ANIMAL BONES FROM EXCAVATIONS AT A MEDIEVAL HOSPITAL AND A POST-MEDIEVAL FARMSTEAD AT ST GILES BY BROMPTON BRIDGE, NORTH YORKSHIRE, 1989-1990
Author(s): S Stallibrass
The animal bones from excavations at St Giles by Brompton Bridge indicate that the medieval hospital consisted mainly of a humble, self-sufficient farming establishment. In many ways the assemblage is indistinguishable from that deriving from the subsequent post-medieval farmstead built on the same site. If the medieval chapel and burial ground had not been located, nor the documentary evidence been available, the animal bones would not have given any indication that the site was not a simple rural domestic site. The collections from both periods indicate that numbers of sheep represented outnumbered those of cattle, but the greater size of cattle carcases means that beef would have contributed most of the meat in the diet. Pigs are also represented, and smaller contributions to the diet were provided by chicken and goose in both periods, augmented by pigeon during the medieval period. Bones of hunted species (such as deer or hare) are extremely scarce throughout. The elemental distribution for horse and goose are selective, and seem to indicate non-food activities associated with these species in both periods. The predominance of teeth and bones of the extremities of horse may indicate skinning, and the predominance of wing bones of geese may indicate craft work of some kind. The sizes of the domestic animals remained small throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, although there are a few indications of some larger cattle and sheep during the early mid-eighteenth century.
- Report Number:
- 95/1993
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 52
- Keywords:
- Animal Bone Animal Remains
