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Dear Chris (and anyone else with a similar concern) I should have made it clear in my orginal note that the deposits with wild birds to which I was referring unambiguously consist of food remains from human meals. Some also include occasional finds of incidentals, but in the main they were food. Dale On Mon, 20 Nov 2000 12:48:38 +0000 [log in to unmask] wrote: > An interesting question....known food birds not corresponding with > actual birds found at archaeological sites. > > Does this discrepancy reflect that archaeological bird assemblages > are mostly natural accumulations, including prey of > raptors/predators, rather than human food waste? Perhaps the > large food birds listed were hunted far and wide in the surrounding > countryside, but species found at settlement sites were species > living locally? > > Of course, even in Medieval times, some bird distributions must > have been geographically restricted. Even if spoonbills were eaten > in E. Anglia, we wouldn't necessarily expect to find their bones in a > Yorkshire site. > > Chris Gleed-Owen Email: [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%