The development of animal husbandry from the Late Iron Age to the end of the Roman period: a case study from South-East Britain

The Exploitation of Animals in Roman Britain

“…Examples include Winchester, Dorchester (Maltby 1994), Caerwent (Maltby 2010, 288), Lincoln (Dobney, Jacques and Irving 1996), Silchester (Grant 2000;Ingrem 2006), Exeter (Maltby 1979) and Colchester (Luff 1993). Similar results have been obtained in assemblages from small towns such as Alcester, Warwickshire (Maltby 2001) and Heybridge, Essex (Albarella, Johnstone andVickers 2008, 1837). Military sites producing assemblages with high percentages of adult cattle include South Shields (Stokes 2000) Loughor (Sadler 1997) and Portchester Castle (Grant 1975).…”

“…The average of sizes of sheep were slightly larger in the Midlands towns of Gloucester, Cirencester and Alcester than in Exeter in the south-west (Maltby 2001;2010, 294-5) Large sheep have been found on several sites in Essex dating from the second century onwards (Albarella, Johnstone and Vickers 2008). Some of these sheep may have derived from stock imported from the continent.…”

“…At Heybridge, Essex, Albarella, Johnstone and Vickers (2008) have demonstrated from measurements of teeth and bones that there small but significant improvements in the sizes of pigs in the second century. Pig distal tibiae breadths in later Roman Winchester were nearly all larger than those from the neighbouring rural settlement of Owslebury (Maltby 2010, 203).…”

“…At Heybridge, Albarella, Johnstone and Vickers (2008) have shown a significant increase in the average size of horses from the second century onwards.…”

“…Increases in the average size of cattle from early in the Roman period have been demonstrated in, for example, Hampshire (Maltby 1981) and Essex (Albarella, Johnstone and Vickers 2008) The latter have also shown have shown that exceptionally large cattle were present at Great Holts Farm, Essex in the third century and have argued convincingly that new stock were introduced to Britain from the continent from the early Roman period.…”