Animal Husbandry in Roman Switzerland: State of Research and New Perspectives

Abstract

Archaeozoological research of Roman animal bones has a long tradition in Switzerland. In the 1950s, Elisabeth Schmid started analysing bones from the Roman city of Augusta Raurica. On the basis of these analyses she published her Atlas of Animal Bones (1972) which is still in use all over the world today. To date, more than 300,000 bone fragments from different Swiss sites have been analysed. In 2002 a synthesis of Swiss data was published by Jörg Schibler et al.; in that publication, the authors focused on social aspects. They assumed that the Roman animal economy was more or less standardized in the region, and that differences existed mainly between settlement types and within sites. In the last few years, not only have more data been recorded, but also other research questions about functional and regional difference—especially between western and eastern Switzerland (Germania Superior and Raetia)—are becoming more important. These differences show the variability and adaptability of the Roman economy.

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

“…When northern Italy is considered as a single unit, it demonstrates a rise in cattle percentages during Roman times—an increase that is also documented in the neighbouring provinces of Germania, Rhaetia, and Noricum (King 2001 ; Deschler-Erb 2017 ; Trixl et al 2017 ). Compared to central and southern Italy, our results confirm the pronounced inter-regional differences in livestock representation documented in previous studies of the Roman period (MacKinnon 2004a ; Ikeguchi 2017 ).…”

“…These types of deposits—rich in cattle bones with relatively standardised butchery modifications—are common across the Roman provinces, especially in towns and military sites, where they attest to specialised large-scale carcass processing and associated craft activities (e.g. Lepetz 1996 ; Maltby 2007 ; Groot 2016 ; Deschler-Erb 2017 ; Seetah 2018 ). In contrast to Roman times, large bone accumulations in pre- and protohistoric sites in northern Italy generally derived from the disposal and accumulation of domestic rubbish within settlements.…”

Animal husbandry between the Roman times and the High Middle Ages in central Europe: a biometrical analysis of cattle, sheep and pig

“…Cattle, followed by pig, were the most common animal taxa in the geographic area and time periods studied in this paper (Frosdick 2014;Deschler-Erb 2017;Akeret et al 2019). Attention has been put on sheep rather than goat (Capra hircus) as this species was generally more common.…”

“…Roman husbandry practices are known to have impacted considerably on the way domestic animals were raised in the various provinces of the Empire, in particular in relation to a high degree of specialisation of economic activities and increased livestock trade (e.g. Méniel 1996;Breuer et al 1999;Kron 2002;Minniti et al 2014;Groot andDeschler-Erb 2015 andDeschler-Erb 2017;Trentacoste et al 2021). The decline of the Roman political and economic structures led to less specialised and more diversified, more local, smaller-scale, self-sufficient subsistence economies in the Middle Ages (e.g.…”

Neither fish nor fowl. Isotopic evidence of a plant-based diet in (captive?) brown bears from Roman Augusta Raurica, Switzerland

“…A higher frequency (but still only c. 5%) of wild animals is known from Roman villae (Deschler-Erb et al 2002). Hunting was therefore interpreted as a leisure activity undertaken by high-status people (Deschler-Erb 2017). Despite the rare evidence of bear osteological remains from Roman Switzerland, four complete brown bear skeletons have been recorded at the Roman city of Augusta Raurica.…”