DOI: 10.17026/dans-xhp-u7sq
title: Animals in Roman Times in the Dutch Eastern River Area
title: Nederlandse Oudheden 12

description: &lt;p&gt;This archeozoological study concerns the animal remains that were found during excavations of settlements dating from Roman times in Nijmegen and its surroundings. The aim of the study was to acquire detailed information about the animals, in particular as regards their function.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Faunal remains from the following settlements were included in the study: native farmsteads in Ewijk and Heteren, the villa in Druten, civilian settlements in Nijmegen, military forts (castella) in Nijmegen and Meinerswijk and a camp village, belonging to such a fort, in Kesteren, the mid-Roman legionary camp (castra) and the camp village surrounding it (canabae legionis) in Nijmegen. In addition an investigation was made of animal bones found in the Gallo-Roman temples in Eist and a fourth-century cemetery in Nijmegen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The mammal species that were represented can be divided into three groups. The first group consists of farm animals that were eaten: cattle, sheep, goat and pig. The second group consists of wild animals: aurochs, elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar and hare. Also these animals were eaten, in view of the butchery marks that are present on the bones. In addition shed antlers were collected incidentally for the purpose of making particular objects out of them. The third group is formed by horse and dog, domesticated animals that were not eaten. If we compare the first two groups it is clear that the hunting of larger game animals was of very little significance for the pattern of meat consumption. Within the group of farm animals the most important meat-providing species is cattle. Pig and sheep/goat come in second and third place in turn. Relatively high percentages of pig can be associated on the one. hand with the better facilities for grazing pigs on the Pleistocene soils, and on the other hand with the military or Roman character of settlements. Higher percentages of sheep/goat can be associated especially with an environment suitable for sheep in the Holocene area. The remains of birds and fish come for the most part from only a few sieve-samples. The data obtained for these groups will therefore be very incomplete. The most common species among the poultry is the domestic fowl. At some sites also goose, duck and pigeon were found. Concerning these last three species it is not certain whether the remains found represent domesticated or wild forms. The remains that were found of crane, cormorant and long-eared owl certainly came from wild birds. Fishing was also practised, and the species caught include pike, rudd, orfe or chub, perch, allis shad or twaite shad, eel, salmon and catfish. An exotic fish is represented by the find, dating from the fourth century, of a vertebra of the genus Sphyraena, a kind of barracuda, that only occurs in warm seas. This specimen probably arrived here as a fish product, in the liquamen or allée, or as salted fish. At a few sites remains of oysters and whelks were found, which must have been brought inland from the coast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The data on cattle, sheep/goat and pig present a picture of an agrarian economy based on mixed farming with the emphasis on agriculture. Cattle were not kept primarily for milk production, nor primarily as a source of meat, despite the fact that beef was the kind of meat most frequently eaten. Rather they were kept in the first place as a source of traction power and of manure for agricultural purposes. In addition smaller numbers of pigs and sheep were kept for their meat, and in the case of sheep also for the supply of wool and milk (cheese). Also the production of manure for fertilizing the soil will have played a role in keeping these smaller farm animals. Agricultural products were much more important than meat for the diet of the local inhabitants. It is even questionable whether meat formed part of the daily menu. Horses were kept as pack animals, for riding or as a supply of traction power. Cattle, sheep and horses were skinned for their hides. The bones were used only incidentally for the purpose of making particular objects.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fact that in the first and second century the size of cattle increases considerably can be explained by the development of improved exploitation techniques as a result of the availability of Roman know-how with regard to agriculture. This could have involved better nutrition and better treatment of the animals and the use of a more refined breeding regime with native cattle with the aim of obtaining more traction power. Large cattle were probably imported as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A description of the individual settlements and the bone material found there is given in chapter 3. The bone refuse of the early Roman castellum (Nijmegen la) appeared to have been removed intentionally away from the fortification. Most of this material was found outside the castellum in the neighbourhood of the western entrance. Also in the settlement on the Valkhof (Nijmegen Ib-c) the bone refuse is concentrated in a few places: more than half the material was found in three refuse pits. In terms of the composition the material from these refuse pits did not differ from the bone material found elsewhere. As for the two associated settlements, the mid-Roman canabae legionis and the castra, there was no evidence of any differences between them relating to the incidence of slaughtering animals and the consumption of meat. The finds of indisputably primary butchery refuse indicate that cattle were brought into the camp on the hoof and were ultimately slaughtered there. In certain places in the canabae bone concentrations were found that are indicative of specialization in meat processing. In the western canabae the smoking of shoulders of beef probably took place. In the eastern canabae skulls of cattle were processed for the production of a kind of brawn. These meat products may have been intended for the inhabitants of the army camp. In the large fourth-century defensive ditch in Nijmegen the Ijone material was found mostly concentrated at one spot. It is likely that after the ditch had lost its defensive function it was used as a rubbish dump. The concentration of the material could indicate that at that spot a road ran up to the ditch; alternatively there may have been a bridge over the ditch here. The bone finds from the fourth-century cemetery come from meals for the dead, provided on dishes or plates at the time of burial, to sustain the deceased during the journey to the next world. The meat for the dead consisted mainly of pork and chicken, while the meat diet of the living consisted mainly of beef. Comparison with other settlements and cemeteries from Roman times shows that this was a general phenomenon. If we take into consideration the information given by the epicurean cookery book of Apicius, then we must conclude that the dead were provided with a more sumptuous meal than that to which the living were accustomed to eating. A remarkable feature of the castellum of Meinerswijk is that no bones of horses were found there. Carcasses of animals that were not eaten were usually buried outside the settlement, however, as was also the case in Kesteren; for example. At the entrance of each of the two most important buildings (i and 11) of the villa in Druten (II) two horse skeletons were found. These skeletons probably represent foundation sacrifices. In contrast to Druten III, in Druten II there is a distinct difference in the bone material found in the pars urbana and the pars rustica of the settlement. The presence of foundation sacrifices, the predominance of pig over sheep/goat, and the greater species diversity in the pars urbana can be associated with the higher status of the occupants in this part of the villa. The deviating age of the cattle found at the temples in Eist can be associated with the function of cattle as sacrificial animals as proposed by Bogaers (1955). The fact that the cattle from the period before the temples were built show the same pattern of age at the time of slaughter provides support for the view that this site was already a place of cultic significance before the building of the temples. The find of a unique combination of the skulls of a pig, a sheep and an ox, bearing in mind the sex and size of the animals they came from, provides an extra argument for regarding these bones as the remains of a suovetaurilia sacrifice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The function of animals kept in the Eastern River Area in Roman times was to a great extent conscerned with agriculture. They provided traction power and manure. In addition they were a source of meat, for both the living and the dead, and were used as sacrificial offerings. Hides and wool were made use of, and occasionally bone was used as a raw material for making particular objects.&lt;/p&gt;
description: &lt;p&gt;Nederlandse Oudheden 12&lt;/p&gt;