The impact of the Roman Empire on animal husbandry practices: study of the changes in cattle morphology in the north-eas
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The impact of the Roman Empire on animal husbandry practices: study of the changes in cattle morphology in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula through osteometric and ancient DNA analyses Lídia Colominas & Angela Schlumbaum & Maria Saña
Received: 4 October 2012 / Accepted: 2 January 2013 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Abstract The change in cattle size during the late Iron Age and the Early Roman period is a widely known phenomenon. However, hardly any information is available about this change and its causes in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In order to shed more light on this issue, variations of cattle size and shape through the analysis of Bos taurus remains from ten archaeological sites located in the northeast Iberia and occupied from the middle fifth century BC to the third century AD are examined in this paper. Osteometric postcranial and teeth analyses show a clear change in cattle size and shape during the Romanization period at newly founded sites. This change is documented at all the sites from the Early Roman period. Genetically, authenticated results from a short fragment of the mitochondrial d-loop were obtained from 6 cattle metacarpals out of 33 tested. They affiliate to the main European taurine haplogroup T/T3. The integration of the available data including the archaeological background suggests that the presence of
L. Colominas (*) Mc Donald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK e-mail: [email protected] A. Schlumbaum Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, Basel 4055, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] L. Colominas : M. Saña Laboratori d’Arqueozoologia, Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra 08193, Spain M. Saña e-mail: [email protected]
these morphologically different cattle, introduced during the Romanization period, was more pronounced at sites interpreted as villas and trading posts, rather than at cities during the Early Roman period. Keywords Bos taurus . Middle Iron Age . Early Roman period . Osteometry . Ancient DNA . Iberian Peninsula
Introduction The incorporation of new regions as provinces of the Roman Empire and the consequent establishment of a different political and economic model led to changes in the relations of production which were practiced by the communities that settled in those regions. These changes also affected animal husbandry strategies. Archaeozoological studies have shown that in the first century AD, significant changes occurred in the morphology of domestic animals (Noddle 1984; Teichert 1984; Lauwerier 1988; Driesch 1992; Audoin-Rouzeau 1995; Dobney et al. 1996; Peters 1998; Breuer et al. 1999; Murphy et al. 2000; Forest and Rodet-Belarbi 2002; Lepetz and Yvinec 2002; MacKinnon 2004, 2010; Oueslati 2006; Schlumbaum et al. 2003; Albarella et al. 2008). These changes consisted primarily of an increase in size documented repeatedly in different and geographical
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