- Department of Archaeology
University of Sheffield
Northgate House
West Street
Sheffield S1 4ET
United Kingdom - (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943
Umberto Albarella
The University of Sheffield, Archaeology, Faculty Member
- I have a first degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Naples (Italy), but I became interested in anthropol... moreI have a first degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Naples (Italy), but I became interested in anthropology and then archaeology since I was a second year undergraduate student back in 1982. In the 80’s I was actively engaged in archaeological fieldwork in Italy and then became involved in a three year project funded by the Italian government that gave me the opportunity to study large assemblages of animal bones from urban Roman and medieval sites in Naples.
In 1991 I worked in England for the first time, thanks to a scholarship from the Institute of Archaeology (London). I then went back to Italy to teach Bioarchaeology at the University of Lecce but in 1993 I moved permanently back to England.
I worked at English Heritage (London) 1993-5, the University of Birmingham 1995-2000 and the University of Durham from 2000 to 2004, when I eventually moved to the University of Sheffield. I have had a great diversity of experiences in my career and my research has taken me to many different countries, but I love living and working in Sheffield, where I have created a vibrant research team in zooarchaeology. In addition to my interest in past human-animal relationships, which is my main area of research, I believe in the political responsibility of archaeologists towards issues of social justice.edit
Deer hunting was heavily ritualized in medieval Europe, as indicated by historical and archaeological evidence; it also emphasized social differentiation. The butchery of a deer carcass (‘unmaking’) was integral to the ritual and led to... more
Deer hunting was heavily ritualized in medieval Europe, as indicated by historical and archaeological evidence; it also emphasized social differentiation. The butchery of a deer carcass (‘unmaking’) was integral to the ritual and led to different body parts being destined for individuals of differing status. Archaeologically, the practice is particularly visible in high-status sites in Britain, but documentary and archaeological sources are consistent in pinpointing its earliest occurrence in twelfth-century France. In Italy, late medieval evidence for such ‘unmaking’ is present but is not supported by any known historical sources. Red and fallow deer were butchered in a formalized manner, whereas the data for roe deer are unclear. Although the Normans contributed to the diffusion of the ‘unmaking’ practice, in France it is also found outside the core area of Norman influence. The extensive spread of the practice demonstrates the connectedness of the medieval hunting culture in Europe.
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Botanical and faunal remains from a 3rd-4th century AD Roman farm at the modern Great Holts Farm, Boreham have provided a picture of an agricultural system based predominantly on arable production. Agrarian innovation is evinced by the... more
Botanical and faunal remains from a 3rd-4th century AD Roman farm at the modern Great Holts Farm, Boreham have provided a picture of an agricultural system based predominantly on arable production. Agrarian innovation is evinced by the bones of exceptionally large cattle which, it is suggested, may have been imported as powerful tractors so as to exploit heavy clay soils more effectively. Although the farm house was a vernacular timber building, lacking decorative refinements, the occupants were affluent: they had the resources to consume imported plant foods and preserved fish, and to enjoy recreations including hunting and, probably, hawking (or some other form of hunting with tamed raptors). Architectural pretension was not the only way to express affluence and status in the countryside of late Roman Britain; structural remains are only one indication of prosperity. Biological evidence for economy, diet and lifestyle can be equally significant.
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Parker-Pearson et al (2011) feeding StonehengeFeeding Stonehenge: Feasting in Late Neolithic Britain. In G.Aranda Jiménez, S.Montón-Subías & M.Sánchez Romero (eds.). Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Feasting rituals in the prehistoric societies of Europe and the Near East, pp.73-90. Oxford: Oxbow Booksmore
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Research Interests: Anthropology and Italy
Research Interests: Zooarchaeology and Italy
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Tissue-thin parchment made it possible to produce the first pocket Bibles: Thousands were made in the 13th century. The source of this parchment, often called " uterine vellum, " has been a long-standing controversy in codicology. Use of... more
Tissue-thin parchment made it possible to produce the first pocket Bibles: Thousands were made in the 13th century. The source of this parchment, often called " uterine vellum, " has been a long-standing controversy in codicology. Use of the Latin term abortivum in many sources has led some scholars to suggest that the skin of fetal calves or sheep was used. Others have argued that it would not be possible to sustain herds if so many pocket Bibles were produced from fetal skins, arguing instead for unexpected alternatives, such as rabbit. Here, we report a simple and objective technique using standard conservation treatments to identify the animal origin of parchment. The noninvasive method is a variant on zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide mass fingerprinting but extracts protein from the parchment surface by using an electrostatic charge generated by gentle rubbing of a PVC eraser on the membrane surface. Using this method, we analyzed 72 pocket Bibles originating in France, England, and Italy and 293 additional parchment samples that bracket this period. We found no evidence for the use of unexpected animals; however, we did identify the use of more than one mammal species in a single manuscript, consistent with the local availability of hides. These results suggest that ultra-fine vellum does not necessarily derive from the use of abortive or newborn animals with ultrathin hides, but could equally well reflect a production process that allowed the skins of maturing animals of several species to be rendered into vellum of equal quality and fineness.
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Wilkie T., Mainland I., Albarella U., Dobney K. & Rowley-Conwy P. 2007. A dental microwear study of pig diet and management in Iron Age, Romano-British, Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval contexts in England. In Pigs and Humans: 10,000 years of interaction, pp.241-54. Oxford: Oxford University Press.more
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In this paper, a terminology for the description of the movement of animal bone in archaeological stratigraphy is proposed and discussed. It is suggested that the terms ‘redeposition’ and ‘residuality’ are adopted to describe movement of... more
In this paper, a terminology for the description of
the movement of animal bone in archaeological stratigraphy is
proposed and discussed. It is suggested that the terms ‘redeposition’
and ‘residuality’ are adopted to describe movement
of bone from earlier to later levels, and ‘intrusion’ and
‘contamination’ to describe movement from later to earlier
levels. While re-deposition and intrusion generically indicate
movement of bones between different places and layers,
residuality and contamination more specifically imply that
the bones were found in a phase that was different from the
one they were originally deposited in. Consequently, while redeposition
and intrusion describe actual physical events,
residuality and contamination represent analytical constructs,
entirely dependent on the way archaeological phasing is designed.
It is suggested that, whether such terminology is
adopted or not, zooarchaeologists should be more explicit
about the meaning of the concepts they use to describe animal
bone movement and that they also make them as relevant as
possible to broader archaeological concerns, rather than merely
borrowing from the palaeontological tradition.
the movement of animal bone in archaeological stratigraphy is
proposed and discussed. It is suggested that the terms ‘redeposition’
and ‘residuality’ are adopted to describe movement
of bone from earlier to later levels, and ‘intrusion’ and
‘contamination’ to describe movement from later to earlier
levels. While re-deposition and intrusion generically indicate
movement of bones between different places and layers,
residuality and contamination more specifically imply that
the bones were found in a phase that was different from the
one they were originally deposited in. Consequently, while redeposition
and intrusion describe actual physical events,
residuality and contamination represent analytical constructs,
entirely dependent on the way archaeological phasing is designed.
It is suggested that, whether such terminology is
adopted or not, zooarchaeologists should be more explicit
about the meaning of the concepts they use to describe animal
bone movement and that they also make them as relevant as
possible to broader archaeological concerns, rather than merely
borrowing from the palaeontological tradition.
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The discovery of Neolithic houses at Durrington Walls that are contemporary with the main construction phase of Stonehenge raised questions as to their interrelationship. Was Durrington Walls the residence of the builders of Stonehenge?... more
The discovery of Neolithic houses at
Durrington Walls that are contemporary with
the main construction phase of Stonehenge
raised questions as to their interrelationship.
Was Durrington Walls the residence of the
builders of Stonehenge? Were the activities
there more significant than simply domestic
subsistence? Using lipid residue analysis,
this paper identifies the preferential use of
certain pottery types for the preparation
of particular food groups and differential
consumption of dairy and meat products
between monumental and domestic areas of
the site. Supported by the analysis of faunal
remains, the results suggest seasonal feasting
and perhaps organised culinary unification of a diverse community.
Durrington Walls that are contemporary with
the main construction phase of Stonehenge
raised questions as to their interrelationship.
Was Durrington Walls the residence of the
builders of Stonehenge? Were the activities
there more significant than simply domestic
subsistence? Using lipid residue analysis,
this paper identifies the preferential use of
certain pottery types for the preparation
of particular food groups and differential
consumption of dairy and meat products
between monumental and domestic areas of
the site. Supported by the analysis of faunal
remains, the results suggest seasonal feasting
and perhaps organised culinary unification of a diverse community.
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Articolo parte del volume Studi di Archeozoologia, curato da Umberto Tecchiati e Benedetto Sala, pubblicato in occasione del Convegno "Studi di archeozoologia in onore di Alfredo Riedel" (26 settembre 2006), promosso... more
Articolo parte del volume Studi di Archeozoologia, curato da Umberto Tecchiati e Benedetto Sala, pubblicato in occasione del Convegno "Studi di archeozoologia in onore di Alfredo Riedel" (26 settembre 2006), promosso dall'Ufficio Beni Archeologici della Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano-Alto Adige
The recording of tooth wear is vital to the exploration of age in zooarchaeological assemblages; however, most tooth wear systems currently only apply to mandibular teeth, meaning that information from maxillary teeth and jaws is not... more
The recording of tooth wear is vital to the exploration of age in zooarchaeological assemblages; however, most tooth wear systems currently only apply to mandibular teeth, meaning that information from maxillary teeth and jaws is not being used. For pig, the most commonly used system for mandibular teeth is that of Grant (1982). Bull and Payne (1982), however, laid out a different system which applied to both the upper and lower teeth, although the tooth wear stages distinguished only between initial enamel wear and dentine exposure. A modified version of this system was used to record teeth from the Durrington Walls 1966-67 excavations by (as mentioned briefly by Albarella and Payne, 2005), but was not ever fully published. In 2004 the establishment of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, meant that new material was available to record, and the relatively high number of maxillary teeth being uncovered clarified the need to use this data. In this dissertation a modified and expanded ve...
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Bones of a crane (probably Grus grus) and a large vulture have been found in middle Bronze Age levels of the southern Italian site of La Starza. It is suggested that these birds may have been hunted for their feathers. © 1997 John Wiley... more
Bones of a crane (probably Grus grus) and a large vulture have been found in middle Bronze Age levels of the southern Italian site of La Starza. It is suggested that these birds may have been hunted for their feathers. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ... Copyright © 19992011 John ...