IRON AGE AND ROMAN ANIMAL BONES EXCAVATED IN 1996 FROM NORMAN CROSS, TORT HILL EAST, TORT HILL WEST AND VINEGAR HILL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Author(s): Umberto Albarella
Small assemblages of animal bones were hand-retrieved from the Roman sites of Norman Cross, Tort Hill East and Vinegar Hill and from the late Iron Age and Roman site of Tort Hill West. In all periods most bones derive from ditch fills probably associated with a rural settlement present in the area. The majority of the bones belong to the main domestic mammals - cattle, sheep, pig and horse. There is no evidence of major changes in the frequencies of these species between the main phases of occupation. Unusually for British Roman sites horse bones were abundant. This might be related to a specific function of these sites possibly due to their location along the Roman Ermine Street. Neonatal bones of all the main species suggest that these were - at least in some periods - reared on site. Butchery marks were found on bones of all periods, but a peculiar pattern, typical of Roman sites across Europe, was only found at Tort Hill East in phase 2.
- Report Number:
- 108/1997
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 31
- Keywords:
- Animal Bone Animal Remains
