Cattle management in an Iron Age/Roman settlement in the Netherlands: Archaeozoological and stable isotope analysis

Biehl, Peter F.; Groot, Maaike; Albarella, Umberto; Eger, Jana; Evans, Jane. 2021 Cattle management in an Iron Age/Roman settlement in the Netherlands: Archaeozoological and stable isotope analysis. PLOS ONE, 16 (10), e0258234. 10.1371/journal.pone.0258234

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258234

Abstract/Summary

Cattle were the predominant domestic animal in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands, yet their management is still incompletely understood. Some aspects of cattle management, such as birth season and the provision of fodder, have received little or no attention so far. This paper is the first to investigate these aspects for the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands, through a case study of the site of Houten-Castellum. The rural settlement of Houten-Castellum was inhabited from the Middle Iron Age to the Middle Roman period, allowing a comparison between the Iron Age and Roman period. Excavations at this site have yielded a large, well-preserved animal bone assemblage. This paper investigates cattle husbandry by using an integrated approach, combining a multi-isotope analysis (oxygen, carbon and strontium) with archaeozoological and archaeobotanical results from Houten-Castellum and comparing the results with archaeobotanical evidence for fodder and evidence for dairy use for the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands in general. While our data set is small and results must therefore be interpreted cautiously, there is convincing evidence for an extended birth season in the Middle Iron Age, as well as the use of fodder.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1371/journal.pone.0258234
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date made live:	24 Nov 2022 15:13 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533619

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1371/journal.pone.0258234

ISSN:

1932-6203

Date made live:

24 Nov 2022 15:13 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533619