ANIMAL BONES FROM CAS SITES 452 AND 482, THORNBROUGH FARM, CATTERICK, NORTH YORKSHIRE
Author(s): S Stallibrass
The animal bones from Roman Thornbrough Farm, Catterick, are typical of the Romano-British period of northern England. Both hand-recovered and sieved collections are dominated by cattle, sheep and pigs. The predominance of cattle bones in the hand-recovered material is an over-emphasis caused by recovery bias, but beef clearly contributed the greatest quantity of meat, although the age distributions suggest that the cattle consumed were kept for other purposes whilst sheep and pigs were raised primarily for meat. Prime beef cattle may have been exported. The incidence of splaying of cattle metapodials may be related to a similar incidence of small lesions in cattle foot bones, which could be traumatic rather than congenital in origin. The frequencies of congenital dental abnormalities in cattle are typical for northern Romano-British collections. The sizes and conformation of the cattle bones are very variable, perhaps in part due to the presence of a mixture of cows, castrates and entire males, but it is possible that more than one type of livestock is represented. The average measurements of the bones tend to be slightly higher than most Romano-British stock, and the ranges are also rather large. The health of the animals, even the elderly cattle, appears to have been very good, suggesting careful husbandry. Other species were utilised to very little extent, although domestic fowl contributed a small proportion of the food supply. Despite the extensive sieving programme, extremely few fish bones were recovered, and these appear to derive from imported (and processed) sea fish rather than local species from the River Swale. None of the material indicates utilisation by military personnel.
- Report Number:
- 104/1997
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 87
- Keywords:
- Animal Bone Animal Remains
