ROMAN FAUNAL REMAINS

• Bibliography
• Diet in the Roman World. Summary of an article published in Journal of Roman Archaeology 12, 1999.
• Pompeii bones
• Back to Tony King's Homepage

I have been working for many years now on faunal remains from Roman sites. Research interest in this subject arose originally from an undergraduate dissertation for the Institute of Archaeology, London. This work has steadily expanded since with the analysis of individual site assemblages and in comparative surveys. My work has specialised in studying the diet and animal husbandry of the western Roman Empire.

The dissertation was reworked as a survey of Roman bone assemblages from Britain, published in 1978, which still remains a standard reference on the subject desp ite much subsequent research. The survey was supplemented by a western-Europe-wide survey, which attempted to define dietary regions and social groupings. This, too, has formed the basis for further comparative work in the study of Roman bone assemblages. More recently, an empire-wide survey of animal bone assemblages has been completed, published in Journal of Roman Archaeology, 12, 1999. Current work is focused upon further comparative and synoptic analysis of animal bone assemblages from the Roman empire.

Other articles of a synoptic nature are on animal bones and villa economies, animal bones and the Roman army, meat production and consumption in Roman Britain, entries on alimentation and animal husbandry for the Enciclopedia Italiana d'Archeologia (in press), and a chapter comparing faunal remains and artistic representations at Pompeii for a volume on The Natural History of Pompeii (in press).

An important aspect of research into faunal remains has been the preparation of reports on assemblages from individual excavations. All interpretative work is built upon this basis, and in this respect, my analysis of assemblages from Roman Italy has laid the foundations for our understanding of diet and animal economies in a key region of the R oman world. Large groups of bones have been reported on from Settefinestre villa, Naples, Pompeii (forthcoming) and Monte Gelato villa/church, together with smaller groups from a number of sites in northern and central Italy. Currently, a large group from the Roman forum excavations is in the process of being set up for analysis.

Roman and Islamic bones from Setif, Algeria, have also been reported on, and two groups from Spain; Vilauba villa and Peñaflor town. In Britain, assemblages have been examined from London, Canterbury, Cirencester, Dicket Mead villa, Clarendon medieval palace, as well as a number of smaller sites.