Domestic Mammals in the Diet of Medieval Communities in South-Eastern Romania
Abstract
The paper was realized on the study of seven archaeo-zoological samples taken from sites from South-Eastern Romania: Oltina (X-XIth centuries), Piatra Frecăţei (XI-XIIth centuries), Dumbrăveni (IX-Xth centuries), Hârșova (XI-XIIIth centuries), Isaccea (XI-XIIIth centuries), Capidava (X-XIth centuries), Nufăru (X-XIIIth centuries). Animal husbandry constituted an important occupation during the Middle Ages in South-Eastern Romania; more than 90% represent the remains of domestic mammals in the studied assemblages, excepting the samples at Piatra Frecăţei (56.7%) and Nufăru (85.4%) for which the percentage is smaller. The identified domestic mammals are: Bos taurus, Ovis aries, Capra hircus, Sus scrofa domesticus, Equus caballus, Equus asinus, Canis familiaris, Felis domesticus and Camelus sp.; the last four species were not important in food economy. In all settlements under study, the predominant species are cattle, sheep/goat and pigs, both by the number of identified remains and by minimal number of estimated individuals. The percentage of these species varies from one settlement to other, but cattle are dominant in most of them (the percentage range between 32.7% at Piatra Frecăţei and 58.6% at Nufăru). At Dumbrăveni sheep/goat exceed the cattle and represent 55.2% from the total number of identified mammal’s remains. Cattle are followed by sheep/goat in the samples at: Capidava (23.8%), Isaccea (24.5%) and Nufăru; at Oltina (28.5%) and Hârșova (27.5%) on the second place (after the cattle) are pigs; at Piatra Frecăţei sheep/goat and pigs have very close percentages (11.6%, respectively 10.9%).
a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).