Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:15:05.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Livestock Changes at the Beginning and End of the Roman Period in Britain: Issues of Acculturation, Adaptation, and ‘Improvement’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2017

Mauro Rizzetto ,
Pam J. Crabtree  and
Umberto Albarella
Mauro Rizzetto
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK
Pam J. Crabtree
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, New York University, USA
Umberto Albarella
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reviews aspects of the development of animal husbandry in Roman Britain, focusing in particular on the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/early medieval transitions. By analysing the two chronological extremes of the period of Roman influence in Britain we try to identify the core characteristics of Romano-British husbandry by using case studies, in particular from south-eastern Britain, investigated from the perspective of the butchery and morphometric evidence they provide. Our aim is to demonstrate the great dynamism of Romano-British animal husbandry, with substantial changes in livestock management occurring at the beginning, the end, and during the period under study. It is suggested that such changes are the product of interactions between different cultural and social traditions, which can be associated with indigenous and external influences, but also numerous other causes, ranging from ethnic origins to environmental, geographic, political, and economic factors.

Dans cet article nous considérons certains aspects de l’évolution de l’élevage en Grande Bretagne à l’époque romaine, en examinant tout particulièrement les phases de transition entre l’âge du Fer et l’époque romaine et entre cette dernière et les débuts du Moyen Age. Notre but, en analysant les deux extrêmes de l’époque d'influence romaine dans la province de Bretagne, est d'identifier les caractéristiques essentielles de l’élevage romano-britannique dans une série d’études de cas provenant en particulier du sud-est de l'Angleterre et portant sur les traces de dépeçage et la morphométrie des ossements. Nous espérons ainsi démontrer que les dynamiques de l’élevage romano-britannique comportent des transformations importantes dans la gestion du bétail avant, pendant et après l’époque romaine. Ces changements sont sans doute liés aux interactions entre différentes traditions culturelles et sociales associées à des influences tant indigènes qu'extérieures mais aussi à d'autres facteurs d'ordre ethnique, environnemental, géographique, politique et économique. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

In diesem Artikel werden Aspekte der Entwicklung der Viehzucht in Großbritannien in römischer Zeit behandelt, mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf den Übergängen von der Eisenzeit zur Römerzeit und von letzterer zum Frühmittelalter. Durch die Analyse dieser chronologischen Schwellen am Anfang und am Ende der Phase des römischen Einflusses in der Provinz Britannia wird versucht, auf der Basis von Fallstudien vor allem aus Südostengland und unter Berücksichtigung der Schlachtspuren und morphometrischen Angaben, die Kerneigenschaften der romano-britischen Viehzucht zu bestimmen. Das Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist, die Dynamik der romano-britischen Tierhaltung zu verdeutlichen. Diese Kräfte sind für wesentliche Veränderungen in der Tierhaltung am Anfang, am Ende und auch während der Römerzeit verantwortlich. Solche Veränderungen sind wahrscheinlich im Rahmen von Wechselbeziehungen zwischen verschiedenen kulturellen und sozialen Traditionen entstanden. Sie sind mit einheimischen und fremden Einflüssen verbunden aber auch mit einer Vielfalt von anderen Ursachen, unter allem ethnische, umweltliche, geografische, politische und wirtschaftliche Gegebenheiten. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Keywords

zooarchaeologyanimal husbandrybiometrybutcherylate Iron AgeRoman periodearly Anglo-Saxon periodarchéozoologieélevagebiométrieboucherieâge du Fer tardifépoque romaineépoque anglo-saxonneZooarchäologieViehzuchtBiometrieSchlachtereispäte EisenzeitRömerzeitangelsächsische Epoche
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 20 , Special Issue 3: Animal Husbandry in the Western Roman Empire: A Zooarchaeological Perspective , August 2017 , pp. 535 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albarella, U. 1997a. The Iron Age Animal Bone Excavated in 1991 from Outgang Road, Market Deeping (Mad91), Lincolnshire. Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 5/97.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. 1997b. The Roman Mammal and Bird Bones Excavated in 1994 from Great Holts Farm, Boreham, Essex. Ancient Monument Laboratory Report 9/97.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. 2000. The Early to Late Saxon Animal Bones Excavated in 1995 from Kings Meadow Lane, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. Ancient Monument Laboratory Report 79/2000.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. 2002. ‘Size Matters’: How and Why Biometry is Still Important in Zooarchaeology. In: Dobney, K. & O'Connor, T., eds. Bones and the Man. Studies in Honour of Don Brothwell. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 51–62.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. 2007. The End of the Sheep Age: People and Animals in the Late Iron Age. In: Haselgrove, C. & Moore, T., eds. The Late Iron Age in Britain and Beyond. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 389–402.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. & Payne, S. 2005. Neolithic Pigs from Durrington Walls, Wilthsire, England: A Biometrical Database. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32: 1589–99.Google Scholar
Albarella, U., Johnstone, C. & Vickers, K. 2008. The Development of Animal Husbandry from the Late Iron Age to the End of the Roman Period: A Case Study from South-East Britain. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35: 1828–48.Google Scholar
Albarella, U. with Pirnie, T. & Viner-Daniels, S. In prep. Animals of Our Past. The Zooarchaeological Evidence for Central England. Portsmouth: Historic England.Google Scholar
Allen, M., Blick, N., Brindle, T., Evans, T., Fulford, M., Holbrook, N., Richards, J.D. & Smith, A. 2015. The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain: An Online Resource. York: Archaeology Data Service. Available at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/romangl/index.cfm [accessed 16 October 2016].Google Scholar
Beech, M. 1991. Animal Bones, Pakenham (PKM 005), Suffolk. Unpublished zooarchaeological report, Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service.Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, J. 1976. The Animal Resources. In: Wilson, D.M., ed. The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 373–92.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 1989. West Stow, Suffolk: Early Anglo-Saxon Animal Husbandry. Ipswich: Suffolk County Planning Department.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 1991. Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: The Zooarchaeological Evidence. In: Crabtree, P. & Ryan, K., eds. Animal Use and Cultural Change. Philadelphia: Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, pp. 33–38.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 2010. Agricultural Innovation and Socio-Economic Change in Early Medieval Europe: Evidence from Britain and France. World Archaeology, 42: 122–36.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 2012. Middle Saxon Animal Husbandry in East Anglia. Bury St Edmunds: Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P. 2014. Animal Husbandry and Farming in East Anglia from the 5th to the 10th Centuries CE. Quaternary International, 346: 102–08.Google Scholar
Davis, S. 1992. A Rapid Method for Recording Information about Mammal Bones from Archaeological Sites. Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 19/92.Google Scholar
Davis, S. 1996. Measurements of a Group of Adult Female Shetland Sheep Skeletons from a Single Flock: A Baseline for Zooarchaeologists. Journal of Archaeological Science, 23: 593–612.Google Scholar
Davis, S. 2000. The Effect of Castration and Age on the Development of the Shetland Sheep Skeleton and a Metric Comparison between Bones of Males, Females and Castrates. Journal of Archaeological Science, 27: 373–90.Google Scholar
Dobney, K. 2001. A Place at the Table: The Role of Vertebrate Zooarchaeology within a Roman Research Agenda for Britain. In: James, S. & Millet, M., eds. Britons and Romans. York: Council for British Archaeology, pp. 36–45.Google Scholar
Dobney, K. & Jaques, D. 1996. The Mammal Bones. In: Williams, R.J., Hart, P.J. & Williams, A.T.L., eds. Wavendon Gate. A Late Iron Age and Roman Settlement in Milton Keynes. Aylesbury: Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society, pp. 203–33.Google Scholar
Dobney, K., Jaques, D. & Irving, B. 1996. Of Butchers and Breeds. Lincoln: City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit.Google Scholar
Done, G. 1993. Animal Bone from Anglo-Saxon Contexts. In: Hamerow, H., ed. Excavations at Mucking, Vol. 2: The Anglo-Saxon Settlement (English Heritage Archaeological Report 21). London: English Heritage & British Museum Press, pp. 74–79.Google Scholar
Esmonde Cleary, A. S. 1989. The Ending of Roman Britain. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Evans, J. 1990. From the End of Roman Britain to the ‘Celtic’ West. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 9: 91–103.Google Scholar
Grant, A. 1989. Animals in Roman Britain. In: Todd, M., ed. Research on Roman Britain: 1960–1989. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, pp. 135–46.Google Scholar
Grant, A. 2007. Domestic Animals and their Uses. In: Todd, M., ed. A Companion to Roman Britain. Malden: Blackwell, pp. 372–92.Google Scholar
Groot, M. 2008. Animals in Ritual and Economy in a Roman Frontier Community. Excavations at Tiel-Passewaaij. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Groot, M. 2016. Livestock for Sale: Animal Husbandry in a Roman Frontier Zone. The Case Study of the Civitas Batavorum. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Hamerow, H. 2012. Rural Settlements and Society in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hammon, A. 2011. Understanding the Romano-British–Early Medieval Transition: A Zooarchaeological Perspective from Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum). Britannia, 42: 275–305.Google Scholar
Holmes, M. 2014. Animals in Saxon and Scandinavian England. Backbones of Economy and Society. Leiden: Sidestone Press.Google Scholar
Hopkins, K. 1980. Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 bc–ad 400). Journal of Roman Studies, 70: 101–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, C. & Albarella, U. 2002. The Late Iron Age and Romano-British Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblage from Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex (Site Code: HYEF93-95). Centre for Archaeology Report 45/2002.Google Scholar
Johnstone, C. & Albarella, U. 2015. The Late Iron Age and Romano-British Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblage from Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex. In: Atkinson, M. and Preston, S.J., eds. Heybridge: A Late Iron Age and Roman Settlement, Excavations at Elms Farm 1993–5. Internet Archaeology, 40. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.40.1.albarella [accessed 4 April 2016].Google Scholar
King, A. 1999. Meat Diet in the Roman World: A Regional Inter-Site Comparison of the Mammal Bones. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 12: 168–202.Google Scholar
Lauwerier, R. 1988. Animals in Roman Times in the Dutch Eastern River Area. Amersfoort: Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek.Google Scholar
Lepetz, S. & Yvinec, J.-H. 1998. L’élevage à la période gallo-romaine et au Haut Moyen Age en Normandie: l'apport de l'archéozoologie. In: Manneville, P., ed. Le Monde Rural en Normandie, Actes du Congrès des Sociétés Historiques et Archéologiques de Normandie, Gisors 1997. Caen: Musée de Normandie, pp. 83–109.Google Scholar
Lewit, T. 2009. Pigs, Presses and Pastoralism: Farming in the Fifth to Sixth Centuries ad . Early Medieval Europe, 17: 77–91.Google Scholar
Luff, R.-M. 1982. A Zooarchaeological Study of the Roman North-Western Provinces (British Archaeological Reports International Series 137). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, M. 2010. Cattle ‘Breed’ Variation and Improvement in Roman Italy: Connecting the Zooarchaeological and Ancient Textual Evidence. World Archaeology, 42: 55–73.Google Scholar
Maltby, M. 1981. Iron-Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon Animal Husbandry: A Review of the Faunal Evidence. In: Jones, M. & Dimbleby, G., eds. The Environment of Man: The Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon Period (British Archaeological Reports British Series 87). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 155–203.Google Scholar
Maltby, M. 2007. Chop and Change: Specialist Cattle Carcass Processing in Roman Britain. In: Croxford, B., Ray, N. & Roth, R., eds. TRAC 2006: Proceedings of the 16th Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 59–76.Google Scholar
Meadow, R. H. 1999. The Use of Size Index Scaling Techniques for Research on Archaeozoological Collections from the Middle East. In: Becker, C., Manhart, H., Peters, J. & Schibler, J., eds. Historia animalium ex ossibus. Beiträge zur Paläoanatomie, Archäologie, Ägyptologie, Ethnologie und Geschichte der Tiermedizin. Festschrift für Angela von den Driesch. Rahden: Marie Leidorf, pp. 285–300.Google Scholar
Millett, M. 1990a. The Romanization of Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Millett, M. 1990b. Romanization: Historical Issues and Archaeological Interpretations. In: Blagg, T. & Millett, M., eds. The Early Roman Empire in the West. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 35–41.Google Scholar
Minniti, C., Valenzuela, S., Evans, J. & Albarella, U. 2014. Widening the Market: Strontium Isotope Analysis on Cattle Teeth from Owslebury (Hampshire, UK) Highlights Changes in Livestock Supply between the Iron Age and the Roman Period. Journal of Archaeological Science, 42: 305–14.Google Scholar
Noddle, B. 1994. The Under-Rated Goat. In: Hall, A.R. & Kenward, H.K., eds. Urban-Rural Connections: Perspectives from Environmental Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 117–28.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. 2014. Livestock and Animal Husbandry in Early Medieval England. Quaternary International, 346: 109–18.Google Scholar
Payne, S. & Bull, G. 1988. Components of Variation in Measurements of Pig Bones and Teeth, and Use of Measurements to Distinguish Wild from Domestic Remains. Archaeozoologia, 2: 27–66.Google Scholar
Pitts, M. 2008. Globalizing the Local in Roman Britain: An Anthropological Approach to Social Change. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 27: 493–506.Google Scholar
Popkin, P., Baker, P., Worley, F., Payne, S. & Hammon, A. 2012. The Sheep Project (1): Determining Skeletal Growth, Timing of Epiphyseal Fusion and Morphometric Variation in Unimproved Shetland Sheep of known Age, Sex, Castration Status and Nutrition. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39: 1775–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reece, R. 1989. Models of Continuity. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 8: 231–36.Google Scholar
Rizzetto, M. 2014. Animal Resources in Late Roman and Early Anglo-Saxon Britain: A Biometrical Investigation of the Main Domesticates from Pakenham and West Stow, Suffolk (unpublished MSc dissertation, University of Sheffield).Google Scholar
Schmid, E. 1972. Atlas of Animal Bones. London: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.G., Roe, A. & Lewontin, R.C. 1960. Quantitative Zoology, revised edition. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.Google Scholar
van Mensch, P.J.A. 1974. A Roman Soup-Kitchen at Zwammerdam? Berichten van de Rÿksolienst voon Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, 24: 159–65.Google Scholar
von den Driesch, A. 1976. A Guide to the Measurement of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites. Harvard: Peabody Museum.Google Scholar
Webster, J. 2001. Creolizing the Roman Provinces. American Journal of Archaeology, 105: 209–25.Google Scholar