Birds of prey from 4th to 18th centuries AD of the Volga River basin of Russia

Abstract

The article analyzes studies of bone assemblages of birds of prey from medieval and post‐medieval archaeological sites in the Volga River basin territory. We provide data on the presence of birds of prey: Accipitriformes (hawks and eagles), Falconiformes (falcons), and Strigiformes (owls) within the Volga region during the Middle Ages and post‐Middle Ages (4th–18th centuries AD) in bird communities from 15 archaeological sites. Archaeological bird of prey remains from the Volga basin could contribute to the understanding of the interaction between different ethnic groups in the region within the context of human–nature interaction. In quantitative terms, the clear predominance of the northern goshawk and white‐tailed sea‐eagle, as well as the high proportion of the Eurasian sparrowhawk and relatively high species diversity of falcons and owls observed in medieval time, indicates social or environmental context has changed in a short period of time. The use of birds of prey by the various ethnic groups in the Volga River basin was multifaceted, including for falconry/hawking practice, feathers, amulets, or ornaments and for religious/politics ceremonies.

Archaeozoology Supports a Holistic View on Fish Assessments in Large Rivers—A Case Study from the Volga River: From Quantitative Data and Ancient DNA to Biodiversity Analysis

“…The dating of the cultural layers of archaeological sites from which bone remains were recovered was made on the basis of typologies of ceramics, coins, and material cultural typologies; radiocarbon dating (AMS) was used for a number of archaeological sites. The material used in this article was partially published earlier [4,5,14,22]. The identification of species as well as the anatomical, morphological, and age diagnostics of the osteological material were performed with the aid of the reference skeletal collection of modern fish species (60 species) from the Volga River basin of the Laboratory of Biomonitoring, The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences.…”

“…Calculations were made in MSExcel and PAST based on a reference database of measurements of bone/scale sizes and lengths of modern fish species. The regression equations were obtained from the database of an osteological collection of bones and scales from recent (20th-21st century) specimens from the Volga River basin [4,14,27,30]. The type of regression model and the assessment of its accuracy were determined by the coefficient of determination, R 2 [31].…”

“…To compare with the indicators of these species, we used data on the most numerous and main commercial fish species-the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus). The abundance of this species during the late Holocene was very high in the Volga basin [14,39]. Therefore, we put forward the assumption that such population dynamics have roots in earlier periods and are associated both with the intensity of fishing and with climate changes that took place in the Middle Ages.…”

“…It became clear that information about a particular species can be significantly supplemented and refined with the help of archaeozoological material. Archaeological material reflects information related to the strategy of exploitation of various biological resources [10,11], including fish [12][13][14][15], to a greater extent. It should be noted that the interpretation of the results obtained on the basis of archaeozoological materials is a very difficult task, since all the aggregate material in archaeological complexes has been accumulated over many years, and sometimes decades.…”

Songs of the past ‐ papers of the 10th ICAZ Bird Working Group Meeting

“…However, Gál (2023) points out in her overview of avian assemblages from ecclesiastical sites in Hungary, which show a rather large variety in species, that differences in recovery methods and analysis play an important role in the abundance and diversity of species recovered from a site. The relative diversity and abundance of birds can also be interpreted as indicative of social status, as demonstrated by the presence of hawks and falcons for hunting, an activity for the elite, in Vilnius Lower Castle, Lithuania (Ehrlich et al, 2023), and within the Volga River Basin (Shaymuratova et al, 2023), and the presence of an exotic peacock, likely an ornamental species, in the medieval site of Carrer de Sotstinent Navarro in Barcelona, Spain (Fernández et al, 2023). In terms of ritualistic uses of birds, Corbino and Demarchi (2023) describe a bird bone assemblage from the temple of Isis in Pompeii and interpret the presence of immature chicken remains, an abundance of meaty body parts and chicken eggshell identified through ancient protein analysis, as indicative of a ritualistic offer.…”