Avian egg-shell from archaeological sites

Keepax, Carole

doi:10.1016/0305-4403(81)90032-7

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For Britain, literary sources such as this are effectively useless. However, the actual remains of birds are quite frequently found on British sites (King 1978): these are normally bones, but the egg of a goose (or possibly swan) has been identified from a Romano-British well at Derby by Keepax (1981), and eggs, probably of chicken, have been noted in a number of burials by Alcock (1980) and Harman (1985); crow feathers are said by Hodgson (1977) to have been found at Vindolanda.…”

Section: Birds In Archaeology History and Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Birds of Roman Britain

Parker¹

1988

Oxford J Archaeology

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Wild birds were probably of little importance for food in Roman Britain, but there is some advantage, for ecology, conservation, archaeological reconstruction and education, in establishing a tolerably correct list of species present in Roman times. There are special problems for the recovery and identification of bird bones; on the other hand, historical and other sources are wanting for Roman Britain. There is no evidence for falconry in the Roman period; birds would be caught, for sport by lime-rods, and for food by a variety of methods. There is little definite evidence for religious use of wild birds in Roman Britain. The environment of Britain in the Roman period was, in many respects, quite similar to that of recent times, but the bird species recorded from Roman sites suggest that the landscape was rather varied, and favourable to wildlife. An up-to-date list of 94 wild species can be roughly quantified by the number of sites on which each has been found; both the more numerous species and the absentees offer some surprises, and the effect is to emphasize the Romaniration of eating habits in the province.All the material in this paper derives from the work of others, and is presented only in lieu of an author-itative account by a specialist. read drafts of the paper, made many helpful comments, and generously provided unpublished information. Enid Allison and Miranda Armour-Chelu were also generous suppliers of unpublished material. Don Bram-

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Section: Birds In Archaeology History and Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Birds of Roman Britain

Parker¹

1988

Oxford J Archaeology

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“…Egg shells are recovered from some archaeological sites and may be identi fi able with high magni fi cation and a good reference collection (Beacham and Durand 2007 ;Keepax 1981 ;Serjeantson 2009 :170-176). In some cases, eggshell fragments may be assigned to species using studies of ancient DNA (Oskam et al 2011 ) .…”

Section: Egg Shellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertebrates

Reitz¹,

Shackley²

2012

Manuals in Archaeological Method, Theory and Technique

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“…For example, in the recent edition of Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology on Birds (Serjeantson, ), only 16 of 450 pages are devoted to eggs and eggshell. Previous work by Keepax () and Sidell (, ), while significant, did not initiate a wider appreciation and investigation of excavated eggshell. This paper will exploit a recently published ZooMS (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) technique for identification of archaeological eggshell fragments by analysis of their protein component (Stewart et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Walking on Eggshells: A Study of Egg Use in Anglo‐Scandinavian York Based on Eggshell Identification Using ZooMS

Stewart

Allen

Jones

et al. 2013

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Eggshell is a potentially common archaeological resource, but it tends to be ignored. The recent development of ZooMS (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) as a rapid and robust system for taxonomic identification of preserved eggshell fragments has facilitated new insights into patterns of egg use in the past. This paper presents a case study of egg use at two sites in Anglo‐Scandinavian York (Hungate and Coppergate). The results described below suggest that the relative prevalence of goose eggshell may become a useful indicator of status, consistent with other characteristics of the two sites, and also demonstrate an apparent lack of exploitation of eggs of wild birds in York during the Anglo‐Scandinavian period. These results highlight the interpretative potential of eggshell, which can now begin to be more fully explored. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Avian egg-shell from archaeological sites

Cited by 31 publications

References 22 publications

The Birds of Roman Britain

The Birds of Roman Britain

Vertebrates

Walking on Eggshells: A Study of Egg Use in Anglo‐Scandinavian York Based on Eggshell Identification Using ZooMS

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