Bones from the General Accident Site, Tanner Row
Item
- list of authors
- T. P. O'Connor
- list of contributors
- P. J. Ottaway
- N. F. Pearson
- A. K. G. Jones
- Is Part Of
- The Archaeology of York [Series]
- The Animal Bones [Volume]
- volume
- 15
- issue
- 02
- Publisher
- Council for British Archaeology for York Archaeological Trust
- Date Copyrighted
- 1988
- Date Available
- Digitally available on 23 June 2023
- Abstract
-
This report describes the results of a study of nearly 20,000 bones recovered from deposits at 2+-30 Tanner Row, dating from the Roman to the medieval periods. Bones recovered by sieving 154 soil samples from Tanner Row and 19 samples from 5 Rougier Street were also studied. The results show evidence of systematic butchering of cattle carcasses on a commercial scale during the late 2nd-early 3rd century. Deposits of highly fragmented cattle longbone diaphyses were found, resembling contemporaneous material from sites elsewhere in Europe. In deposits of the same date, cattle scapulae were found which showed a pattern of butchery consistent with the preparation of shoulders of beef for smoking or curing. Cattle were mostly slaughtered when fully adult, and beef clearly dominated the meat supply of the Roman town. Sheep and pig bones included numbers of very young individuals, apparently slaughtered for the table when newly weaned. Comparisons are made with results from other Roman sites in Britain.
The bones recovered by sieving soil samples evidenced appreciable infestation by house mouse from the early 2nd century onwards, with black rat first appearing in late 2nd century samples. Samples from two early 3rd century contexts yielded specimens of garden dormouse Ehomys quercinus L., believed to be the first records of this species from Britain. The possible significance of this find is discussed. - Rights Holder
- York Archaeological Trust
- Rights
- CC BY 4.0
- Format
- Portable Document Format (PDF)
- Is Format Of
- Paper publication
- Identifier
- GB2837-PUB-AY-15-2
- oclcnum
- 21310894
- Relation
- University of York Library
- isbn10
- 0906780780
- isbn13
- 9780906780787
- Type
- Text
- Language
- English
- page start
- 61
- page end
- 136
- number of pages
- 76
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