The University of Sheffield
Zooarchaeology Lab

Zooarchaeology Laboratory - Current Research Projects

Ethnoarchaeology

Ethnoarchaeology of arable and pastoral farming in the Mediterranean

Oral history is being used by Paul Halstead to explore the decision-making and practices of recent farmers and herders, in rural Greece, southern France and northern Spain. Topics explored include management of livestock for milk, ploughing with draught cattle, pastoralism and household herding, and `share-cropping´ in both arable and pastoral farming.

Ethnoarchaeology of pig husbandry in Sardinia and Corsica

This is the study of traditional practices of pig husbandry in the central Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica as a tool to understand possible past activities. The project is funded by The British Academy and is co-directed by Umberto Albarella and Filippo Manconi. The Ethnoarchaeological work of pig husbandry is planned to be expanded in Spain and will be conducted by Angelos Hadjikoumis during his PhD programme, which started in September 2006.

Animal Domestication
This project investigates the origins of pig domestication and its subsequent developments by integrating different lines of evidence, ranging from biometry to ageing and from genetics to isotopic analysis and microwear. The project was originally based at the University of Durham as a collaboration between , Keith Dobney and Peter Rowley-Conwy and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Research into the same topic is to be expanded in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) by . This research will form part of his PhD programme, which started in September 2006.

Aegean Zooarchaeology

Neolithic Paliambela-Kolindrou

Paul Halstead is working with Prof Kostas Kotsakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) on excavation of this Neolithic site that comprises both compact `tell´ and `flat-extended´ forms of settlement. Zooarchaeological analysis focuses on exploring patterns of carcass consumption and discard. Excavation at Paliambela is funded by INSTAP, local and regional government, the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, and the Universities of Thessaloniki and Sheffield.

Neolithic Makrigialos

One of the largest prehistoric excavations in Greece for nearly a century at this 50 hectare site yielded some of the richest ceramic, faunal and lithic assemblages known from the Neolithic of this region. Paul Halstead has been involved in the synthesis of stratigraphic, ceramic and faunal evidence, with other Sheffield staff and students whose work includes: the study of bone tools (Dr Valasia Isaakidou); human bone (Dr Sevi Triantaphyllou); plant remains (Dr Tania Valamoti); ceramics (Dr Elli Hitsiou, Dimitris Vlachos) and geomorphology (Dr Nancy Krahtopoulou). Study of the faunal assemblage aims to provide an ecological perspective on conspicuous consumption in early farming.

Animal management and consumption at the Late Bronze Age `Palace of Nestor´

Paul Halstead and Dr Valasia Isaakidou (University of Nottingham) are examining faunal remains from Pylos as part of a larger post-excavation project by Sharon Stocker and Prof Jack Davis of the University of Cincinnati. The species and age composition of these deposits has been examined in conjunction with the written Linear B records of animal exploitation and farming.

Mycenaean rituals

This project, undertaken by Umberto Albarella, involves the study of the animal bones from the Cult Centre at Mycenae (Greece) and is funded by the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP).

Zooarchaeology in Britain

Zooarchaeology of Central England

The aim of this project is to produce a published review of the animal bone evidence for Central England from Mesolithic to Modern times. It is also intended that summary site data, linked to a searchable gazetteer, should be made available electronically.The project is funded by English Heritage, and undertaken by Umberto Albarella and Tessa Pirnie.

The study of animal bones from British late Neolithic Henge Monuments

This is part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project directed by Mike Parker Pearson and involves the study, by Umberto Albarella, of the recently excavated animal bones from the famous site of Durrington Walls, and a re-analysis of material from similar sites in southern Britain. The principal aim of the zooarchaeological investigation is a better understanding of the domestic and/or ceremonial function of these sites. Sarah Viner is hoping to incorporate this material in a study of Neolithic and Bronze Age pig and cattle populations, the subject of her PhD dissertation.

Welland Bank Quarry

Welland Bank Quarry, located in Lincolnshire, is the site of a substantial Bronze Age settlement and field systems. Excavated under the direction of Francis Pryor and Tom Lane it has produced a collection of animal bones of significance to the regional and national record of the period. With a diversity of domestic and wild faunal species this site provides a valuable glimpse of the prehistoric wetland economy. The assemblage is currently under analysis by Umberto Albarella and Sarah Viner.

Poulton Chapel House Farm

Poulton Chapel House Farm, Cheshire, is a multi period site that has been under investigation by the Poulton Research Project since 1995. Faunal remains from three ring ditches that date to the Late Bronze Age are being investigated by Sarah Viner.

Iron Age and Roman Zooarchaeology

The role of animal husbandry in late Iron Age and Roman societies: cultural identity and relationships between Italy, Iberia and Britain
The role of animal husbandry in late Iron Age and Roman societies: cultural identity and relationships between Italy, Iberia and Britain.
The project is designed to study animal bone assemblages from Italy, Iberia and Britain dating to the pre- and Roman periods. Archaeological evidence has indicated that major cultural changes occurred in Europe between the Late Iron Age and Early Roman periods, although these were neither homogeneous nor universal. Questions, such as the possibility of change and/or improvement of husbandry techniques, the contribution of local breeding, the introduction of livestock, use of land and the role of the market, the influence of local culture and the permanence of the Iron Age ideology will be investigated. The project will build on previous work carried out at a national level, but will try to provide a pan-European perspective by comparing the evidence from the origin of Roman influence - Italy – with that of two of the colonies – Iberia and Britain. The project will be interdisciplinary as it will benefit from several methodological approaches, including taxonomy, demography, biometry and biochemistry. Cattle tooth enamel from selected sites will be subjected to strontium and oxygen isotopic analysis to investigate the relative diversity/homogeneity of livestock supply in collaboration with Jane Evans from the NERC Isotope Geosciences Lab. The project will be conducted by Claudia Minniti and Silvia Valenzuela during their Marie Curie intra-European fellowships and is directed by Umberto Albarella and Kim Vickers.

PhD Research Topics

Lenny Salvagno

The neglected goat: a methodological approach to the understanding of the role of this species in English medieval husbandry

There are various important historical and archaeological questions whose understanding is dependent on our ability to identify goat bones appropriately. The scarcity of goat bones and teeth is coupled with a much greater abundance of horncores. This has led to the hypothesis that an international trade of goat skins (including horns) may have occurred, explaining thus the underrepresentation of other body parts. More in general the overall role that the goat played in English medieval husbandry is still far from having been clarified. The goat is for instance more commonly recorded in the 11th C Domesday Book (DB) than one would expect from its occurrence in the archaeological record.

The most commonly used criteria for sheep/goat postcranial identification have now been published for more than 40 years, but identification methods based on teeth are much more recent. Many criteria are based on morphological differences whose assessment may be highly subjective. It is therefore very difficult to compare sites reliably and also get a realistic overview of the importance of the goat in different regions and at different times in England.

To address these problems, this project therefore intends to establish reliable criteria for the identification of goats from the English archaeological record for the Middle Ages. A specific concern will be to try to translate morphological differences into biometrical indices. This will allow for a more objective evaluation of the proposed identifications. I will then apply the newly prepared identification protocol to a number of sheep/goat medieval assemblages from England.

Giorgos Kazantzis

Animal Exploitation During the Late Neolithic in the Strymon (Struma) River Valley: the Case of the Greek sector of Promachon – Topolnica, Macedonia, Greece.

The current research project is an extension of a previous work conducted during the Master’s dissertation in the University of Sheffield, UK (2008 – 2009). It deals with the study of the faunal assemblage from the Greek Sector (Promachon) of the Late Neolithic settlement of Promachon – Topolnica and is being supervised by Dr Umberto Albarella.

Aims of the project include a wide variety of subjects such as species representation, economic importance of animals -both domestic and wild-, size and shape of domestic forms, human and animal relations through the study of the animals’ palaeopathological record, patterns of butchery and consumption, ecological and environmental reconstruction and similarities, as well as differences between phases and individual households of the settlement. Additionally, the study has the potential to focus on more elaborate issues, such as the long debated subjects of “hunting vs. herding” and “animals vs. crops” in the Greek Neolithic.

The study will be the first systematic faunal investigation within the Greek parts of the Strymon river valley. The significance of the project lies in understanding the nature, scale and importance of pastoral activity in the Late Neolithic settlement of Promachon – Topolnica, while incorporating the settlement itself to the wide range of contemporaneous agropastoral communities within the Balkan Peninsula.

Lizzie Wright

The history of the European aurochs from the late Pleistocene to its extinction: an archaeological investigation of its evolution, morphological variability and response to human exploitation

The focus of my research is to examine how the morphology of the aurochs (Bos primigenius) varied across Europe between the Upper Pleistocene and its extinction, in relation to the effects of climatic, environmental, and geographic factors and patterns of human exploitation. This builds on biometrical work that has been done for other mammal species across a similar timescale and will test certain hypotheses about size and shape that have resulted from these studies.

The project will look at a number of significant climatic changes that took place across Europe. By following patterns of body size and shape change in reaction to climatic change in the past, the results of the project will put us in a much better position to predict in what way animals may be affected by climate change.

This project will provide a much needed basis for the exploration of the dynamics of aurochs populations prior to and progressing into the period of cattle domestication. Changes and patterns in wild cattle morphology may have important implications for hunter-gatherer research, but can also contribute to our understanding of how and why domestication took place.

Angela Trentacoste

The Etruscans and their animals: the zooarchaeology of Forcello di Bagnolo San Vito (Mantova)

This research seeks to provide a new, multidimensional perspective on life in an Etruscan city and the economic development of Italian urbanism. Because animals provide valuable information on subsistence, economy, status and identity, zooarchaeology is an ideal lens for exploring these themes. Investigation into the animal economy of the Etruscan site of Forcello di Bagnolo San Vito (Mantova, Italy), where a huge animal bone assemblage has been uncovered by decades of excavation, will provide new data on Etruscan subsistence and urban development. The volume of material from the site significantly exceeds that of nearly all other published Etruscan assemblages and will allow for higher-resolution assessment of Etruscan subsistence economy. This new mass of information will be integrated with past research both at Forcello and elsewhere to create a detailed picture of an Etruscan urban economy and a better map of regional differences in animal usage and agricultural strategy.

This project is made possible by the support of Forcello excavations under the direction of Professor R. de Marinis of the Università degli Studi di Miano. Funding is provided by the University of Sheffield and the Economic History Society.

Idoia Grau

Zooarchaeology of the Early Medieval period in Northern Spain

My PhD project is part of wider research about the rural world in central and northern Spain in the Early Middle Ages, developed by the Research Group in Medieval and Postmedieval Archaeology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU). With my research, I attempt to contribute to the understanding of early medieval economy and society through the study of faunal assemblages from several sites, including: Zornoztegi, Zaballa, Aistra, Salvatierra-Agurain, Alegría-Dulantzi, Balmaseda and Castillo de Treviño. The ongoing project aims to highlight the socioeconomic similarities and differences between sites and periods through the evidence given by animal bones, including the range of species, age structure, biometry and pathologies, and by the taphonomic analysis of bones. The supervisor of this project is Dr. Juan Antonio Quirós (University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and my advisor is Dr. Umberto Albarella (University of Sheffield).