EARLY MEDIEVAL ANIMAL ECONOMY IN NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND: A VIEW FROM THE PICTS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-03-12

Significant gaps exist in our knowledge of the Picts, a cultural group that built the first kingdoms in eastern Scotland after the Roman period, due to the scarcity of historical sources and archaeological research, often limited to a few monastic sites. As a result, little is known of Pictish lifeways including human-animal relationships. Though previous studies of animal depictions on Pictish symbol stones have given some indication of the symbolic role of animals, their socio-economic value is generally poorly documented. However, recently excavated animal bone remains, from high status sites in NE Scotland investigated as part of the Comparative Kingship project, provide a unique opportunity to investigate the role of animals in Pictish society. Using a multidisciplinary approach combining zooarchaeology and stable isotopes, we present here new data on the exploitation and consumption of animals in Pictland. By bringing together this new data with existing datasets, this study produces a first regional synthesis, including a comparison between secular and religious sites, thus providing new insights into how these early kingdoms might have operated.


Author(s): Masson-MacLean, Edouard - Britton, Kate - Czere, Orsolya - Fraser, Elizabeth - Fawcett, Jovita - Noble, Gordon (University of Aberdeen)