Colofon TMA 56, 2017 28ste jaargang Prijs los nummer €12,Het Tijdschrit voor Mediterrane Archeologie is een onafhankelijk tijdschrit dat aandacht besteedt aan actueel archeologisch onderzoek in de mediterrane wereld, in het bijzonder verricht vanuit Nederland en België. Het overnemen van artikelen is toegestaan mits met bronvermelding. Bijdragen van lezers kunnen al dan niet verkort door de redactie worden geplaatst. TMA verschijnt twee keer per jaar. Opgave kan schritelijk of via onze website. Een abonnement kost €20,-. Studenten betalen €15,- (onder vermelding van studentnummer). Het abonnement loopt van 1 januari tot en met 31 december en wordt automatisch verlengd, tenzij een maand van tevoren schritelijk is opgezegd. Adres: Tijdschrit voor Mediterrane Archeologie Poststraat 6 9712 ER Groningen Bankgegevens: Stichting ter Ondersteuning Oudheidkundig Onderzoek IBAN: NL14INGB0005859344 BIC: INGBNL2A Inhoudsopgave Artikelen / Articles Graantransport en graanprijzen in Ramessidisch Egypte. Het recto van P. Amiens en P. Baldwin gekwantiiceerd Frits Heinrich & Paul van Pelt 1 Dietary reconstruction in Early Iron Age Greece using carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis Eleni Panagiotopoulou 13 Hongersnood, ziekte en demograie in de Romeinse mediterrane wereld Paul Erdkamp 18 Peperduur of gemeengoed? Peperconsumptie in het Romeinse Rijk gekwantiiceerd Frits Heinrich & Merit Hondelink 22 Fuel in ancient food production Robyn Veal 32 Vinea uel arbustum? Wijnteelttechnieken in Romeins Italië Dimitri Van Limbergen 38 Pompeii, a fully urban society: charting diachronic social and economic changes in the environmental evidence Charlene Murphy 45 The role of chicken in the medieval food system: evidence from Central Italy Chiara A. Corbino, Claudia Minniti, Jacopo De Grossi Mazzorin & Umberto Albarella 50 ‘Impressions’ of the Mamluk agricultural economy. Archaeobotanical evidence from clay ovens (ṭābūn) at Tall Ḥisbān (Jordan) Annette M. Hansen, Bethany J. Walker & Frits Heinrich 58 English summaries 70 KvK: 41014777 TMA online: – tijdschrit@mediterrane-archeologie.nl – mediterrane-archeologie.nl – rug.academia.edu/ TMATijdschritvoorMediterraneArcheologie – facebook.com/mediterranearcheologie Redactie: Remco Bronkhorst (hoofdredacteur), Yannick de Raaf, Tamara Dijkstra, Jord Hilbrants, Judith Jurjens, Rian Lenting, Jorn Seubers, Simon Speksnijder, Jan Ferco van der Weg, Caroline van Toor, Theo Verlaan, Anne-Jan Wijnstok, Sarah Willemsen, Evelien Witmer Gasthoofdredacteuren: Frits Heinrich & Annette M. Hansen Adviesraad: Prof. dr. P.A.J. Attema (RUG) Prof. dr. G.J.M.L. Burgers (VU) Prof. dr. R.F. Docter (UGent) Prof. dr. E.M. Moormann (RU) Dr. J. Pelgrom (KNIR) Prof. dr. J. Poblome (KULeuven) Prof. dr. M.J. Versluys (UL) Dr. G.J.M. van Wijngaarden (UvA) Ontwerp omslag: Evelien Witmer Opmaak binnenwerk: Hannie Steegstra TMA komt tot stand in samenwerking met Barkhuis Publishing, Eelde ISSN 0922-3312 81999/SOOO Recensies / Reviews War and Society in Early Rome: from Warlords to Generals Peter Attema 73 → TMA jaargang 28, nr. 56 Vervolg Recensies / Reviews continued Ricerche sui Villaggi nel Lazio dell’età Imperiale alla Tarda Antichità Gijs Tol 75 A Companion to Food in the Ancient World Annette M. Hansen 78 Middle Egyptian Literature Eight Literary Works of the Middle Kingdom Judith Jurjens 81 Archaeology of Food – an Encyclopedia Frits Heinrich 84 Roman military architecture on the frontiers: armies and their architecture in Late Antiquity Frank Beijaard 86 The Material Life of Roman Slaves René Brandhof 89 Introducties / Introductions Innovating objects. The impact of global connections and the formation of the Roman Empire (ca. 200-30 BC) Onderzoeksproject Vici (NWO, UL), Miguel John Versluys (projectleider) 92 Tradities van macht in tijden van transitie. Romeinse macht in veranderende samenlevingen (50 voor Christus - 565 na Christus) Onderzoeksproject Vici (NWO, RU), Olivier Hekster (projectleider) 93 De impact van de bevolkingstoename op de rurale samenleving in Magna Grecia gedurende de Hellenistische periode Promotieonderzoek (RUG), Tineke Roovers 94 The role of chicken in the medieval food system: evidence from Central Italy Chiara A. Corbino, Claudia Minniti, Jacopo De Grossi Mazzorin & Umberto Albarella Introduction Over the last decade the study of chicken in the archaeological context has received increased attention. Most published studies have focused on a number of core sub1 jects: the identiication of the chicken’s wild ancestor, its 2 spread from Asia to Europe, the earliest introductions of 3 it into Europe and the irst evidence of intense economic 4 exploitation. It is commonly accepted that the domestic chicken originated from the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), which was irst domesticated in eastern Asia, perhaps through 5 multiple, independent domestication events. The timing of the initial domestication, as well as its spread to the Middle East and Europe, is still unclear. In Italy, chicken remains are mentioned in contexts as early as the ninth century BC, although these require 6 veriication. By the sixth century BC, however, the oc7 currence of chicken in Italy is clearly attested. In the Classical period, domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus) is oten associated with funerary and ritual contexts. The gradual increase of its archaeological representation 8 from the fourth century BC to the sixth century AD, indicates that chickens only became widespread in the Roman period, when they began to be exploited as a valuable meat source. This increase is also expressed in a number of well-known literary sources. Roman authors, such as Columella and Pliny the Elder (irst century AD), mention the occurrence of a diversity of chicken breeds and management practices. Although chicken was exploited as a source of food in the Middle Ages, there are no medieval written sources detailing the husbandry practices adopted at that time in Italy. Shits in size throughout the Middle Ages, likely linked to differential management strategies, have been identiied 9 in Rome. This could indicate the occurrence of changes in human-chicken interactions from the Early to the Late Middle Ages in Italy. This paper aims to investigate husbandry practices adopted at rural and urban sites in Central Italy and the importance of chicken in the Central Italian medieval food economy. Materials and methods 10 In total 26 ‘period sites’ from 16 sites have been analysed and, in some cases, re-analysed (see igure 1 and table 1). They are all dated between the fourth and ifteenth century AD and are located in the Central Italian regions of Tuscany and Lazio. As many as 7,120 chicken remains have been identiied from those period sites and are included in this study (see table 1). Both sieved and hand-collected assemblages are considered in this paper, though a likely recovery bias needs to be evaluated in the interpretation of the latter. Chicken percentages are calculated out of the total 11 number of chicken, pig and sheep/goat specimens. Cattle and horses are excluded because of their very large bones, which are hardly comparable to the much smaller chicken bones, and dogs because they do not represent typical consumption animals. Since caprines and pigs have much larger bones, though not to the same extent as cattle and horse, chickens are likely to be underestimated, particularly in hand-collected assemblages. Anatomical frequencies are based on the Minimum Number of Elements (MNE). It is calculated by matching large fragments of the same anatomical elements according to side, age and preservation. A speciic number Figure 1. Map of Tuscany and Lazio showing the location of the sites discussed in the text. See table 1 for further details (igure authors). Chiara A. Corbino et al. The role of chicken in the medieval food system Table 1. Considered sites and source of data (see igure 1; table authors). ID Number Site name 1 Colosseum 2 Castiglione 3 Cencelle 4 Area of Colosseum 5 Crypta Balbi 6 Mola di Monte Gelato 7 Palazzo Vitelleschi 8 Piazza Dante 9 Piazza della Signoria 10 Rocca di Campiglia 11 Rocca Ricciarda 12 13 14 15 San Genesio Santa Cecilia Santa Severa Torraccia di Chiusi 16 Via de’Castellani (VC), Biblioteca Magliabechiana (BM) Location Rome Rieti Civitavecchia, Rome Rome Rome Rome Tarquinia, Viterbo Pisa Florence Campiglia Marittima, Grosseto Loro Ciufenna, Arezzo San Miniato, Pisa Rome Santa Severa, Rome San Gimignano, Siena Florence Region Lazio Lazio Lazio Lazio Lazio Lazio Lazio Tuscany Tuscany Tuscany Reference Bedini 2002. Minniti 2009. Minniti 2009. Delino & Minniti 2008; Minniti unpublished. De Grossi Mazzorin & Minniti 2001; Minniti 2005. King 1997; West 1997. Clark et al. 1989. Sorrentino 1993. Corridi 1995. Salvadori 2003; Corbino 2010. Tuscany Corbino 2009; Corbino 2010. Tuscany Lazio Lazio Tuscany Buonincontri 2012; Buonincontri web. Minniti 2005. Fatucci & Cerilli 2013; Fatucci & Cerilli 2015. Corbino unpublished. Tuscany Corbino 2010. Figure 2. Relative frequencies of sheep/goat (S/G), pig (P) and chicken (C) (see data in table 2). Chart A plots the mean of the means of individual sites per period. Chart B plots the mean of the total NISP for each period. All sites contribute equally to chart A regardless of sample size; conversely, in chart B, the contribution of each site is directly proportional to the sample size of its assemblage (igure authors). 51 TMA jaargang 28, nr. 56 of bones from the wing (humerus, ulna and carpometacarpus) and leg (femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus) was selected to assess the relative occurrence of each body part. Age is established on the basis of the occurrence of porosity of the articular ends of long bones, which allows the recognition of immature individuals. All femurs were drilled into using a grinding stone bit in order to determine the amount of medullary bone in the marrow cavity. Medullary bone is a characteristic feature of laying hens as the calcium deposit is needed to generate the eggshell. Long bones of mature chickens have been measured following the methodology of Von 12 13 den Driesch. A size index scaling technique was used to maximize the potential of metrical data and to compare diferent measurements with each other. carpometacarpus, femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus. Other bones, such as vertebrae and phalanges, were disregarded because of their low diagnostic value. A bone 15 16 atlas and skeletal reference collections were used for the identiication of the specimens. Data from the literature Published data from 14 period sites have also been included in this analysis (see table 2). Though counting criteria are generally unspeciied, it seems that in most cases no selection of speciic anatomical parts was carried out. The only quantiication system generally provided in publications is the NISP and this has therefore been used in this paper for inter-site comparison. Results Re-analysed assemblages Relative taxonomic frequencies based on NISP (see table 2) show a substantial increase of chicken in assemblages of late medieval sites, which corresponds to a general decrease of pig starting in the 13th century. However, in some cases, pig values are also high in late medieval assemblages, probably because of speciic food preferences. Mean percentages by period (see igure 2) conirm an increase in the occurrence of chicken in the Late Middle Ages. Two diferent calculations of NISP frequencies 12 of the period sites considered here, amounting to 5,230 chicken remains, were directly re-analysed by us to obtain consistent taxonomic, age-at-death and sex evi14 dence. Nine of these assemblages derive from sieved contexts, and are therefore less afected by recovery bias. Only selected anatomical parts were included in the Number of Identiied Specimens (NISP) count for each site: scapula, coracoid, sternum, humerus, ulna, radius, Table 2. Relative percentage of sheep/goat (%S/G), pig (%P) and chicken (%C) at medieval Italian sites. EM = Early medieval. MM = Midmedieval. LM = Late medieval. NISP represents the number of identiied bone fragments of sheep/goat, pig and chicken. Assemblages composed of a NISP fewer than 100 have been excluded (table authors). Site name Mola di Monte Gelato Torraccia di Chiusi San Genesio Crypta Balbi Crypta Balbi Crypta Balbi Passaggio di Commodo (Colosseum) Mola di Monte Gelato Piazza della Signoria Chronology 4th-6th 5th-6th 6th-7th 7th 8th 9th 7th-9th 9th EM Site type rural rural urban urban urban urban urban rural urban Mid-medieval Piazzale del Colosseum Castiglione Mola di Monte Gelato Mola di Monte Gelato San Genesio Piazza Dante Colosseum - ambiente 36 11th 11th 11th 12th 11th-12th 10th-AD 1250 11th-13th Late medieval S.Cecilia Rocca di Campiglia Piazza della Signoria (pozzo) Palazzo Vitelleschi Santa Severa Cencelle Palazzo Vitelleschi Rocca di Campiglia Via de’Castellani (VC), Biblioteca Magliabechiana (BM) Rocca Ricciarda Early medieval %S/G 37 32 35 36 37 36 35 43 20 %P 58 59 48 57 61 63 52 56 65 %C 5 8 17 7 3 1 13 1 16 NISP 479 332 139 3247 3005 3162 170 217 1165 urban rural-military rural rural urban urban urban 47 24 35 46 43 47 39 47 64 55 50 53 47 45 6 12 10 4 3 7 17 266 7320 497 152 116 931 1037 12th-13th 13th 13th 12th-14th 13th-14th 13th-14th 14th 14th 13th-15th urban-religious rural urban urban-nobles rural urban urban-nobles rural-military urban 57 30 76 20 52 37 40 58 80 29 30 21 43 35 49 30 20 16 14 40 3 37 13 14 29 22 4 2883 507 657 1972 4530 2305 8918 986 1484 14th-15th rural-military 32 52 16 1007 52 The role of chicken in the medieval food system 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Chiara A. Corbino et al. 100% T. di Chiusi 5th-6th Rural Castiglione 11th Rocca di Campiglia 13th Rocca di Campiglia 14th Rocca Ricciarda 14th-15th Crypta Balbi 7th Crypta Balbi 8th Crypta Balbi 9th Urban Colosseum 7th-9th Colosseum 11th S.Cecilia 12th-13th Cencelle 13th-14th Palazzo Vitelleschi 14th Figure 3. Frequencies of wing (humerus, ulna, carpometacarpus) and leg (femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus) bones based on MNE (igure authors). VC,BM (Florence) 13th-15th Wing 0% 20% Leg 40% 60% 100% Rural M. Monte Gelato 4th-6th T. di Chiusi 5th-6th Castiglione 11th M. Monte Gelato 11th Rocca di Campiglia 13th Rocca di Campiglia 14th Rocca Ricciarda 14th-15th 80% Urban Crypta Balbi 7th Crypta Balbi 8th Crypta Balbi 9th Colosseum 7th-9th Colosseum 11th S.Cecilia 12th-13th Cencelle 13th-14th Palazzo Vitelleschi 14th VC,BM (Florence) 13th-15th %Immature Figure 4. Frequencies of immature and mature bones based on NISP (igure authors). %Mature provided consistent results with chicken almost doubling in frequency in the late medieval period. Some high status contexts dating to the Late Middle Ages, such as Campiglia and Palazzo Vitelleschi, show particularly high proportions of chickens. Nevertheless, by this time chicken was common and widespread, and therefore unlikely to be an elite food; it is roughly equally represented in urban and rural contexts. Chicken leg bones are the most abundant at all sites (see igure 3). There are no obvious taphonomic reasons why this should be the case; thus, the preference for leg bones is more likely to be related to food choices. This is because the quantity of meat in legs is higher than in wings. Similar proportions in the occurrence of wing and leg bones could be due to local breeding and consumption of chickens, while higher frequencies of leg bones could indicate preferential consumption of items purchased from the market. Thus, it is unsurprising that at rural sites, where chicken was likely to have been locally bred, the percentages of wing bones are generally higher (ca. 40%) than at urban sites (ca. 20-30%). Three late medieval urban sites show higher proportions of wing bones, which could indicate an increase in chicken urban breeding at that time, though diferences in butchery practices are also possible. 53 TMA jaargang 28, nr. 56 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% T. di Chiusi 5th-6th Castiglione 11th Rural Rocca di Campiglia 13th Rocca di Campiglia 14th Rocca Ricciarda 14th-15th Crypta Balbi 7th Crypta Balbi 8th Crypta Balbi 9th Urban S.Cecilia 12th-13th Cencelle 13th-14th Palazzo Vitelleschi 14th VC,BM (Florence) 13th-15th %Present Figure 5. Frequencies of femurs with medullary bone (igure authors). %Absent Figure 6. Comparison of chicken size between sites using a scaling index technique (log ratio). The standard (‘0’) is represented by a contemporary 3 year-old harco breed hen. The following measurements are included: humerus (GL - greatest length, Bp - breadth of the proximal end, Bd - breadth of the distal end), ulna (GL, Bp), carpometacarpus (GL, Bp), femur (Lm, Bp, Bd), tibiotarsus (GL, Bd) and tarsometatarsus (GL, Bp, Bd). Arrow: mean; x-axis: log value; y-axis: number of specimens (igure authors). 54 The role of chicken in the medieval food system Mortality data are only available for the re-analysed assemblages; the site of Mola di Monte Gelato represents the only exception. The occurrence of immature bones through time is higher at rural sites, where chickens were likely to have been locally bred (see igure 4). However, a considerable increase in young individuals is attested at urban sites from the 13th century onward. To some extent such an increase can be associated with the nature of the site occupation. The sites concerned are Santa Cecilia (a religious-urban context), Cencelle (where chicken bones derive from a productive urban area) and the Palazzo Vitelleschi at Tarquinia (14th century contexts; an aluent urban household). The high proportions of immature bones in these three period sites seem to point in the direction of local husbandry of chicken in urban contexts. The occurrence of medullary bone in femurs indicates that some of the hens were ‘in lay’ when they died. Frequencies of femurs with this calcium deposit are considerably higher at urban sites (see igure 5). There are several possible explanations for this pattern. One possibility is that there was a greater emphasis on egg production at rural sites, and therefore a greater reluctance in slaughtering laying hens for local consumption. Biometrical analysis shows that some of the largest chickens are found in early medieval contexts from the Crypta Balbi (Rome). In the Middle and Late Middle Ages, the size of chicken appears to be fairly homogenous, though Florence and Rocca Ricciarda, which are the latest in date, have slightly larger individuals. Butchery marks are infrequent, which is to be expected as the relatively small size of the chicken body means that limited dismemberment is needed. Evidence for butchery occurred at only nine sites. In total 150 bones displayed cut marks. Most common are chop and cut marks on articulations (68%) and in particular on the distal tibiotarsus (36% of the total), probably a consequence of the dressing of the carcass. Burning marks are also uncommon (50 from 9 sites) and, when present, they mainly occur on wing and leg bones. Chiara A. Corbino et al. Domestic fowl was bred at rural sites throughout the Middle Ages, but from the 13th century onward, anatomical parts and age data point to an increase in chicken breeding in urban contexts too. At rural sites, hens were probably mainly exploited for egg production and were preferentially slaughtered when they were not laying eggs. In fact, in a traditional outdoor poultry farm, it is only convenient to kill hens when their egg productivity has declined. Conversely, in towns there is greater evidence for the consumption of hens that had been slaughtered when ‘in lay’. These must have been bred in the urban environment or speciically slaughtered to be sold in the urban market. Egg production probably occurred mainly in the countryside, though the urban population would have acquired them through the market. The variation that we have seen in chicken size at different sites is not surprising considering the well-known existence of distinct chicken breeds that are mentioned by Roman written sources. We know less about medieval chicken types, but it is likely that some of the diversity recorded for the Roman period was maintained and, in fact, may even have increased. It is interesting that the largest chickens that are discussed in this paper derive from early medieval phases. The evidence is still too scanty to suggest an overall decrease in chicken size in the course of the Middle Ages, but it is noteworthy that an increase in chicken frequency is not relected in an equivalent increase in size. Chicken sizes probably relected the needs of diferent markets, and it is possible that a larger size was not necessarily regarded as desirable. Although this research merely represents a starting point in the study of chicken exploitation in the Italian Middle Ages, this paper has shown that the available evidence, with all its limitations, has the potential to inform us about important aspects of life in the Middle Ages and changes that occurred in the course of this period. Acknowledgements This research was inancially supported by the 7th Framework Programme, Marie Curie IEF action. We are grateful to Jacopo Moggi Cecchi, Edoardo Borzatti and Marzia Fabiano for providing access to the bird bone reference collection at the University of Florence and to Antonio Tagliacozzo and Monica Gala for granting access to the collections of the Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnograico “L. Pigorini” (Rome, Italy) and the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (Rome, Italy). Conclusions Our evidence indicates an increased importance of chicken as a food source in late medieval Central Italy. From the beginning of the 13th century, important social and economic changes occurred in Europe. In Central Italy a rapid demographic growth was accompanied by the expansion of agriculture, crat manufacturing, as well as trade and bank activities. The Black Death of the 14th century caused a demographic collapse. Nonetheless, businesses recovered rapidly, wages increased, and the 17 lifestyle of the lower and middle classes improved. This probably led to an increased demand for higher quality food, such as meat. Chicken meat would have provided a welcome addition to staple meats such as beef, pork and mutton. Literature Bedini, E. 2002, “I reperti faunistici” in Rota Colisei. La valle del Colosseo attraverso i secoli, (ed.) R. Rea, pp. 405-428. Buonincontri, S.G. online, Archeozoologia. Available at: http:// archeologiamedievale.unisi.it/luoghi/genesio/archeozoologia.htm. 55 TMA jaargang 28, nr. 56 dati preliminari” in Atti del 7° Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia, (eds.) U. 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Fatucci, M. & Cerilli, E. 2015, “Gli uccelli nel castello di Santa Severa (Roma) durante il Basso Medioevo (XIII - XIV secolo): signiicato paleoeconomico e ambientale, 56 The role of chicken in the medieval food system Chiara A. Corbino et al. the Bronze Age to the Roman period. His research also includes the integration of zooarchaeology with other archaeological disciplines. He is currently president of the Italian ArchaeoZoological Association (A.I.A.Z.). Storey, A.A., Athens, J.S., Bryant, D., Carson, M., Emery, K. et al. 2012, “Investigating the global dispersal of chickens in prehistory using ancient mitochondrial DNA signatures”, PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 7, e39171. Tomek, T. & Bocheński, Z.M. 2009, A key for the identiication of domestic bird bones in Europe: Galliformes and Columbiformes, Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow. Von den Driesch, A. 1976, A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites, Peabody Museum Bulletin, vol. 1, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge. West, B. 1997, “The bird bones” in Excavation at the Mola di Monte Gelato, (eds.) T.W. Potter & A.C. King, pp. 403-407. West, B. & Zhou, B.X. 1998, “Did chickens go North? New evidence for domestication”, Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 15, pp. 515-533. Umberto Albarella (u.albarella@sheield.ac.uk) is a Reader in Zooarchaeology at the University of Sheield (UK). He studied Natural Sciences at the University of Naples (Italy) and obtained his PhD from the University of Durham (UK). He has also worked at the Universities of Lecce (Italy), Birmingham (UK) and Durham (UK), as well as for English Heritage. His main areas of research include domestication, pastoralism, ethnography, husbandry innovations and the integration of diferent strands of archaeological research. His work is predominantly based in Britain and Italy, but he has also worked in Armenia, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and Portugal. Within archaeology, he has been an advocate for global and social justice. About the authors Chiara A. Corbino (chiara.corbino@gmail.com) is a postdoctoral fellow (Marie Curie IEF) at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheield (UK). She obtained her PhD from the University of Siena (Italy). Her research focuses on animal husbandry, bird exploitation, taphonomy and climate change. She is the senior zooarchaeologist at several international research projects in Italy and Jordan. Her main period of interest is the Middle Ages. In the last six years, she has focused on the study of bird remains from the Roman period to the end of the Middle Ages in Italy and England. Endnotes 1 Miao et al. 2013; Peters et al. 2016. 2 West & Zhou 1998; Storey et al. 2012. 3 Serjeantson 2009: pp. 268-273. 4 De Cupere et al. 2005; Perry-Gal et al. 2015. 5 Kanginakudru et al. 2008; Liu et al. 2006. 6 De Grossi Mazzorin 2005: p. 352. 7 De Grossi Mazzorin 2005: pp. 352-353. Claudia Minniti (claudia.minniti@unisalento.it) is a Research Associate at the Dipartimento di Beni Culturali of the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy). Previously she worked as a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Sheield (UK). Her research interests include the study of animal remains from archaeological sites with an integration of various disciplines (i.e. history, ethnography, zoology, and ethology). Her work has resulted in over 90 papers in national and international journals, conference proceedings and books, including her book Hunting, Animal exploitation and Social Complexity in Central Italy between the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age. 8 De Grossi Mazzorin & Minniti 2009: tab. 15, p. 53. 9 De Grossi Mazzorin 2005: pp. 355-357. 10 The 26 ‘period sites’ are showed in table 2; they all derive from the 16 sites listed in table 1. For ‘period site’ we mean the assemblage from a particular chronological period of a site. 11 Maltby 1998: p. 406. 12 Von den Driesch 1976. 13 Meadow 1999. 14 Assemblages from Castiglione, Cencelle, Crypta Balbi, Palazzo Vitelleschi (14th century), Rocca di Campiglia, Rocca Ricciarda, Santa Cecilia, Torraccia di Chiusi, via de Castellani and Biblioteca Magliabechiana have been re-analysed. For speciic information about each context see table 2. Jacopo De Grossi Mazzorin (jacopo.degrossi@unisalento.it) is a Lecturer in Archaeozoology at the Dipartimento di Beni Culturali of the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy). His work has resulted in over 180 scientiic papers. He is involved in numerous Italian and international archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean. He is specialised in the study of faunal remains from archaeological sites and their cultural interpretation, mainly dating from 15 Tomek & Bocheński 2009. 16 The bird bone reference collections used to identify the chicken remains are those held at: the Department of Biology at the University of Florence (Italy), the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheield (UK), the Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnograico “L. Pigorini” (Rome, Italy) and the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (Rome, Italy). 17 Goldthwaite 1984: pp. 54-57. 57