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The role of goat in English medieval husbandry and economy

medieval goat

The role of goat in English medieval husbandry and economy: current challenges and future directions

By Lenny Salvagno

Proceedings of the 2012 Postgraduate Zooarchaeology Forum

medieval goat

Abstract: This paper presents a summary of an on-going PhD project that aims to re-assess the role of goats in the medieval economy and society of England. Distinguishing between sheep and goats still is one of the most challenging issues in zooarchaeology; problems with identification must first be addressed. The most commonly used criteria for sheep/goat postcranial identification were published more than 40 years ago, while studies on the discrimination of teeth are much more recent. Nevertheless, they are all based on morphological differences whose assessment may be highly subjective. One of the goals of this research is to establish reliable criteria for distinguishing between sheep and goat by establishing the reliability of known morphological traits through the analysis of modern reference collections. Particular attention will be put on trying to translate morphological differences into biometrical indices in order to obtain a more objective tool for the proposed identification. Then, the newly prepared identification protocol will be applied to a number of identified sheep/goat medieval assemblages from England with the hope of clarifying the mystery of the under-representation of this animal. This paper presents a review of the current situation, in terms of the medieval context, followed by the methodological background, and outlines the ways in which this new work will be beneficial for future work in our field.

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Introduction: The study of goats has been largely disregarded by British archaeology. This neglect is partly due to problems in distinguishing goat remains from those of the more common sheep, and partly because of the perceived rarity of goats throughout British history. The similarity between the bones of sheep and goats complicates evaluation of the importance of goats in the English medieval economy and society, because accurate separation of the two species is challenging. The difficult process of identifying sheep/goat remains to species level is made even harder when dealing with a fragmented assemblage. As a result, zooarchaeologists frequently divide sheep and goat identifications into three groups (namely sheep, goat, and sheep/goat), a division which makes quantification and comparison with other species difficult. To increase sample size and improve comparability, these taxa are often combined into one large sheep/goat group in many archaeological reports. This amalgamation of two species, that provided different products and were raised for diverse aims, has serious consequences in the evaluation of the medieval economy.

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