Medieval Animal Bones
The Various Voices of Medieval Animal Bones
Alice M. Choyke, Kyra Lyublyanovics, László Bartosiewicz (Budapest)
Introduction
Animals have been woven almost imperceptibly into the complex web of human existence from the very beginning of human history. From the far off times of the Paleolithic past up to the present day, animals have permeated every aspect of our ancestor’s lives and our own. Archaeozoology is the identification, analysis and scientific as well as socio-cultural interpretation of animal remains from archaeological sites. Such zoological finds have been exposed to ancient human activity (animal husbandry, processing etc.). Consequently, archaeological animal bone assemblages are “artifacts” that embody cultural processes. Often the human – animal interaction was purely practical, basically geared toward subsistence. Animals, coming from agricultural production systems were selected for slaughter, their carcasses divided between artisans working in various crafts and the butchers who sold their meat. These assemblages tell archaeozoologists what species were eaten, old the animals were, what they looked like etc. Marks of butchery reflect carcass partitioning both by the butcher and later during food preparation. These steps all involve choices fundamentally dependent on idiosyncratic cultural practices. These tend to be conservative and change only slowly unless radical outside pressure is exerted on food habits. The economically most important domestic animals, sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), cattle (Bos taurus) and pig (Sus domesticus) provided meat and milk for food. Their skins were made into clothing such as tunics and shoes or parts of equipment including straps for harnesses. The production of and trade in these goods formed significant parts of medieval economies. Bones, teeth, antlers and horns were also made into all sorts of utensils and ornaments, widely sold and used throughout every period. Before the advent of mechanization, horse (Equus caballus), donkey (Equus asinus) and mules/hinnies (Equus mulus/hinnus) as well as cattle were used to move people and goods long distances and pull heavy loads in agriculture, construction work and military transport. Draught oxen were widely used during the Middle Ages and much appreciated in heavy-duty work such as tillage and forestry work. Training good ox teams was a lengthy and tedious task, which made them especially valuable (Bartosiewicz et al. 1997). During the 16-17th century Ottoman Turkish occupation of Hungary great numbers of camels (Camelus sp., probably dromedaries), were used in shipping artillery supplies (Bartosiewicz 1996).
Hunting in the Middle Ages was restricted to the nobility but was always maintained as a mark of status and male identity. The most important game animals were red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). From archaeozoological assemblages and contemporaneous images we know that hare (Lepus europaeus) was also hunted, beaver (Castor fiber) and ermine (Mustela erminea), important fur animals, were also important in trade. Of course, all sorts of fish (Pisces), were also key items in the fasting diets throughout Catholic Europe. Even aquatic mammals, beaver and otter (?; Lutra lutra) could form a legitimate part of meals for Lent. Naturally, living with animals so closely, beasts existed for people on a mental level as well. For the elite classes the ownership of special breeds of dogs (Canis familiaris; Figure 1), highly-bred horses and sure-footed saddle mules as well as birds of prey used in falconry (chiefly Accipitridae) represented the closeness of the animal-human connection beyond everyday practicality. Importantly, such animals were also markers of status and prestige.
Conversely, some exotic animals in their strangeness roamed on the darker, more sinister side of people’s imaginations, frequently depicted in scenes of hell and the damned. From very early times, parts of animals were combined to make fantastic beasts also with their recognized qualities and topoi. Such beasts existed vividly in the imagination of medieval people. Perhaps, even if they were not encountered on a daily basis they were still an ever-present part of the culturally acknowledged structure and explanation of the world as it was understood by people in a given community at a given time. Even relatively straightforward depictions of animals in medieval times display inter-specific mixing of body parts, so that even the well-known species such as horses may be shown with carnivore paws and dogs with hooves. This is in contrast with the Roman world where fantastic animals are depicted combining traits from multiple species but were clearly separated from the animals of everyday life, depicted very prosaically, realistically, as they would be described today in the western world. Finally, animals entered speech as metaphors about the nature of the world. It is on this level that the borderline between what is the nature of a human and what is the nature of an animal becomes fundamentally blurred so that angels have wings and devils cloven hooves or bird claws.
