Using strontium isotope measurements on the teeth of fallow deer found at Fishbourne, the authors argue that these elegant creatures were first introduced into Britain as a gift to the Romanised aristocracy. Kept and bred in a special enclosure at the palace, they provided more than a status symbol and gastronomic treat: the fallow deer was an emblem of Empire.
Excavations at the early Neolithic settlement of WF16 in Faynan, southern Jordan, 11.84–10.24 ka BP, recovered 17,700 bird bones, of which 7808 could be identified to at least family level. Sixty‐three different bird taxa are present from 18 families, representing a mix of resident and migrant birds, based on present‐day ecology. We describe the settlement context for the assemblage, its taxonomic composition, spatial and chronological distribution, identifying its similarities and differences to avian assemblages from broadly contemporary sites in the region.
WF16 is an early Neolithic settlement in southern Jordan with a large bird bone assemblage (Number of Identified Specimens [NISP] = 7808), representing 18 families. We explore how the birds were utilized by considering cut marks and body part representation for each of the families represented, also drawing on the experimental skinning of buzzards, the most common bird in the assemblage. We conclude that the bird bones accumulated from a mix of activities including the exploitation of a seasonally abundant supply of migratory birds for food; the acquisition of skins, feathers and talons for decorative, symbolic and practical purposes; and the trapping of wildfowl and gamebirds as a supplementary food source to large mammals.
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