Reconciling organic residue analysis, faunal, archaeobotanical and historical records: Diet and the medieval peasant at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire

Abstract

Information on medieval diet and subsistence practices has traditionally been compiled from a combination of documentary sources, faunal and archaeobotanical assemblages, together with other information gained from archaeological excavations. Much is known of high status medieval dietary practices but less about what foodstuffs the medieval peasantry consumed.Here, we examine the everyday dietary practices of people living in a small medieval manor and associated hamlet at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire. For the first time, a combined molecular and isotopic approach on absorbed residues, from the substantial pottery assemblage covering a period of around 500 years, was utilised to integrate information on the commodities processed in the vessels, together with detail from the faunal assemblage, archaeobotanical, archaeological and documentary information relating to the site. Lipid residue results from the pottery, mainly jars, identified the importance of ruminant carcass products and leafy vegetables, likely used to prepare the stews or potages known to be the mainstay of the medieval diet, and confirmed by the dominance of sheep and cattle in the faunal assemblage. Around one quarter of the vessels were used to process solely dairy products and some evidence of porcine product processing was found, although this may be underrepresented at the site. In brief, this project provided a unique opportunity to address questions of diet and animal husbandry by medieval peasants and helped illustrate agricultural production and consumption in the middle ages.

Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

“…A further question raised by this study is the near absence of dairy products found in vessels from both sites and all phases (n = 3, 5%), suggesting the vessels were not used to either heat milk or produce butter, cream or cheese from milk. This stands in contrast to a lipid residue study of late Saxon to early medieval pottery (AD 950 to 1450) from rural West Cotton, Northamptonshire (Dudd and Evershed 1998;Dunne et al 2019), where dairy products were shown to play a significant part in the peasant diet (c. 25%). However, West Cotton was an agricultural community, growing crops and managing cattle, sheep and pigs, and dairy products, sometimes referred to as 'white meats' of the poor, are thought to have been mainstays of the medieval peasant's diet (Woolgar 2016).…”

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK

“…Our findings may be compared with the only other study of residues from the Conquest period, of the rural manorial complex of West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire [30,31]. Here, organic residues from 73 vessels (123 sherds) spanning the pre-Conquest (AD 950-1150), manorial (AD 1100-1250) and manor/hamlet (AD 1250-1400) phases revealed evidence for preparation of predominantly ruminant products, alongside leafy vegetables including biomarkers for the Brassica and Allium genera.…”

Fit for purpose? Organic residue analysis and vessel specialisation: The perfectly utilitarian medieval pottery assemblage from West Cotton, Raunds

“…The tenements were progressively abandoned throughout the fourteenth century, and by the mid-fifteenth century the settlement was uninhabited and given over to pasture closes (Figs. 2 and 3: Dunne et al 2019).…”

“…As noted above, organic residue analysis has long contributed to a wide range of archaeological questions but is best known for its contribution to elucidating diet and animal management strategies worldwide (e.g. Copley et al 2003;2004;2005a;2005b;2005c;Craig et al 2003;Evershed et al 2008;Outram et al 2009;Dunne et al 2012;Salque et al 2012;Cramp et al 2014a;2014b;Craig et al 2015;Heron et al 2015;Smyth and Evershed 2015;Debono Spiteri et al 2016;Dunne et al 2017;Ethier et al 2017;Mileto et al 2017;Whelton et al 2018;Cramp et al 2019;Dunne et al 2019). Organic residue analysis of pottery has also produced valuable insights into many ceramic characteristics, including manufacture, incorporating decoration, sealing and repair (Charters et al 1993a;Urem-Kotsou et al 2002;Regert et al 2003;Connan et al 2004;2013;Knappett et al 2005;Connan et al 2008;Stern et al 2008;Stacey et al 2010), and use, for example, vessel specialisation (Mottram et al 1999;Copley et al 2005a;Cramp et al 2011;Salque et al 2013;.…”

“…Full details of the The Raunds Area Project (Fig. 2) have been described previously (Chapman 2010;Dunne et al 2019) so a short overview will be given here. The project aim was to investigate the development and subsequent expansion of medieval villages in middle England, involving a major landscape survey, large-scale excavations, documentary studies and environmental investigations which encompassed four medieval parishes, Raunds, Ringstead, Hargrave and Stanwick in Northamptonshire (Chapman 2010).…”