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Ian L. Baxter
BA MIFA
Introduction
A total of 285
fragments of animal bones were recovered by hand-collection
from the site. Of this total, 82 fragments could be
identified to some extent (Table 1). The remainder are
primarily highly comminuted fragments of domestic mammal
bones. The bones are variably preserved but most are in
fairly poor condition. All fragments have been recorded on
an Access database. The wear stages of cattle, sheep/goat
and pig were recorded following the method of Grant (1982).
The finds were derived from a “destruction” layer containing
medieval pottery shards dating to the 11th-12th
(or possibly 13th) centuries AD, recorded
three-dimensionally and allocated numbers. Because of the
poor state of preservation and high level of fragmentation
of the animal bones some identifications are tentative. Rib
and vertebra fragments have been grouped according to size
as Large Mammal and Medium Mammal.
Frequency of
species
The most
numerous identified fragments derive from sheep/goat and
account for 36% of the total that could be identified beyond
a general taxonomic level. Cattle account for 24%, pig for
19%, horse 4% and domestic fowl for 7%. The remains of wild
species amount to 9% of the total and consist of lagomorphs
and birds.
Discussion
No bones of the
domestic food species were sufficiently preserved to give
any indication of the size or character of the animals
represented. Only a single caprid mandible (1323) could be
identified as sheep (Payne 1985) and none of the remains
seen can be attributed to goat. There are insufficient teeth
and long bone epiphyses present in the assemblage to
reconstruct and age profile for any of the major
domesticates. Pig canines recovered comprise a lower and
upper tooth from females (851 and 1333). A sheep/goat upper
molar (1227) has caries (Plate 4). This is not common in
caprids but the present author has seen a Romano-British
example from the Hinxton Genome site in Cambridgeshire
(Baxter work in progress). The frontal of a juvenile pig
(1331) has been gnawed by rodents along the supraorbital
(Plate 5). The species responsible was most probably rat
judging by the size and spacing of the marks left by the
incisor teeth. Horse remains include articulating distal 1st
phalanx and proximal 2nd phalanx fragments (943)
and an astragalus (1244) with polishing of the distal
articular surface indicative of the early onset of
osteoarthritis. The astragalus was measured using the system
of von den Driesch (1976). Chicken bones include those of
juveniles.
Wild species
include two large lagomorph distal humeri (861 and 1247)
that most probably belong to hare and a rabbit sized ilium
fragment (1231). A goose carpometacarpus fragment (1236)
could belong to a domestic or wild bird. The axis vertebra
of a hawk (Accipitridae) (927) probably belongs to a
buzzard or red kite (Plates 1-3). It is morphologically
distinct from that of a goshawk (S. Hamilton-Dyer pers.
comm.). The other wild bird bones recovered belong to
Corvids: a crow or rook distal tibiotarsus fragment (1193)
and a probable jackdaw distal femur (1246).
Conclusion
This small
assemblage is dominated by the bones and teeth of the
domestic food species, cattle, sheep, pig and fowl. Almost
all the bones are highly fragmented and, in general, poorly
preserved. Of the wild, or possibly wild, species only goose
and the lagomorphs represent possible dietary items. The
wild birds are most probably accidental inclusions of
species frequenting the general area of the site. Neither
the buzzard nor the kite are birds associated with falconry,
but scavengers and opportunistic predators classified as
vermin in the mid-15th century (Martin 1992).
Acknowledgement
The author would
like to thank Sheila Hamilton-Dyer for her identification of
the hawk vertebra.
References
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