Animal Husbandry and Hunting Practices in Hispania Tarraconensis: An Overview

Abstract

Aquest arxiu PDF conté el manuscrit acceptat per a la seva publicació. MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT 2 AbstractWith the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Roman Empire, the different societies in the north, north-west, north-east, east, and centre were grouped into the same province, Hispania Tarraconensis. This article sets out to assess whether this new, Roman, territorial organization affected previous animal husbandry and hunting practices. The taxonomic and osteometric study of faunal remains from ninety-four sites dated between the fifth century bc and third century ad provides an overview of animal husbandry and hunting before and after the Roman conquest. It shows that important changes took place and that this province was differentially exploited in terms of animal husbandry.

Livestock production, politics and trade: A glimpse from Iron Age and Roman Languedoc

“…Both cattle and caprines have different mortality profiles at MON and LSS, and mature animals predominate at LSS. Based on ethnographical parallels, Stein (1987) proposed that producers and Casellas, 1999a;Illa d'en Reixac: Casellas, 1999b; Ciutadella de Roses: Monteró, 2000;Mas Castellar: Colominas, 2013;Colominas et al 2017; Puig de Sant Andreu and Empúries: Molist et al, 1987) and Western Languedoc (Salses and Mèze: Columeau, 1997aColumeau, , 1997bSauvian: Ugolini and Olive, 1998;Béziers: Ugolini and Olive, 1991b;Cailar: Gardeisen, 2002;Creuzieux, 2009;Pech Maho: Columeau, 2004; and for the other sites see references in Gardeisen, 2010: 426;Albesso et al, 2013: 140-142;Sejalon et al, 2012: 22). (n) The number in brackets refers to the NISP of the main domesticates; (*) the asterisk in brackets refers to the sites with only main domesticates percentages available.…”

“…The impact of this phenomenon over animal husbandry is not yet fully understood, but a general small size of animals is attested in different parts of Europe at that time (e.g. Matolcsi, 1970;Bökönyi, 1974;Altuna 1980;Ijzereef et al, 1981;Méniel, 1984;Vigne, 1988;Audoin-Rouzeau, 1991;Lepetz, 1996;Peters, 1998;Breuer et al, 1999;Forest and Rodet-Belarbi, 2002;Frémondeau et al, 2017;Valenzuela-Oliver et al, 2013;Colominas et al, 2017;Valenzuela-Lamas and Albarella, 2017;Duval and Clavel, 2018). The reasons behind the small size of animals are not clear, and explanations include preference for smaller more manageable animals (Clutton-Brock, 1981), consequence of climatic changes (Davis, 1981), intensification of sub-adult breeding (Manning et al, 2015) and impact of socio-political context (Valenzuela-Lamas and Albarella, 2017;Valenzuela-Lamas et al, 2018).…”

New trajectories or accelerating change? Zooarchaeological evidence for Roman transformation of animal husbandry in Northern Italy

“…Thirdly, after millennia of size diminution, livestock—especially cattle—increased significantly in size. In Western Europe, this increase in body size has been documented in Britain (Johnstone 2004 ; Albarella et al 2008 ), France (Méniel 1984 ; Lepetz 1996 ; Forest and Rodet-Belarbi 2002 ; Frémondeau et al 2017 ; Duval and Clavel 2018 ), Belgium (Pigière 2017 ), the Netherlands (Lauwerier 1988 ), Germany (Teichert 1984 ; Groot 2017 ), Switzerland (Breuer et al 1999 ; Groot and Deschler-Erb 2015 , 2017 ), the Balearic Islands (Valenzuela et al 2017 ) and the Iberian peninsula (Altuna 1980 ; Colominas and Saña 2009 ; Colominas 2013 ; Colominas et al 2017 ). However, within continental-scale trends, evidence of diversions and different regional rhythms are also found: Portugal (Valenzuela-Lamas and Detry 2017 ; Nieto-Espinet et al 2021 ) and Rhaetia (Trixl et al 2017 ) show little change in livestock size after the Roman conquest.…”

Resilience and livestock adaptations to demographic growth and technological change: A diachronic perspective from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity in NE Iberia

“…The spread of iron technology for tool production is thought to have promoted greater cereal production and a demographic increase, which subsequently led to increased pressure over resources, potentially inciting territorial conflicts, fortification and social stratification [ 25 – 28 ]. The impact of these phenomena on animal husbandry is not yet fully understood, but they appear to have had a significant influence on livestock body size, considering the general small size of animals attested during the Bronze and Iron Ages [ 29 – 31 ]. Animal size subsequently increased during the Roman period, as documented in many parts of Europe [ 31 – 46 ].…”