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Little is known about the early history of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), including the timing and circumstances of its introduction into new cultural environments. To evaluate its spatio-temporal spread across Eurasia and north-west Africa, the authors radiocarbon dated 23 chicken bones from presumed early contexts. Three-quarters returned dates later than those suggested by stratigraphy, indicating the importance of direct dating. The results indicate that chickens did not arrive in Europe until the first millennium BC. Moreover, a consistent time-lag between the introduction of chickens and their consumption by humans suggests that these animals were initially regarded as exotica and only several centuries later recognised as a source of 'food'. Keywords: Europe, north-west Africa, chickens, AMS dating, dispersal, domestication, Introduction The chicken (Galiusgallus domesticus) is the most widely distributed domestic animal on the planet (Nicol 2015). Transported around the world by people, the species is now established across a [...]

The 'Portus Project' investigates the social and economic contexts of the maritime port of Imperial Rome. This article presents the results of analysis of plant, animal and human remains from the site, and evaluates their significance for the reconstruction of the diets and geographic origins of its inhabitants between the second and sixth centuries AD. Integrating this evidence with other material from the recent excavations, including ceramic data, the authors identify clear diachronic shifts in imported foods and diet that relate to the commercial and political changes following the breakdown of Roman control of the Mediterranean. Keywords: Rome, Portus, diet, isotopic analysis, archaeobotany, Introduction Portus, the maritime port of Imperial Rome, was established near the mouth of the River Tiber under Claudius (after AD 42), and was substantially enlarged under Trajan c. AD [...]

Determining the age of bird remains after the cessation of growth is challenging due to the absence of techniques such as tooth eruption and wear available for mammals. Without these techniques, it is difficult to reconstruct hunting strategies, husbandry regimes, and wider human–animal relationships. This paper presents a new method, developed from a collection (n = 71) of known‐age specimens of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758), for assessing age based on the fusion and size of the tarsometatarsal spur. Using this method, we reconstruct the demographics of domestic fowl from Iron Age to Early Modern sites in Britain to reveal the changing dynamics of human–domestic fowl relationships. We highlight the advanced age that cockerels often attained in their early history and how their life expectancies have subsequently declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following re-alignment of the A3 Trunk road, Roman pottery and tile were found in a field at Liss. A field-walk survey confirmed Roman activity and excavations between 2001 and 2010 revealed a late 3rd–4th century AD Roman villa. The villa appears to have grown in three main phases from a single aisled building to at least two groups of buildings, with attached bathhouses, around a central courtyard. There was also limited evidence for earlier Roman and Iron Age occupation, but no contemporary features apart from a few post holes. The excavation was organised by the local archaeological group, with funding primarily from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It involved significant community participation, as well as professional direction of the archaeological project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features the rubbish deposits from Roman Imperial sites in Europe which have been interpreted as end product of broth production.

The excavation of two conjoined Bronze Age barrows, a Bronze Age boundary ditch and a number of Romano-British and post-medieval ditches, was carried out by the Test Valley Archaeological Trust in 1987, in advance of the extension of the Walworth Industrial Estate. The larger, western barrow contained two central pits of undetermined function, the burial of a young child accompanied by a large fragment of Collared Urn, and a series of small pits. One of these contained a Beaker vessel and two others unurned cremations. Three inhumations, of a young child, an adult and a sub-adult, were inserted into the secondary fills of the ditch. Adjacent to the sub-adult inhumation was the complete, articulated burial of a cow. The eastern barrow contained one unurned cremation and its ditch produced fragments of a Middle Bronze Age basal-looped spearhead. Both barrows produced Early Bronze Age – Late Bronze Age pottery and worked flint, and soil samples provided environmental evidence from land snail analysis. A boundary ditch passing close to the western edge of the barrows appeared to be contemporary with them. Later activity was indicated by Romano-British pottery and a post-medieval boundary ditch. The archive is housed with the Hampshire County Council Arts & Museums Service as A1987.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the assemblage of bird and fish bones from a Romano-British settlement on the Isle of Portland, on the southern coast of England. Compared with contemporary sites, the assemblage includes an unusually large number of fish bones from a wide range of marine species, including large cod, other Gadidae, several species of seabream, scad and bass. The bird assemblage includes bones of a butchered great auk. This provides the first evidence that this extinct species was nesting off the shores of central southern England and being exploited for food in this period. Other seabirds identified included razorbill, great northern diver and gannet. The species represented are discussed in relation to other Romano-British sites, particularly the Roman town of Dorchester, situated 15 km away. Many of the species have been discovered on only a few contemporary sites and the presence of the seabream in particular indicates that seawater temperatures may have been warmer than until very recently. Possible cultural changes in diet and food procurement in the Roman period are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent historical ecology studies have extended quantitative knowledge of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) exploitation back as far as the 16th century, the historical origin of the modern fishery remains obscure. Widespread archaeological evidence for cod consumption around the eastern Baltic littoral emerges around the 13th century, three centuries before systematic documentation, but it is not clear whether this represents (1) development of a substantial eastern Baltic cod fishery, or (2) large-scale importation of preserved cod from elsewhere. To distinguish between these hypotheses we use stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to determine likely catch regions of 74 cod vertebrae and cleithra from 19 Baltic archaeological sites dated from the 8th to the 16th centuries. δ13C and δ15N signatures for six possible catch regions were established using a larger sample of archaeological cod cranial bones (n = 249). The data strongly support the second hypothesis, revealing widespread importation of cod during the 13th to 14th centuries, most of it probably from Arctic Norway. By the 15th century, however, eastern Baltic cod dominate within our sample, indicating the development of a substantial late medieval fishery. Potential human impact on cod stocks in the eastern Baltic must thus be taken into account for at least the last 600 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the rescue excavation during a refurbishment at the Museum of History of the History of Science in Oxford, England which recovered deposits which appear to have been placed in the later 18th century. Extent of the refurbishment; Description of the potter assemblage found during the excavation; Analysis of the human bone that were found.

An area of Mid-Anglo-Saxon deposits at Sandtun in West Hythe first studied in 1947-48 by Gordon Ward was re-examined between 1993-98 during assessments made in advance of housing development and in a research excavation. The site was occupied front at least c. 700 until 850-75 with some later reuse. It lay among sand dunes formed on a sand bank near the mouth of a gradually silting inlet. A range of activities was practised by the community there, including fishing, spindlewhorl manufacture and bone-working, in addition to salt-making recorded in a charter of 732, The metalwork was not significantly different from finds on contemporary' rural sites. Amongst the bones was a considerable number from fish and birds which were caught locally. The ceramic assemblage included a high proportion of imported continental pottery and it is concluded that the site may have been a landing-place for trading ships. The implications of the site for the interpretation of the development of urbanism in Mid-Anglo-Saxon England and the operation of trade are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following earthwork, geophysical and field-walking survey, a limited evaluation was carried out by excavation of the enclosure and Anglo-Saxon barrow on Lowbury Hill, Oxon, in 1992. Evidence for prehistoric activity on the hilltop is provided by a few sherds of beaker/collared urn, and a more substantial quantity of late bronze age/early iron age pottery. The combination of the new field evidence and a reappraisal of the excavation and finds made by D. A. Atkinson in 1913-14 affirms the sacred character of the Romano-British enclosure and the probability that it was the site of a Romano-Celtic temple from the second century A.D. Despite the limited findings of the early work, re-excavation showed the extensive survival of archaeological deposits, particularly negative features cut into the chalk. A radiocarbon date for the robbing of the temenos wall between the late sixth and mid seventh century and finds of Pagan Saxon pottery provide an opportunity for a reassessment of the seventh-century 'warrior' burial and its context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Used together, caliper- and geometric-based morphometric analyses provide complimentary approaches to classifying form and function of archaeozoological remains. Here we apply these analytical tools to the skeletal remains of an ancient male dog unearthed from a rural farm settlement of Roman date near present day Warmington, United Kingdom. Our comparisons of the Warmington Roman dog against the morphological characteristics of modern dog breeds enabled us to establish the former's size and shape. It was of medium stature. Analysis of viscerocrania and neurocrania indicate it falls within the meso- to dolichocephalic rankings of modern dogs. The neurocranium shape and the dimensions of its long bones strongly suggest that the Warmington dog shares similarities to modern sight hounds. Historically sight hounds were bred for speed, as necessitated of a hunter that runs down small prey. Our analysis suggests that the Warmington dog was likely bred for, or derived from, Roman hunting stock. By revealing the Warmington Roman dog's form from cranial and postcranial analyses, we shed light on Roman life in one of the furthest outposts of the Roman Empire., (© 2020 The Authors. The Anatomical Record published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of American Association of Anatomists.)

A comparison of ancient DNA (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope evidence suggests that stored cod provisions recovered from the wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank in the Solent, southern England, in 1545, had been caught in northern and transatlantic waters such as the northern North Sea and the fishing grounds of Iceland and Newfoundland. This discovery, underpinned by control data from archaeological samples of cod bones from potential source regions, illuminates the role of naval provisioning in the early development of extensive sea fisheries, with their long-term economic and ecological impacts.