Ageing Bones through Butchery Methods #1: The Iron Age

Ageing Bones through Butchery Methods #1: The Iron Age

As part of my course in Msc Osteoarchaeology, I have been researching a site called Westward House near Fishbourne. As part of this research I have been looking at identifying who occupied the site from the way they butchered animals which can be seen on the surviving animal bone. The way an animal is butchered varies from period to period. This was first recognised by Maltby (2007) who noted distinct patterns of Roman style butchery, that was unique to the period due to the appearance of specialist butchers for the first time. 

                  For this blog I have looked at the most common type of butchery found on bones from the Iron Age period. To do this I took the most detailed Iron Age butchery analysis available (Wilson 1978) and looked at whether the patterns noted, were reflected on other Iron Age sites, to create a few ‘tell-tale’ signs of an Iron Age butcher. 

Note: The following ‘signs’ have been developed for Cattle due to that being what my research at Westward House is focusing on. I haven’t tested this on other species yet! Some of these signs may also apply to other periods, however if a lot of these signs are occurring they do give a good indication that they are e.g. more likely to be Iron Age than Roman.

Sign #1: The Skull

                               The skull is commonly found in Iron Age deposits due to complete inhumations often being placed at the bottom of pits and ditches. The Iron Age hillfort of Battlesbury Bowl found a number of skulls, a number of which contained evidence of butchery. Cut marks were found around the cranium, eye socket/zygomatic and below the horn cores. This pattern was also found on skulls from Abingdon and Maiden Castle. This has been interpreted as the skinning of the skull to be used as decoration, e.g pole axed or hung.

                               Another sign to look out for on the skull is transverse cuts below the condyles of the mandible and cuts on the maxilla which were used to remove the tongue and cheek meat. This is different from the Roman period, were large cleaver marks are more commonly seen in these areas.

Sign #2: The Scapula

                               The scapula/shoulder blade is often a  focal point of butchery due to it often being used to disarticulate the upper limbs. The analysis of the Abingdon Iron Age material showed that small cut marks were common just behind the glenoid cavity in Iron Age remains. This is a pattern also seen at Maiden Castle and Battlesbury Bowl.

Figure 1: Scapula showing where the small precise cut marks were noted from the Abingdon assemblage. Wilson 1978.

     Sign #3: The Long Bones

                            

                             Long bones show a similar pattern to the scapula, with small fine cut marks being seen around the articulations of bones, for the purpose of disarticulation and meat removal. Common areas where fine knife cuts are seen are the distal Humerus (See figure 2), the Proximal Ulna and Radius (See figure 3) and proximal Metapodials. This method of butchery also appears on Iron Age animal bone assemblages such as Abingdon, Maiden Castle, Norse Road and Battlesbury Bowl. 

Figure 2: Diagram of the Distal Humerus showing where the small precise cut marks were noted from the Abingdon assemblage. Wilson 1978.

Figure 3: Diagram of the Proximal Ulna showing where the cut marks were noted from the Abingdon assemblage. Wilson 1978.

Figure 4: Diagram of Proximal Metapodials showing where the cut marks were noted from the Abingdon assemblage. Wilson 1978.

Sign #4: The Astragalus and Calcaneus

                          The final, and one of the most distinct, Iron Age butchery marks is from the Astragalus and Calcaneus bones. When the Astragalus and Calcaneus are articulated (as shown in figure 5), a large number of transverse cut marks are seen, particularly on the anterior Astragalus. This is a pattern seen on Iron Age sites such as Maiden Castle and Abingdon where they were noted as being ‘prolific’ (Wilson 1978). 

Figure 4: Diagram of the Astragalus and Calcaneus showing where the cut marks were noted from the Abingdon assemblage. Wilson 1978.

Other Iron Age butchery methods have been noted and are worth a mention such as the trimming of the vertebral column and cut marks around the articular areas of vertebrae. However the few ‘Signs’ outlined give a good indication of where typical Iron Age butchery can be seen, and shows how the analysis of butchery can be used to date a bone assemblage.

 Although it is possible that e.g. cut marks on the astragalus can be from the Roman or Medieval periods, when a large assemblage contains a lot of these signs it is likely to be Iron Age. Furthermore, another interesting aspect about Iron Age butchery is the lack of chop and cleaver marks, with small cut marks often being the only type of butchery being seen, almost being as distinctive as the signs outlined above.

Bibliography/Further Reading

Armour-Chelu, M., 1991.  The Faunal Remains.  In: Sharples, N. Maiden Castle: Excavations and Field Survey 1985-1986.  London: English Heritage Archaeological Report. 19, 139-151.

Maltby, M., 2007. Chop and Change: Specialist Cattle Carcass Processing In Roman Britain. In: Croxford, B., Ray, N., Roth, R. and White, N. (Eds.) TRAC 2006: Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Wilson, B., 1978. Methods and Results of Bone Analysis. In: Parrington, M.,1978. The Excavation of an Iron Age Settlement, Bronze Age Ring Ditches and Roman Features at Ashville Trading Estate Abingdon. Oxfordshire: Oxfordshire Archaeological Unit Report 1.