TY - CHAP
T1 - Animal bones from Anglo-Scandinavian York
AU - O'Connor, T.P.
N1 - Published for the York Archaeological Trust. Reproduced with permission.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - INTRODUCTION:
This chapter provides an overview of the current
state of knowledge regarding vertebrate animals in
and around York in the Anglo-Scandinavian period.
The great majority of the available evidence derives
from 16-22 Coppergate (AY 15/3), with smaller
amounts of data from a number of excavations around
the city. The aim is not to describe the data at length,
but to review the information inferred from those data
under several thematic headings. Examination of the
material from Coppergate began as the excavation
neared its end, early in the 1980s. At that time, our
knowledge of urban zooarchaeology in Britain rested
on just a few major studies (e.g. Exeter, Maltby 1979;
Southampton, Bourdillon and Coy 1980; Baynards
Castle, London, Armitage 1977), and little or nothing
was known about Anglo-Scandinavian husbandry.
The intervening 30 years has seen the publication of
many substantial assemblages from 8th- to 15th century
urban contexts across northern Europe (e.g.
Birka, Ericson et al. 1988; Ribe, Hatting 1991; Waterford,
McCormick 1997; Lubeck, Rheingans and Reichstein
1991; Compiegne, Yvinec 1997). With that
increasing information has come some shift in emphasis
from data such as the relative abundance of different
taxa and changes through time, to more thematic
questions of supply and demand, and the value of
animal bones in discussions on the emergence of
towns and their associated social structures (e.g.
Bourdillon 1984; O'Connor 1994; Crabtree 1990).
This review therefore revisits previously published
material, and incorporates additional data in a synthesis
of evidence from York as a whole, and in regional
comparisons. Practical methods are not
discussed at length here: they are detailed by site in
the appropriate fascicules of AY 15/1-5, and reviewed
in AY 19/2.
AB - INTRODUCTION:
This chapter provides an overview of the current
state of knowledge regarding vertebrate animals in
and around York in the Anglo-Scandinavian period.
The great majority of the available evidence derives
from 16-22 Coppergate (AY 15/3), with smaller
amounts of data from a number of excavations around
the city. The aim is not to describe the data at length,
but to review the information inferred from those data
under several thematic headings. Examination of the
material from Coppergate began as the excavation
neared its end, early in the 1980s. At that time, our
knowledge of urban zooarchaeology in Britain rested
on just a few major studies (e.g. Exeter, Maltby 1979;
Southampton, Bourdillon and Coy 1980; Baynards
Castle, London, Armitage 1977), and little or nothing
was known about Anglo-Scandinavian husbandry.
The intervening 30 years has seen the publication of
many substantial assemblages from 8th- to 15th century
urban contexts across northern Europe (e.g.
Birka, Ericson et al. 1988; Ribe, Hatting 1991; Waterford,
McCormick 1997; Lubeck, Rheingans and Reichstein
1991; Compiegne, Yvinec 1997). With that
increasing information has come some shift in emphasis
from data such as the relative abundance of different
taxa and changes through time, to more thematic
questions of supply and demand, and the value of
animal bones in discussions on the emergence of
towns and their associated social structures (e.g.
Bourdillon 1984; O'Connor 1994; Crabtree 1990).
This review therefore revisits previously published
material, and incorporates additional data in a synthesis
of evidence from York as a whole, and in regional
comparisons. Practical methods are not
discussed at length here: they are detailed by site in
the appropriate fascicules of AY 15/1-5, and reviewed
in AY 19/2.
M3 - Chapter
SN - 1902771427
T3 - The Archaeology of York
SP - 427
EP - 445
BT - Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian York
PB - Council for British Archaeology
CY - York, UK
ER -