Re-examining associated bone groups from southern England and Yorkshire, c.4000 BC to AD 1550
In recent years, zooarchaeology has started to move beyond purely economic interpretations towards a social zooarchaeology. In particular, these 'social' interpretations have often concentrated upon Associated Bone Groups (ABGs), also referred to as 'special animal deposits' or 'animal burials', rather than upon the disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Previous studies of these ABG deposits have largely been limited to a single period and a small sample of sites. The majority of studies have also been concentrated on the Wessex region and have not examined in detail the osteological composition of these deposits. The purpose of this thesis is to move beyond these limitations. Therefore, it investigates the nature of ABGs from the Neolithic to the Medieval period for the contrasting regions of southern England and Yorkshire. This has been achieved by collecting detailed information for ABGB from publicly available sourcesa nd analysing it utilising modern database technology. Overall, data from 2,062 ABGs have been collected, 1,863 from the southern England region and 199 from Yorkshire. Although the majority of previous literature concerns Iron Age
Morris, James Tristan
Archaeology
Re-examining associated bone groups from southern England and Yorkshire, c.4000 BC to AD 1550. In recent years, zooarchaeology has started to move beyond purely economic interpretations towards a social zooarchaeology. In particular, these 'social' interpretations have often concentrated upon Associated Bone Groups (ABGs), also referred to as 'special animal deposits' or 'animal burials', rather than upon the disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Previous studies of these ABG deposits have largely been limited to a single period and a small sample of sites. The majority of studies have also been concentrated on the Wessex region and have not examined in detail the osteological composition of these deposits. The purpose of this thesis is to move beyond these limitations. Therefore, it investigates the nature of ABGs from the Neolithic to the Medieval period for the contrasting regions of southern England and Yorkshire. This has been achieved by collecting detailed information for ABGB from publicly available sourcesa nd analysing it utilising modern database technology. Overall, data from 2,062 ABGs have been collected, 1,863 from the southern England region and 199 from Yorkshire. Although the majority of previous literature concerns Iron Age
re_examining associate bone group southern england yorkshire zooarchaeology start move_beyond purely economic interpretation towards social zooarchaeology particular social interpretation often concentrate_upon associated bone groups also_refer special animal deposit animal burial rather upon disarticulate fragmented faunal_remain commonly recovered archaeological_site previous_study deposit largely limited single period small_sample site majority study also concentrate wessex region examine_detail osteological composition deposit purpose move_beyond limitation therefore_investigate nature neolithic medieval_period contrast region southern england yorkshire achieve collect detailed_information publicly available analyse utilising modern database technology overall data collect southern_england region yorkshire although majority previous_literature concern iron_age