LEICESTER, THE SHIRES, 1988 EXCAVATIONS: THE ANIMAL BONES FROM THE MEDIEVAL DEPOSITS AT LITTLE LANE
Author(s): L J Gidney
The medieval deposits at Little Lane span the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. The excavated area lies behind the street frontage. The features encountered are principally pits and wells. The animal bones appear to derive in the main from domestic food waste. The presence however of sawn antler offcuts of red, roe and fallow deer in the fifteenth-sixteenth century phases indicates some craft working in the vicinity. The quantity of bones and range of species represented increases in the later phases, which may be associated with the occupation of the Lord's Place, a Tudor mansion. The proportion of sheep/goat to cattle bones increases through time with sheep/goat outnumbering cattle in the later phases. Pig remains occur at a more constant level. The commonest non food species is the cat. The age structure of the cattle is particularly unusual with very young calves, animals probably in their second or third year and extremely aged animals. There is a surprising absence of animals between these age groups. The sheep/goat bones show greater numbers of animals killed during their second-third year but virtually no infant lambs. The withers heights indicate animals of small stature between 0.5 and 0.6m. Of particular interest are two metapodials and a first phalanx from a dwarf or Ancon sheep from a sixteenth century context. This appears to be an early record of this mutation.
- Report Number:
- 57/1991
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 99
- Keywords:
- Animal Bone Animal Remains
