly by researchers at the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University, has examined zoological findings at 133 sites around Israel dating back to the beginning of the biblical period, the late Bronze Age (12th century BCE) and up to the Persian Era (7th century BCE) and is exploring the possible answers to these questions.

According to the researchers, “The first three species have been easily identified, but the rest have been disputed over the years. Besides the fact that there is no species today as the zemer, the names of other species have been translated over time between different languages and only hundreds of years later returned to the Hebrew language, so that the biblical yakhmur and teo were not necessarily the species as we know them today.

“Our archaeozoological findings reinforce the assumption that there is some significance in the order of appearance of each species in the Bible’s list of animals deemed clean for consumption. By arriving at a more precise identification of the animals, we can more confidently confirm that at first domesticated animals are named and following that the verse mentions the animals in order of their importance for human consumption in the biblical Land of Israel,” the researchers stated.

The study was based on the hypothesis that animals described in the Bible existed at the time and place of its writing. “Based on the animal remains that were examined, the zvi mentioned in Deuteronomy includes the mountain gazelle and Dorcas gazelle. The ayal includes the red deer and Mesopotamian fallow deer, which is also a member of the deer family.”

The archaeozoological remains indicate that the aqqo can be identified with the ibex or what is still known as the wild goat.

The biblical dishon has been given various identities over the years, including affiliation with the rhinoceros.

Archaeological remains from the time of the Bible, however, do not show any hint of rhinoceros; the researchers explain that it is most likely to be an Arabian oryx.

The teo mentioned in Deuteronomy is a species that over the years and due to the various translations of the name, has been identified as bison, even though such an animal has also not been found amongst the archaeological remains. The current study suggests that the teo be identified with buffalo, which was a commonly hunted animal in biblical times.

And what was the yakhmur? According to the researchers, an analysis of the biblical text and the animal remains that they examined indicates that the Bible’s yakhmur was in fact an antelope of the hartebeest species, a large African antelope that became extinct in Israel but is still found in eastern Africa.

Finally, the zemer has also been given various identities in translation, including the giraffe. This is a highly unlikely identification of the zemer, seeing as here too, there is no hint of archaeological remains of giraffes in the biblical land of Israel. Based on their new analysis, the researchers propose that this species is a member of the ibex family.

Not that anyone’s going to make a meal of him but that’s still probably a relief to the latest addition to the Biblical Zoo, a baby giraffe who was born last week. The tot is only a mere 2 meters tall and both baby and mother are doing well.

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