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Best paper I have found about roman ritual behaviour is Fulford, M. 2001 Links with the past: Pervasive 'Ritual' Behaviour in Roman Britain. Britannia Vol XXX11 199-218 - a fine exploratoin of roman pit weirdness that includes the odd chicken - examples from Neatham, Baldock and Portchester are discussed in a paper that traces the native IA special deposit tradition into 'roman' times. Of course the difference between 'home grown' and imported roman ritual is an interesting and possibly difficult topic to consider. There are bird burials in the IA of course mostly wild - not sure when chickens get involved though - anyone know of the earliest chicken burial? jacqui Jacqui Mulville Lecturer in Bioarchaeology School of History and Archaeology Cardiff University Cardiff CF10 3XU 02920 874247 >>> Paul Westron <[log in to unmask]> 06/24/03 01:56pm >>> Dear Zooarch I have recently received an assemblage of bone from a Roman villa site on the Isle of Wight, Britain. Although the bulk of the assemblage was too small to be of interest there was one interesting occurrence. This was the burial of a single fully articulated domestic fowl in a pit. The pit was 40cm in diameter and appeared to have been expressly dug for the purpose of this burial. It was located just outside the Villa wall. There was no pot or other datable finds from the pit however it was caped by the rubble of the wall once it had collapsed and is therefore thought to be Roman in date. The remains have been identified as domestic fowl however it is a very large specimen for the Roman period, it is probably male (no medullary bone, has spurs) and there is no sign of butchery. The villa is known for its bird associations, a peacock on a fragment of wall plaster and a mosaic depicting a cockerel headed man, the pit was just outside this room. Has anyone else found a similar deposit with the burial of a single bird? Of any species Dom fowl or Peacock/hen Either in Britain or abroad I would be very grateful for any references or parallels Paul Westron Bio Archaeological Services