THE EARLY TO LATE SAXON ANIMAL BONES EXCAVATED IN 1995 FROM KINGS MEADOW LANE, HIGHAM FERRERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Author(s): Umberto Albarella, C Johnstone
This report discusses the study of animal bone assemblages from the Iron Age and early to late Saxon site of Kings Meadow Lane, Higham Ferrers (Northamptonshire). The assemblage from the Iron Age site is particularly small and is characterised by a predominance of sheep/goat bones. In Saxon times cattle bones are the most frequent, but an analysis of quantification biases in conjunction with the information offered by the sieved assemblage allows us to suggest that sheep/goat was originally more frequent, though not as much as in the Iron Age. Pigs, probably fed on the products of the woodland, were also common, particularly in the mid Saxon period. Cattle would have been used mainly for traction and sheep/goat and pig for meat production. Most animals were probably reared, slaughtered and butchered locally. The early Saxon assemblage was recovered mainly from pits and from the bottom of sunken-featured buildings, whereas the mid-Saxon material is mainly from ditch fills. There is no evidence for a high status diet, with wild species being rare throughout occupation. Fish bones mainly derive from freshwater species, though the presence of a few fragments of marine species raises the possibility of trade with coastal localities.
- Report Number:
- 79/2000
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 46
- Keywords:
- Animal Bone Animal Remains Fish Bone
