ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL VIEW ON THE MEDIEVAL ECONOMY IN THE SETTLEMENT OF BAIA (SUCEAVA COUNTY)

Transcription

1 ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL VIEW ON THE MEDIEVAL ECONOMY IN THE SETTLEMENT OF BAIA (SUCEAVA COUNTY) Roxana MAFTEI 1 and Luminiţa BEJENARU 2 1 Highschool Miron Costin, 11, Izvoarelor Street, Paşcani; Romania, rxnmfti05@yahoo.es 2 Al. I. Cuza University Iaşi, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20A, Iaşi, Romania, lumib@uaic.ro Abstract. This study concerns the medieval site of Baia (Suceava County). The study is mainly focus on subsistence as reflected by archaeozoological analyses. Previous archaeozoological publications discuss the fauna discovered in the medieval site of Baia, since The present paper synthesis the data presented by previous studies, as well as includes personal unpublished data. Mammal remains are describes in terms of their frequencies, age and sex selection, and also in terms of the skeleton size. Keywords: Baia, Archaeozoology, Middle Ages, Domestic mammals, Wild mammals. Rezumat. Studiu arheozoologic privind economia medievală din aşezarea de la Baia (judeţul Suceava). Acest studiu arheozologic se referă la situl medieval de la Baia (judeţul Suceava), fiind axat în principal pe subzistenţa comunităţii. Fauna descoperită in situl medieval de la Baia, încă din a fost studiată în alte câteva publicaţii anterioare. Prezenta lucrare sintetizează datele prezentate în studiile anterioare, dar include şi date personale nepublicate. Analiza resturile de mamifere urmăreşte frecventa lor, selecţia pe vârste şi sex, precum şi mărimea scheletului. Cuvinte cheie: Baia, arheozoologie, evul mediu, mamifere domestice, mamifere sălbatice. Introduction The archeological site of Baia is situated in the Suceava County on the right side of Moldova River. The archaeological investigation of the medieval site of Baia broached the way for archaeozoological studies concerning economical development of this medieval town. Baia is one of those Romanian towns which existed before the foundation of the Feudal state. Archeological excavations certify the existence of urban life in Baia since the second half of the XIII th century. The appearance and the development of this early town were stimulated by the richness of the soil and by the position of the place on an ancient but very important commercial route. The settlement in these places of some groups of Hungarian and German artisans and workers probably contributed to this development. They got here from Transylvania in the second half of the XIII th century and after that the first capital of the incipient Feudal State was settled here in Baia. Archaeological excavations in this area were made by the team of Eugenia Neamţu, Vasile Neamţu and Stela Cheptea starting from 1958 until 1978 (Neamţu et al., 1980). A part of these remains were studied by Haimovici (1980) and Bejenaru with her students (2006) and another part of them is the object of a doctoral thesis. Due to the various samples studied we were able to make a synthesis of all the results. Material and Methods The study of the present paper is based on a faunal assemblage recovered from the archaeological excavations made in in the medieval site of Baia (Suceava County, Romania). According to the archaeologists, the archaeozoological sample belongs to XIV-XVII centuries (Neamţu et al., 1980).

2 Roxana Maftei & Luminiţa Bejenaru The archaeozoological analysis was achieved in the Laboratory of Animal Morphology, Faculty of Biology. The study methodology was specific to archaeozoology, mainly consisting of anatomical and taxonomical identifications, encoding and quantification of data (Udrescu et al., 1999). In this approach we used the standard measures provided by A. Van den Driesch s osteometrical guide (1976). Among the sample remains those representing domestic animals are the ones which prevail. This study contains a synthesis of the data resulting from the analysis of seven archaeozoological samples from the medieval site of Baia and tries to correlate all these data. Table 1. Archaeozoological samples studied from Baia. No. Reference Samples 1 Nistor, 2003 Sample 1 2 Albu, 2002 Sample 2 3 Ionescu, 2002 Sample 3 4 Bejenaru & Agache, 2000 Sample 4 5 Maftei, 2002 (unpublished data) Sample 5 6 Maftei, 2004 (unpublished data) Sample 6 7 Bejenaru, 2000 Sample 7 Results and Discussion The list of the animals that have been identified in all the publications on Baia site is relatively long and is shown in Table 2. In a large measure, the variety of the animal species identified depends on assemblage size. Table 2. Taxonomic list that includes the identified animals. Class Order Family Genus and species Common name Pisces Acipenseriformes Acipenser sp. Sturgeon Clasa Osteichthyes Clasa Aves Galliformes Phasianidae Gallus domesticus Domestic hen Aseriformes Anatidae Anser domesticus Domestic goose Clasa Mammalia Lagomorpha Leporinae Lepus europaeus Hare Artiodactyla Suidae Sus scrofa ferus Wild boar Sus scrofa domesticus Pig Cervidae Cervus elaphus Red deer Capreolus capreolus Roe deer Bovidae Bos primigenius Aurochs Bos taurus Cattle Ovis aries Sheep Capra hircus Goat Perissodactyla Equidae Equus caballus Horse Carnivora Canidae Canis familiaris Dog Ursidae Ursus arctos Bear A first analysis of the data reveals the predominance of the domestic animal remains in all samples showing very clearly that the main source of food for the people of Baia in those times came from breeding animals. Hunting was just a secondary activity of relatively little importance for the inhabitants, practiced especially for eating, because in all samples the remains of the species which could have been hunted for the fur are very few. The proportion in number of rests (NR) of wild mammal remains in all studied samples is quite small compared to that of domestic mammals. Among the wild mammals

3 identified in the samples from Baia, the high frequencies are recorded for: red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). sample 7 99,73 0,27 sample 6 99,42 0,58 sample 5 99,32 0,68 sample 4 99,01 0,99 sample 3 86,94 13,06 sample 2 99,37 0,63 sample 1 99,43 0, Domestic mammals Wild mammals Figure 1. Proportion in % NR of domestic and wild mammals. Animal breeding represents the main source of food for the inhabitants of Baia. The percentage of domestic mammals compared to the wild ones shows this thing very clearly. Domestic mammals contributed to the diet of the inhabitants of medieval Baia in a percentage between 86.94% and 99.73%. The identified domestic species are: Bos taurus, Ovis aries/capra hircus, Sus domesticus and Equus caballus. In all the samples under study, the predominant domestic mammals are cattle and pig, considering both the number of the identified remains (NR) and the minimum number of individuals (MNI). The percentage of these species varies from one sample to another in small limits, but cattle predominate in all of them. In the analysis of the remains belonging to each group of domestic mammals we may observe that the main source of food was represented by domestic cattle. The cattle remains are numerous; the proportion varies in all samples between 62.96% and 87.06%. That high proportion ascribed to this group is accountable if we think that besides food, cattle were raised for milk, skin and dragging and also because the length of these bones which, through breaking, could overestimate this group. The age of slaughter for the domestic cattle was appreciated both by the epiphyzation state of appendicular bones and the state of dental eruption and erosion. The age estimation by the dental eruption is more accurate and shows an average age of slaughter between 4-6 years. Little ages are avoided because the cattle were bred for the secondary products also. Among the adult cattle, the first place is taken by females who were used both for primary and secondary products, followed by castrate males used for dragging and by males who were sacrificed probably at a young age. The variability interval for the sizes is quite large with a higher average than the other averages from other towns at the time (Bejenaru, 2006). Even if the range of sizes is wide, the most frequent values are those between mm.

4 Roxana Maftei & Luminiţa Bejenaru sample 7 sample 6 76,89 87,06 15,49 3,8 3,29 8,08 1,38 0,61 sample 5 sample 4 82,02 80,36 4,26 12,58 1,61 9,81 0,8 0,22 sample 3 62,96 12,96 5,92 1,85 sample 2 62,96 12,96 5,92 1,85 sample 1 70,91 15,08 5,02 1, Bos taurus Sus scrofa domesticus Ovis aries/capra hircus Equus caballus Figure 2. Proportion in % NR of domestic mammals in samples from Baia. Nr mm Figure 3. Distribution of sizes in Bos taurus After cattle, the best represented group is that of pig with a percentage between 8.08% and 15.48%. The estimation of the death age at Sus domesticus species has been done on the basis of dental eruption, noticing mainly the sacrifice of individuals with ages between 2-3 years or over 3 years. The data obtained after the study of the epiphization degree of the bones are quite unclear. According to these data, some pigs were sacrificed even after the age of 4.

5 The sheep/goat group was much less used by the inhabitants of the settlement, being represented by a percentage which varies between 3%-5% in the samples analyzed. It may be noticed in all the samples that they sacrificed either lambs several months old or individuals over 24 months. In one of the samples there are also individuals between months old at the time of sacrifice. Conclusions According to the archaeozoological analysis we consider that the inhabitants of the settlement of Baia exploited efficiently the domestic species, with the purpose of obtaining both primary and secondary products. An important direction in the strategy of animal breeding was their sacrifice at an age when they could obtain the maximum of advantages. By keeping some individuals for breeding, they show the tendency to obtain a number of individuals as large as possible, namely the enlargement of the existing herds. Hunting is present as an activity of little importance in the economy of the settlement, being practiced on a small scale. References Bejenaru, L., Arheozoologia Moldovei medievale, Editura Universităţii Al.I.Cuza Iaşi. Driesch, A. von den, A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeozoological sites, Peabody Museum, Bulletin I, Harvard University. Udrescu, M., Bejenaru, L., Hrişcu, C., Introducere în arheozoologie, Editura Corson, Iaşi. Haimovici, S., Studiul materialului faunistic din aşezarea orăşenească de la Baia. In E. Neamţu, V. Neamţu, S. Cheptea, Oraşul medieval Baia în secolele XIV-XVII, I, Editura Junimea, Iaşi, Neamţu, E., Neamţu, V., Cheptea, S., Oraşul medieval Baia în secolele XIV-XVII, I, Editura Junimea Iaşi. Albu, C., Studiul unui eşantion arheozoologic provenit din aşezarea medievală de la Baia (Suceava). Lucrare de Licenţă, Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Al. I. Cuza, Iaşi. Bejenaru, L., Agache, L., L identification archéozoologique des traces d abattage sur les ossements de Bos taurus, en provenance de la ville médiévale Baia. Analele şt. ale Universităţii Al. I. Cuza Iaşi, s. Biologie animală, XLVI: Bejenaru, L., Studiul anatomo-comparat al resturilor faunistice descoperite in siturile arheologice de secole XI-XVII, de pe teriotriul Romaniei (Arheozoologia secolelor XI-XVII pentru teritoriul României). Teza de doctorat, Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Al. I. Cuza Iaşi. Ionescu, G., Studiul unui eşantion arheozoologic provenit din aşezarea medievală de la Baia (Suceava). Lucrare de Licenţă, Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Al. I. Cuza, Iaşi. Nistor, I., Reconstituire paleoeconomică pentru aşezarea medievală de la Baia (judeţul Suceava): date arheozoologice. Lucrare de Licenţă, Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Al. I. Cuza, Iaşi.