Urbanisation and Animal Husbandry in Ancient Western Europe: How Territoriality Affects Negatively Husbandry Productivity

Summary

Mobility is key to the survival and adaptation of human and animal populations. In all cases, having the ‘right of way’ is necessary to move across territories. How was it in the past? How humans decided about mobility in the context of demographic growth and increase of social complexity that occurred in Europe in the first millennium BC?

Strontium isotopic ratios are a powerful tool for investigating mobility in the past. This paper offers a review of strontium isotopic ratios for Western Europe from the Neolithic to Roman times, and correlates them with other three variables: the relative frequency of the main domesticates (%NISP), their size (biometry), and their cultural context. The results obtained show a decrease of cattle relative frequencies and size across all Europe from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, then higher cattle %NISP and size in the territories within the Roman Empire in classical times. Strontium isotope ratios show a progressive reduction in mobility from the Neolithic to the Iron Age and then an increase of geographic diversity in Roman times. Consequently, the results suggest a close correlation between the three variables –%NISP, biometry and mobility– and the degree of urbanisation of human populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• New Methods in Zooarchaeology

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