Animal Deposition in Bronze Age Europe
PhD Candidate: Eleanor Swallow
Supervisor: (opens in a new window)Professor Joanna Bruck
Funding: (opens in a new window)European Research Council as part of the project 'Animals and Society in Bronze Age Europe'
Abstract
This PhD forms one component of the ERC project ‘Animals and Society in Bronze Age Europe’. Drawing on work in animal studies that highlights how living with animals involves intimate interaction and interdependency, the ERC project investigates the intertwining of human and animal identities and considers how the social and cultural significance of animals affected how they were farmed, managed and consumed.
The PhD examines depositional practices which employed animal bodies or animal elements in the project’s three study areas: Britain and Ireland; the Low Countries and southern Scandinavia; and southern Poland. The depositional contexts from which animal bone has been recovered are key to understanding the cultural meanings and values ascribed to them. The treatment and deposition of animal bone in inhumation and cremation graves will be investigated, recording species, element and placement in the grave relative to the human body and to other grave goods to elucidate, for example, whether animals were deposited as offerings or companions; whether human and animal bodies were treated in different ways; and how the social, symbolic and ritual significance of cattle and sheep compares with other animals, such as horses and dogs, with whom humans had close relationships. The deposition of animals in settlements and other non-mortuary contexts will also be examined. The analysis of species composition, body part representation and associations will facilitate the identification of votive deposits in settlement contexts, as well as illuminating the cultural categories and systems of value that shaped everyday refuse disposal practices. A detailed investigation of the spatial location of deposits will be carried out to identify activity areas and areas for refuse disposal; to consider the relationship between animal deposits and houses; and to address the location of animals in Bronze Age cosmographies. Data will be collated from existing zooarchaeological reports, with primary analysis of key assemblages where required.