Offered to Gods, Eaten by People: Bird Bones from the Sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitanus in Carnuntum–Mühläcker (Austria)

Abstract

This paper discusses the bird bones from a large animal bone assemblage found in the largest pit located on the territory of the Sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitanus in Carnuntum-Mühläcker (Austria). Features of the material suggest that the bones result from ritual meals, perhaps from a single event. The bird bone assemblage is characterised by the dominance of domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus), but the number of (domestic) goose (Anser cf. domesticus) remains is outstanding. Wild species such as the greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) and the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) were represented by smaller numbers of remains. According to the distribution of bones, the birds were slaughtered in the sanctuary. The calculated minimum number of individuals is about 193 fowl. The slaughtering season is proposed to have been in early spring according to the seasonal presence of the greater white-fronted goose and the age at death of the domestic mammals. On the basis of the measurements of sexed tarsometatarsi, two size groups of domestic chicken were identified. Similar results regarding the dimensions of this species could be recognised from a number of civic and cultic Roman localities in Central Europe. The dominance of male over female birds in domestic chicken is notable in our assemblage, and points to an Eastern origin for the feasting habits, especially in the light of the scarcity of pig remains in this context as opposed to urban Carnuntum. Unlike the assemblages unearthed from Mithraea, however, it was mostly beef that was consumed in addition to fowl in the sanctuary of Carnuntum-Mühläcker.

Animal Remains from Ritual Sites: A Cautionary Tale from the Eastern Adriatic

“…Another common criterion of the unusual is a distinct bias in age profiles of one or more taxa (e.g. Gál & Kunst, ; Gardiesen, 2013; Kansa & Campbell, ; Horwitz, ; Reitz & Wing, ). The original analysis of the Spila Nakovana sanctuary identified a distinctly high proportion of neonate/infant remains (23% of ageable postcranial remains being aged 0–2 months) from Ovis/Capra .…”

“…The most methodologically rigorous contextual importance for the interpretation of ritual is the comparison of the specific context of the assemblage under study with multiple comparatives from demonstrably non‐ritual contexts closely related in time and space – its wider context (e.g. Albizuri et al ., ; Colominas et al ., ; Gál & Kunst, ; Kansa & Campbell, ; Lentacker et al ., ; Mylona, ). For Spila Nakovana, it was this comparison with other Later Iron Age (and Late Bronze Age) settlements as well as comparison with the earlier occupations of the cave itself that provided the necessary evidence to determine the quotidian composition of the sanctuary faunal assemblage.…”

“…However, not all faunal material from ritual sites is indicative of ritual activities, and ritual activities and events also occur outside of ritual sites (e.g. Gál & Kunst, ; Gardeisen, ; Trantalidou, ). The identification of ritual activities and deposition involving animals in the absence of such associated ritual evidence is a more complex endeavour, utilising the identification of repeated specific instances of distinct deposits that can be separately distinguished in comparison to bones from ‘usual’ (domestic) consumption activities (e.g.…”

Application of morphometric and stable isotope analyses for distinguishing domestic and wild geese

“…However, genetic analyses on geese taxa have been rarely conducted and are further complicated by interbreeding between the wild and domestic forms (Honka, 2020;Poland, 2018). Gál and Kunst (2014) have suggested that migrating wild geese could theoretically be differentiated from locally raised or imported domestic geese by stable isotope analysis, although we are not aware of any published studies that have attempted to test this theory.…”

Human‐Aided Movement of Viral Disease and the Archaeology of Avian Osteopetrosis

“…These lesions and their aetiology continue to be discussed in major works on palaeopathology (Bartosiewicz & Gál, ; Thomas, ). In addition to Brothwell's article (Brothwell, ), avian osteopetrosis lesions have been identified in a wide range of European archaeozoological investigations over the last few decades (Allison, ; Baker, ; Fabiš, ; Fothergill & Best, In press; Gál, ; Gál & Kunst, ; Gordon, ; Lentacker et al, ; Luff & Brothwell, ; Morel, ; Peters, ; Prummel, ; van Wijngaarden‐Bakker & Krauwer, ; von den Driesch & Pöllath, ).…”