Domestic Mammals in the Diet of Medieval Communities in South-Eastern Romania (original) (raw)

The paper was realized on the study of seven archaeo-zoological samples taken from sites from South-Eastern Romania: Oltina (X-XIth centuries), Piatra Frecăţei (XI-XII th centuries), Dumbrăveni (IX-X th centuries), Hârsova (XI-XIII th centuries), Isaccea (XI-XIII th centuries), Capidava (X-XI th centuries), Nufăru (X-XIII th centuries). Animal husbandry constituted an important occupation during the Middle Ages in South-Eastern Romania; more than 90% represent the remains of domestic mammals in the studied assemblages, excepting the samples at Piatra Frecăţei (56.7%) and Nufăru (85.4%) for which the percentage is smaller. The identified domestic mammals are: Bos taurus, Ovis aries, Capra hircus, Sus scrofa domesticus, Equus caballus, Equus asinus, Canis familiaris, Felis domesticus and Camelus sp.; the last four species were not important in food economy. In all settlements under study, the predominant species are cattle, sheep/goat and pigs, both by the number of identified remains...