Description

Summary: 1 bag of animal bone from Blackberry Field, Potterne, a late bronze/ early iron age settlement excavated by Lawson et al 1983-85.

Research results

A group of faunal remains excavated from the Late Bronze Age layers of the large midden at Potterne by Lawson et al., 1983-85. Middens are a phenomena particularly associated with the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in central southern England, and are thought to represent build ups of refuse from large scale feasting events held repeatedly over a long period of time; the midden at Potterne covers 3.5ha and is in excess of 1m deep in places. Lawson et al.'s excavations produced in excess of 100,000 pieces of animal bone, and yet covered only c. 1% of the midden.

A red deer phalanx from this group was sampled for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis by Madgwick et al. (2012); the ratio of these isotopes can provide an insight into the diet of these animals, for example elevated levels of Nitrogen suggests an animal protein component and thus an omnivorous diet. Their study compared ratios of these isotopes from two sites, Potterne and Llanmaes in the Vale of Glamorgan, and revealed a great range in ratios, suggesting that diverse foddering regimes were in use and that pig husbandry was likely small scale, potentially at a household level in the period. The pigs from Potterne in general appear to have been husbanded in a forested environment and were largely more likely to be herbivorous.