Animal Remains from Ritual Sites: A Cautionary Tale from the Eastern Adriatic

Abstract

This article assesses the potential pitfalls of extant methods and criteria used for identifying the ritual use and consumption of animals. Previous analysis of the Late Iron Age sanctuary assemblage from Spila Nakovana identified the ritual consumption of domestic animals in the sanctuary through comparison with a common set of criteria for the identification of ritual patterning in faunal assemblages. A recent analysis of a larger sample from Spila Nakovana has overturned this original determination, leading to a re-evaluation of the ranked importance of the common criteria utilised for ritual patterning identification. The importance of context is addressed in the determination of ritual patterning within archaeological faunal assemblages, with regard to both the direct and wider context of the sample.

Animals in Mortuary Practices of Bronze-Age Pastoral Societies: Caprine Use at the Site of Dunping in Northwestern China

“…However, Zhongzhuang and Jiulongshan, in particular the latter, exhibited an emphasis on specific age stages, notably lacking sub-adults and elder caprines, while Zhaitouhe showed a clear preference for young caprines. These biases toward particular mortality profiles within a specific species have frequently been interpreted as indicative of the ritual manipulation of animals [3,70]. Although our findings might be influenced by variations in sample sizes across the five investigated burial sites, the analysis of caprine mortality profiles reveals distinct patterns in the mortuary treatment of caprines among pastoral communities in northwestern China during the first millennium BC.…”

Los depósitos faunísticos de Can Feu (Sant Quirze del Vallès, Barcelona). Un reflejo del imagin.

“…Por otro lado, también se han documentado otros casos en la zona del noreste de la Península, incluyendo el sureste francés, que pueden relacionarse con prácticas cultuales (Forest y Cheylan, 2015). De hecho, todas estas especies se relacionan normalmente con depósitos especiales de los santuarios helenísticos griegos desde el siglo iv hasta el i aC (Gaastra, 2018), incluyendo los restos malacológicos marinos que, en nuestro caso de estudio, también están presentes (Glycymeris) y uno de ellos, termoalterado. Aunque solo sea a modo de apunte, hay que destacar que los restos de rana, clasificados en este trabajo como intrusivos, constituyeron depósitos intencionados en áreas funerarias de algunos yacimientos grecorromanos (Kerner, 2014) y sus características mágicas se reflejan ya en textos de Plinio (Hist.…”

Archaeozoology of Classical antiquity in Croatia

“…It was occupied from the Early Bronze to Iron Age. Very detailed archaeozoological study covered material from all strata (Gaastra et al 2014). Similarly to the previous case, domesticated animals dominate the assemblage, with sheep and goats being the most numerous taxa.…”