SECTION 4.2 THE FAUNAL
REMAINS FROM WARRENS FIELD by Naomi Sykes
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
TAPHONOMY
TAXA REPRESENTATION
AGEING
SKELETAL REPRESENTATION
ARTICULATING REMAINS
METRICAL ANALYSIS
DISCUSSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Introduction
The site of Warren’s Field was excavated by Oxford Archaeology
during the 1980s. Investigations revealed a substantial Middle Iron Age
settlement, which was located on three gravel islands and consisted of
several round house gullies and enclosures, with numerous associated features.
A total of 3,787 hand-collected animal bone specimens were recovered,
in varying quantities, from all areas of the site. Most of the material
derived from structural features (54%), enclosure ditches (17%) and linear
boundaries (14%), with the remainder coming from a variety of smaller
ditches (7%), pits (3%) layers (3%) and gullies (2%).
Warren’s Field represents the earliest settlement at Claydon
Pike and, as such, its zooarchaeological assemblage forms the backdrop
against which the animal bones from the later settlements (those at Londgole’s
Field) can be compared. In addition to its temporal significance, the
Warren’s Field material provides the opportunity for regional comparisons.
Considerable zooarchaeological evidence from other Iron Age sites in Upper
Thames Valley is now available and it will be interesting to see if the
Warren’s Field assemblage fits the patterns for other contemporary sites
in the area. At a site level, because the animal bone was recovered from
various feature types, the assemblage also offers the opportunity to consider
spatial patterning.
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Methods
Wilson began recording the Warren’s Field assemblage in
the1980s. In 2002, Oxford Archaeology transferred Wilson’s hand-written
records to a computer database. The data were then re-analysed and re-tabulated
by CAAA (Centre for Applied Anchaeological Analyses, University of Southampton)
during 2003. These circumstances, where the specialist responsible for
writing the report did not record the assemblage, are far from ideal.
For example, Wilson’s recording stratagem are not always clear. Many of
Wilson’s methodologies can, however, be ascertained. It would appear that
all identifiable specimens, from all elements including skull, rib, vertebrae,
tarsal and carpal fragments, were recorded to species, with no material
being placed in sheep- or cattle-size categories. These data have been
used to calculate the basic NISP (Number of Identified Specimens) totals,
with complete and partial skeletons being counted as single specimens.
Since Wilson did not employ a ‘zones’ system of recording
(for instance Serjeantson, 1996), indices of fragmentation are difficult
to ascertain, making calculations of the MNE (Minimum Number of Elements)
and MNI (Minimum Number Individuals) problematic. During the re-analysis,
MNE figures were based on epiphyses counts and bones that had been recorded
as ‘complete’. The MNI was calculated from the most common element according
to the MNE, taking sides into consideration. Fortunately, mandibles -
the only elements that Wilson sided consistently – were in almost all
cases the best represented element.
For the main domesticates, dental wear was originally recorded
using Payne’s (1973) method for sheep/goat and Grant’s (1982) technique
for pig. The data for cattle mandibles appear to have been recorded using
a hybrid of these two strategies. During re-analysis, all the records
for dental eruption and wear were converted to Grants system; the results
are provided in Appendix I. Mandibles, loose deciduous and adult forth
premolars, and third molars were placed into age groups following the
criteria provided by Payne (1973) for sheep/goat, Legge (1992) for cattle
and Maltby (1993) and Hambledon (1999) for pig. Wilson did not take crown-height
measurements for equid teeth and does not mention the methods by which
he estimated their age. Epiphyseal fusion for all the main domesticates
was interpreted using Sisson and Grossman’s (Getty, 1975) timings for
epiphyseal closure.
Measurements seem to have been taken following the standards
set by von den Dreisch (1976) and the raw data are provided in Appendix
II. Where possible, wither heights have been calculated using the factors
presented in Driesch and Boessneck (1974). Data accumulated by the Animal
Bone Metrical Archive Project (Centre for Human Ecology and Environment
n.d) were used for comparison.
Wilson did not record burning, gnawing or butchery marks
in a quantifiable manner and therefore the taphonomic history of the assemblage
can be little understood.
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Taphonomy
Bone preservation is characteristically poor on the river
gravels of the Thames flood plain and survival rates at Warren’s Field
were no exception. Wilson & Allison (n.d) noted that much of the material
was in bad condition, having suffered considerable leaching and fragmentation.
Certainly the percentage of identifiable specimens is low (on average
22%) and it seems likely that many of the more fragile bones, such as
unfused specimens, have been completely destroyed. Poor preservation is
testified by an almost complete absence of vertebrae and ribs, and the
presence of numerous single teeth: loose teeth make up 36% of the identifiable
fragments.
Rates of preservation and fragmentation do appear to have
been consistent across the site. Table 1 shows that the percentage
of identifiable fragments varies between the different gravel islands,
the assemblage from Island 1 having the lowest percentage (14%) with Islands
2 and 3 having slightly better rates (22% and 23% respectively). Between
feature variation is also apparent: Table 2 indicates that assemblages
from structural contexts and linear boundaries contain few (19%) identifiable
fragments but high frequencies of loose teeth (46% and 44% of the identifiable
component respectively), whereas the enclosure ditch assemblages
have higher rates of identification and contain fewer loose teeth, suggesting
better preservation.
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Taxa Representation
Composition of the assemblage is shown, by gravel island,
in Table 1. As is the case
for most Iron Age sites in southern Britain, the Warren’s Field assemblage
consists, almost exclusively, of domestic animal remains: cattle, sheep/goat,
horse, pig and dog are all represented. Just one wild specimen – a buzzard/kite
metatarsus – was identified.
It has been demonstrated repeatedly that – as a result of
inter-taxa variation in bone preservation, butchery and disposal practices
– species representation can be influenced heavily by context type (Maltby
1985 and Wilson 1996). For instance, it is often noted that the remains
of larger mammals, such as cattle and horse, are better represented in
peripheral boundary ditches, whereas caprine and pig bones are more numerous
in the features close to central zones of activity. To some extent these
findings are borne out by the Warren’s Field assemblage. Table
2 presents taxa representation data for the three main feature
types encountered on the site: sample sizes were insufficient (less than
100 identifiable specimens) for the other deposit types to be examined.
It can be seen that the round house features, which must be considered
as the site’s central focus, are indeed dominated by caprine bones, whereas
the enclosure ditches and linear boundaries contain higher frequencies
of cattle and horse. Dog remains are also better represented in these
more peripheral features, especially the linear boundaries.
Potentially, such inter-feature variations can complicate
inter-area comparisons, especially if the areas are characterised by different
deposit types. In this case, however, the gravel islands demonstrate the
same range of features, hence the results from each can be compared with
confidence. The NISP data (Table 1 and Figure
4.2.1: Composition of animal bone assemblage by gravel island )
suggest that slight variation exists between the assemblages from the
different areas. Whilst cattle and sheep/goat are in all cases the dominant
taxa, the ratio of caprines to cattle is high on Gravel Island 3, being
lowest on Gravel Island 1. Reasons for this variation are difficult to
discern but it could be related to temporal shifts in the animal economy:
nationally, the percentage of sheep/goat declines through the Iron Age
in favour of cattle (Grant 1989; King, 1991). Although the dating
of the gravel islands is not certain, it may be that the settlement migrated
through time, with that on Gravel Island 3 being the earliest, followed
by Gravel Island 2 and 1. In the absence of a firm chronology, however,
it is prudent to view assemblages in aggregation.
Figure
4.2.2: Relative frequencies of the main domesticates in terms of NISP
and MNI presents the relative frequencies of the main domesticates
(cattle, sheep/goat, horse and pig) in terms of NISP and MNI. Comparison
between the two graphs demonstrate that ranking of the different taxa
is dependent largely on quantification technique: fragment counts show
cattle to be the best represented animal but sheep/goat become dominant
when minimum numbers are considered. This disparity between the two sets
of results highlights the issues of fragmentation and preservation set
out in Section 3. The bones of larger animals tend to fragment more than
those of smaller taxa, hence the cattle frequencies are artificially inflated
when considered in terms of NISP. By contrast, sheep/goat and pig NISPs
are often reduced due to the susceptibility of their bones to destruction:
both taxa have lower bone density than cattle, this is especially the
case for pigs since most individuals tend to be culled at a young age
before their bones are fully ossified. In this case the MNI counts are
perhaps a better reflection of the true species representation, indicating
that both caprines and pig were more numerous than the NISP counts suggests.
Regardless of quantification technique, horse frequencies are relatively
stable, suggesting that their remains were the least fragmented of all
the taxa; an idea confirmed by the fact that many of the horse bones were
recovered complete.
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Ageing
No epiphseal fusion data were available for the Warren’s
Field pigs but information for cattle, sheep/goat and horse are presented
in Tables 3a-c. Without exception, all the bones providing evidence
are fused and there is a complete absence of foetal, neonatal and juvenile
remains. Considering the taphonomic evidence for the assemblage (Section
3) it seems probable that the dearth of sub-adult animals is due to poor
preservation conditions, with unfused specimens not surviving the processes
of disposal and burial. Since teeth are less susceptible to destruction,
cull-patterns based on dental evidence should provide a more accurate
reflection of flock/herd age structure. Sufficient numbers of mandibles
and loose teeth were recovered to allow kill-off patterns to be constructed
for cattle (Figure
4.2.3: Mortality rates for cattle) and sheep/goat (Figure
4.2.4: Mortality rates for sheep/goat) but sample sizes were again
too small for pigs, the information for which is provided in Appendix
I
Figure 4.2.3 shows that while some cattle under the age
of 6 months (Stage 3) are represented within the assemblage, the vast
mast majority (64.5%) of animals died between 6-30 months, with particularly
heavy mortality at Stage 6 (26-30 months). Few individuals survived beyond
this point; just 18% being maintained past 3-6 years (Stage 7) with none
surviving into old age. A similar lack of very mature individuals is demonstrated
by the cull-pattern for sheep/goat (Figure
4.2.4: Mortality rates for sheep/goat), which indicates that all
animals were slaughtered before reaching Stage H (6-8 years of age). Instead,
there is a significant drop-off at Stage C (6-12 months) with more animals
being slaughtered at Stages E (2-3 years) and F (3-4 years). Only four
pig mandibles provided ageing evidence and all were from animals aged
under 2 ½ years of age. According to Wilson & Allison’s notes on the
Warren’s Field equid teeth, most of the mandibles derived from mature
individuals, although he identified one set of deciduous incisors as coming
from an animal aged under one year.
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Skeletal Representation
Little variation in body part representation was noted between
the different context types. This, combined with the generally low sample
sizes, dictated the decision to combine the results from all features
and areas of the site: Table 4 provides the data for the main domesticates
in terms of NISP and MNE. Anatomical representation for each taxon is
similar, in each case mandibles are abundant with elements of high bone
density – such as the distal tibia, proximal radius, distal metapodia
and distal humerus – also being comparatively well represented. Density-dependent
patterning of this kind suggests that differential preservation, rather
than human impact, is the main factor influencing anatomical representation;
although scarcity of the smaller elements, in particular the astragalus,
calcaneum and first phalanx, may be accounted for by the lack of on-site
sieving. There is no evidence to suggest that pre-butchered joints of
meat were either imported to, or exported from, the site, and the data
provide no insight into specialist activities or disposal strategies.
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Articulating Remains
Two contexts produced collections of articulating remains:
pit number 58 yielded a group of cattle bones, and horse remains were
recovered from ditch 999. Table 5
shows the anatomical distribution for these two assemblages and it can
be seen that both consist predominantly of foot bones, with some evidence
– in the form of either mandibles or skull fragments – for the presence
of head elements. The presence of such specific body parts and the absence
of other limb bones suggests that disarticulation of the skeleton must
have occurred. No butchery marks were recorded for any of the specimens,
though it is possible that poor bone condition may have masked any such
traces.
All the cattle and horse bones appear to have been fused.
The latest fusing bones of each suggest that both individuals were adult:
on the basis of the fused distal metacarpal the horse was probably older
than 18 months, whilst the cattle remains derived from an animal of at
least 3-4 years of age, since the calcaneum was fused. Additional dental
ageing information was available for the cattle remains. The two mandibles
contained adult dentition but their third molars were not in full wear,
the distal cusps being unworn (Grant Stage D). According to Legge’s (1992)
definitions, this suggests an age at death of approximately 26-36 months,
suitably consistent with the epiphyseal fusion evidence.
The remains from these deposits were amongst the best preserved
on site and, as such, several of the elements provided measurements. Calculations
based on the cattle metatarsals suggest an animal with a shoulder height
of about 1.03m. A wither height of 1.17m was indicated by the horse metacarpal.
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Metrical Analysis
Measureable cattle and caprine bones were scarce within
the Warren’s Field assemblage and none were available for pig. Little
can, therefore, be said about the size and conformation of the main domesticates.
Perhaps the only statement that can be made with confidence is that the
cattle and sheep/goat were of a size consistent with those from other
contemporary sites in southern Britain (Centre for Human Environment and
Ecology, n.d).
Since many of the equid bones were relatively complete,
the data set for horse measurements is more substantial that that for
the other domesticates. Five metacarpals and three metatarsals provided
greatest length measurements, allowing wither heights to be calculated.
Table 6 shows that shoulder height estimates range from 1.17m-1.23m
with an average of 1.23m. Whilst these figures fit the range for other
Iron Age horses (Centre for Human Environment and Ecology, n.d), they
are significantly smaller than the animals represented in the later phases
at Claydon Pike (Sykes n.d).
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Discussion
In most respects, the assemblage is in keeping with the
regional evidence. As is the case with other Upper Thames Valley sites,
fragment counts suggest cattle and sheep/goat to be represented in roughly
equal proportions with pig being much less numerous (Hambleton 1999, 46).
Unlike Iron Age sites in Wessex, caprines do not dominate the assemblage,
perhaps suggesting that the environmental conditions along the Thames
floodplain were more suited to cattle husbandry (Grant, 1984a).
Ageing data indicate that most of the cattle were killed
in their prime (between Stage 5 and 7) with a few animals surviving to
older ages. Kill-off patterns for caprines show a similar preponderance
of young and prime aged animals, again with smaller numbers being kept
beyond 3-4 years (Stage F). These cull-patterns are typical of assemblages
from the Upper Thames Valley, and Hambleton (1999) has argued that they
suggest a mixed animal economy, whereby cattle and caprines were managed
primarily for their meat but also for their secondary products. Presumably
cattle would have been used for traction, whilst caprines would have provided
wool; both animals may have contributed to dairying. Such a management
strategy would fit well within a regime of arable production, since cattle
and caprines would have been important suppliers of manure for fertilising
the fields. Concentration on arable production could explain the low frequency
of pigs, since wherever grains are raised pigs will compete with humans
(Harris 1997). Furthermore, being solely a meat animal, pigs may have
been deemed less useful than either sheep/goat or cattle.
It is difficult to ascertain whether or not livestock were
raised on site. There is a dearth of foetal and neonatal remains and,
whilst this may be an artifice of preservation, it could equally reflect
the true situation. According to Hambleton (1999) absence of infant mortalities
is common on nearly all Iron Age sites and it seems possible that it reflects
a transhumance strategy, whereby lambing and calving took place when animals
were grazing away from the settlement. That animals returned to the site
over winter is perhaps indicated by the high sheep/goat mortality at Stage
C (Figure
4.2.4: Mortality rates for sheep/goat). Hambleton interprets this
6-12 month peak as representing individuals that failed to survive their
first winter, either as a result of natural fatality or through deliberate
culling.
Horse husbandry may have followed slightly different trends
to that of the other domesticates. Whilst most of the equid remains derived
from fully adult animals, at least one subadult specimen was recovered,
perhaps indicating that horses were reared on site. Few Iron Age sites
have yielded juvenile horse remains, prompting the suggestion that, in
this period, horses were not bred in captivity but that feral animals
were rounded up and the best individuals retained whilst the others were
released (Harcourt, 1979). Wilson & Allison (n.d) argued that while
this may have been the case for sites in Wessex, the Thames Valley may
have been a suitable environment for horse husbandry, however, it is noteworthy
that no juvenile remains were recovered from the more extensive Iron Age
settlement in neighbouring Londole’s Field (Sykes n.d). Horses were apparently
managed predominantly as riding animals. Wilson recorded no evidence to
suggest that they were used for meat but, whilst the completeness of their
remains may support this, the possibility that horse flesh was consumed
should not be ruled out. It is possible that horses were also incorporated
into expression of religious belief, their remains being ‘ritually’ deposited
.
Placed deposits of articulating bone groups have been recorded
for numerous Iron Age sites (Grant, 1991; Wilson 1992, 1999; Hill 1996)
and evidence to suggest that similar structured deposition took place
at Warren’s Field is provided by the finds of the ‘head and hoof’ horse
and cattle burials, from ditch 999 and pit 58 respectively. Similar sets
of articulating remains have been recovered from Winnal Down (Maltby,
1985), Danebury (Grant 1984b) and Owslebury (Maltby n.d). Wilson (1992)
argued that such deposits need not indicate ritual and may simply reflect
differential disposal of food and butchery waste. Certainly the anatomical
representation of deposits from contexts 999 and 58 is indicative of primary
butchery waste, however, the superior condition of the bones suggests
that they were treated differently to waste from day-to-day practices.
Wilson & Allison (n.d) have suggested that the two sets of bones represent
‘hide burials’. That the cattle remains were recovered from a pit associated
with structure 2 may indicate that they were placed as a foundation deposit,
such as that recovered from Ashville, Abingdon, where a horse leg was
found set into a post-hole (Wilson & Hamilton 1978, 125). In the absence
of any associated finds (such as human bone, pottery or metalwork) or
evidence to suggest that the remains were deposited according to a sequence
(Hill, 1995 and 1996) the true significance of the articulating cattle
and horse deposits cannot be stated conclusively.
Whilst evidence for ritual deposition is not clear, animal
bones at Warren’s Field do seem to have been discarded in a structured
way. It was seen in Section 4 that whilst the roundhouse features were
dominated by caprine bones, the enclosure ditches and linear boundaries
contain higher frequencies of cattle, horse and dog. Similar intra-site
patterning has been noted at various Iron Age sites, such as Winnall Down
(Maltby 1985) and Mingies Ditch (Wilson 1993 and 1996) where it was suggested
that preservation conditions were largely responsible for the observed
variation. Maltby (1985, 99) argued that preservation was poorest in the
ditches, where material was left exposed and, thus, rapidly fragmented:
these deposits were characterised by low rates of identifiable remains
and high frequencies of loose teeth. It was concluded that this
type of environment would favour the survival of dense cattle and horse
bones over the more fragile remains of caprines and pigs, hence their
over-representation in these features. Maltby (1985:104) also suggested
that the intra-site variation could be due to factors of carcass processing
and disposal. At Warrens Field it seems likely that this is the case.
For instance, the enclosure ditches actually contained the best preserved
material – with the highest percentage of identifiable fragments and lowest
percentage of loose teeth – suggesting that the larger food animals were
butchered towards the edge of enclosure and their remains thrown
directly into the ditch. By contrast, the structural deposits appear to
be the least well preserved, with the lowest percentage of identifiables
and highest percentage of loose teeth. It seems probable that this finer
debris resulted from the meat processing and cooking that would have taken
place within the roundhouse. Trampling may also have increased the fragmentation
of the material within these occupation deposits. Remains from the linear
boundaries are also characterised by poor rates of identification and
high frequencies of loose teeth, perhaps indicating that the material
had been subject to considerable re-working and re-deposition. That dogs
are best represented within the linear boundary features could be evidence
that the carcasses of non-food animals were discarded away from central
areas of activity.
The animal bone assemblage from Warren’s Field, whilst small,
is not without interest. Taxa frequency and ageing data add to existing
evidence for animal husbandry in the upper Thames Valley. This, combined
with the spatial patterning evidence, also provides an insight into how
animals were utilised on site.
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