The Fowler, the Sparrowhawk and the Birds: Ancient Methods for Controlling and Exploiting Pest Birds in the Byzantine Church Mosaic at Nahariya

The mosaic of the Byzantine church at Nahariya (sixth century CE) depicts a professional fowler and his equipment: limed sticks, a Eurasian sparrowhawk standing opposite him, and an empty cage behind him. Other medallions show scenes related to the hunt: birds standing and in flight, and a common blackbird and a hooded crow facing open cages. This article examines these depictions in light of ancient literature, parallel mosaics and modern research on bird behavior. The sources and comparisons point to several techniques for controlling birds harmful to agriculture and for exploiting them: setting limed sticks among the branches of trees, reaching a hand-held limed stick toward a bird on a branch, and using a motionless raptor, most likely a stuffed one, which can halt the birds' activity and provoke flight or mobbing, depending on the species, the season and the fowler's proximity. At Nahariya the motionless sparrowhawk stands alone opposite the fowler; it is the only known depiction from the period of a diurnal raptor positioned apart from the fowler. The accompanying scenes reflect the hunting of migratory birds in orchards during the ripening season, alongside the hunting of resident birds throughout the year. The text is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The images are excluded from this license: all rights are reserved by their owners, and any use of the images outside this article requires written permission.