Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study addresses the use of wild and domestic animals at the Iron Age site of Bosutswe, Botswana. I argue that that the Western (commoner) inhabitants consumed more wild game than Central (elite) inhabitants. The overall roll that wild animals played in the diet decreased radically over time, perhaps due to environmental degradation, a change in hunting practices, or due to a combination of both factors. The importance of domestic animals increased over time. Both commoners and elites had access to cattle and small stock, but elites consumed a greater amount of these species. During the Early and Middle Lose, Bosutswe elites were able to preferentially consume young and aged domestic animals rather than consuming mainly adult animals. This may have been a form of conspicuous consumption. Despite the differences in what was eaten, how meat was cooked appears to be similar amongst both commoners and elites. Meat appears to have largely been boiled, as much meat is in Botswana today. The elite inhabitants of Bosutswe retained much of the favored cuts of meat- upper limbs- for themselves. Less-favored cuts of meat, especially lower limbs and craniums, were distributed to the commoners of Bosutswe. This redistribution of resources may have provided the commoners of Bosutswe with tangible material benefits, but also served to emphasize their non-elite status and reinforce the social hierarchy. Likewise, herding cattle may have provided commoners with access to their labor and milk, but also served to codify and increase social hierarchy by enabling elites to maintain large cattle herds. / text

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

In this paper, faunal data from two Formative sites, Kuntur Wasi and Pacopampa, are compared. At both sites, the composition ratio of the camelids to deer increased in the late Formative Period. This change of taxonomic composition in the bone sample is interpreted as the subsistence shift from deer hunting to camelid herding. By integrating the faunal data from these sites, it can be suggested that the timing of camelid introduction to the sites corresponds with an overall change of the social framework, which is the shift from a regional society to more widespread network of societies. / En este artículo se exponen los resultados de los análisis en muestras de huesos animales de dos sitios del Periodo Formativo, Kuntur Wasi y Pacopampa, ubicados en el norte del Perú. Ambos complejos se localizan fuera de la distribución natural de los camélidos salvajes. Gracias a estos estudios se podrá comprender, de manera más clara, la introducción del camélido domesticado en esta región y su forma de utilización. Existe una correspondencia entre el momento de la introducción del camélido domesticado y los cambios en la estructura social. En esa época se habría dado el paso de una sociedad basada en la subsistencia local a una que establecía una red extendida de intercambio.

This Master thesis is dedicated to pasture and the overall image of animal husbandry in Central Europe in La Téne Period and Roman Age. An important part is evaluation of osteological assemblages grazed animals, the question of the spectrum of species and creating models applied in the territory of today's Czech republic. A meaningful component of this study is comparison farmed animals at the time of La Téne and Roman period. Keywords: pasture - animal husbandry - agriculture - La Téne period - Roman period - archaeozoology

A large database of domestic mammal bone measurements from sites across Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland is presented. The reasons for variations in bone growth of domestic ungulates are examined in detail; nutrition is identified as a key factor in the determination of adult bone size and shape. Possible sources of variation in bone size in both time and space in the North Atlantic region are identified. Four hypotheses are proposed; firstly that bone dimensions, particularly breadth, will decrease with increasing latitude in the study region; secondly that higher status sites will raise larger livestock than lower status sites within the same time period and region; thirdly the size of domestic mammals in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland will increase in the Later Iron Age, possibly in relation to increased fodder supply; finally at times of environmental degradation (climatic and/or landscape) domestic mammal size will decrease. The latitude hypothesis could only be partly upheld; there is no evidence for increased size with site status; a small increase in size is noted at some Scottish Iron Age sites and varying results are found for the environmental degradation hypothesis. The results are discussed with particular reference to how changes in the skeletal proportions of domestic mammals affect their human carers and beneficiaries. The potential of further expanding the dataset and integrating biometrical data with other forms of evidence to create a powerful tool for the examination of economic and environmental changes at archaeological sites is discussed.

This work summarizes results of a comprehensive analyses of the archaeozoological material on the settlement in Vlíněves dating to the Unetice culture (the early Bronze Age, Central Bohemia). The total of 5325 bones and teeth has been analysed within this analysis, 903 of them was determined and used for further analyses. The taxonomic structure of the material with a clear prevalence of domestic mammals was assessed, the proportion of other groups was low (7 species of wild animals). The application of stable isotopes and dental microwear analyses of faunal assemblage, first used in Bohemia in the context of the Bronze Age period, has specified the nature of a dietary base livestock as grassland habitats, and has ruled out a significant ratio of C4 plants and an application of forest pasture. The combined use of domestic animals with an increase emphasis on so-called secondary products (milk and wool) prove a bimodality in kill-off patterns of sheep and goats, height at withers of sheep, which corresponds to the breeds of sheep extended during the bronze age period and to the high mortality profile of cattle. The proposed results of our work are important in this context because they suggest these facts for the early Bronze Age already. In accordance with circumstances at other sits of Unetice...

Cette recherche archéozoologique s'intéresse aux relations homme-animal, de I' Antiquité tardive (milieu du 3e s.), jusqu'à la fin du premier Moyen Age (11e s.). Elle englobe le Massif jurassien et la Plaine d'Alsace. Ces deux régions géographiques limitrophes sont des axes de passage, des zones fluviales (Doubs, Saône, Rhône, Rhin), qui ont appartenu à des royaumes différents et qui ont été habitées par des populations soumises à des influences culturelles différentes. Trois entrées sont utilisées pour analyser les sources ostéologiques : les contextes domestiques ruraux, les contextes funéraires ruraux, la mortalité du cheptel bovin. Un premier chapitre présente la problématique, le cadre physique, chronologique, méthodologique, de cette recherche transfrontalière (est de la France, Suisse occidentale, Allemagne méridionale). Le chapitre 2 prend en compte 64 sites d'habitat (env. 146000 restes osseux pour 87 taxons), en distinguant les milieux géographiques, environnementaux, sociaux. Des éléments de synthèse sont présentés (alimentation, élevage, chasse). Le chapitre 3 examine une trentaine d'ensembles funéraires qui ont livré des ossements animaux. Nous distinguons des objets symboliques, des squelettes animaux, des dépôts alimentaires. Les découvertes sont mises en perspective avec d'autres connues en Gaule et dans la sphère germanique.Le chapitre 4 se fonde sur l'étude de squelettes de bovins altomédiévaux, mis au jour sur trois sites différents d'une même petite région. L'hypothèse de dépôts de cadavres en relation avec des épisodes de mortalité infectieuse est évoquée et mise en perspective avec des cas similaires connus en France pour la même période. L'ensemble a été confronté aux sources écrites traitant de la mortalité animale au Moyen Âge. Le chapitre 5 livre la synthèse générale des résultats, par contextes et par catégories animales. Un volume d'annexes répertorie de nombreuses données complémentaires. / This archaeozoological study focuses on human-animal relations, from late antiquity (mid 3rd c.), until the end of the early Middle Ages (11th c.).It concentrates on the Jura Mountains and the plain of Alsace. These two neighboring geographic regions were communication corridors and riverine zones (Doubs, Saône, Rhône, Rhine), which belonged to different kingdoms and were inhabited by culturally distinct populations. Three inputs are used to analyze the osteological data: rural domestic contexts, rural funerary contexts, and mortality of cattle.-The first chapter presents the issue at hand, the physical, chronological and methodological data of the interregional research program (eastern France, western Switzerland, southern Germany). Chapter 2 considers 64 settlement sites and distinguishes them geographically, environmentally and socially. Approximately 146.000 bone remains for 87 taxa are assessed. Elements of synthesis are presented, regarding in particular evidence for food, livestock and hunting.- Chapter 3 considers 30 cemeteries containing animal bones. Symbolic objects, animal skeletons and grave goods are discussed and the findings are compared with other known sites within Gaul and the Germanic sphere. Chapter 4 is based on the study of cattle skeletons discovered at three different but closely situated sites. Whether these bovine graves evidence infectious disease mortality events is discussed. These burials are compared with similar cases from early medieval France and also discussed in relation to the written evidence for animal mortality events in the Middle Ages. Chapter 5 presents a general synthesis of the results of the thesis, in regards to contexts and animal categories. Appendices and lists of additional data follow.

Ce travail a pour objectif de mieux comprendre l’économie animale dans le monde égéen néolithique. Il s’appuie d’une part sur l’étude archéozoologique de trois sites localisés dans le Péloponnèse et en Macédoine : Kouphovouno, Pigi Athinas et Kryoneri. D’autre part, des analyses de micro-usures ont été réalisées sur les dents d’animaux des assemblages ostéologiques de Kouphovouno, Lerne, Kitsos, Pigi Athinas, Kryoneri et Sitagroi afin de restituer les conditions d’élevage et l’environnement passé. Ces données ont ensuite été intégrées dans une perspective géographique et chronologique plus large, ce qui nous a permis de révéler une adaptation optimale de l’homme au milieu et aux contraintes socio-économiques tant dans les choix d’élevage que dans l’exploitation de la faune elle-même / The objective of this work is to increase our knowledge of animal economy during the Neolithic in the Aegean. This study is uses archaeozoological studies of three settlements located in Peloponnese (Kouphovouno) and Macedonia (Pigi Athinas and Kryoneri) as well as, dental microwear on the animal teeth from six assemblages, Kouphovouno, Lerna, Kitsos, Pigi Athinas, Kryoneri and Sitagroi in order to reconstruct conditions of breeding and the paleoenvironment. These data are then placed in the context of a wider geographical and chronological perspective, what allows us to reveal an optimal adaptation of man to his environment and to socio-economic constraints both in choices of breeding and in exploitation of the fauna itself.

An archaeozoological analysis of the assemblages of animal bones and teeth of Neolithic (Linear and Stroked Pottery cultures; approx. 5500-4200 BC)settlements in Bohemia, provide new elements on the way of life of early farmers. By means of study of animal bones and teeth we can specify the role of domestic and hunting animals in the Neolithic economy, define the herd management strategies for main domestic animals and focus on the environmental reconstruction and investigation of births distribution of domestic animals (for exemple of cattle in the case of this study) through the analysis of the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of fossil tooth enamel bioapatite. To achieve these objectives, we can use, except standard archaeozoological methods and stable isotope analysis, more specific procedures, e.g. determination of damaged bones of animals using the ELISA test.