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Kate -- Flint's suggestion is a good one. I'd add to the reference he suggests the one entitled "Food in Roman Britain" by Alcock, which is not only excellent in text but stuffed with other useful references. If you're looking for proof of non-ritual vs. ritual bird slaughter/utilization, you can't do better than Roman artwork either -- there are literally hundreds of birds in that, not used merely decoratively but as part of the kind of comic-book-page layout of a "story in the day of the life of" which is so characteristic of Roman floor mosaics. Finally, I've got a fair amount of bird from Vindolanda and only one context (a well) which MIGHT have been a ritual deposit instead of just a convenient if insanitary way to dump garbage. We know from the Vindo. tablets that the Commandant's table included hens' eggs; we know also that the old boy liked to go swan-hunting and fowl-netting; and that his young wife kept chickens (a novelty and high-status item in the area at the time). There are two papers on Vindolanda bird bones: the first one came out in the Vindo. Research Reports for 2005/2006; and there is also a significant amount of wild "songbird" as well as other birds in the report on the East Granary which came out this year. You'll have to go thump 'em by EMail because they've been slow about getting publications up on line, but nonetheless they'll be glad to help you if you EMail the office. -- Dr. Deb > There are many great textual references to the consumption and even market > sale of birds in ancient Greece and Rome. Many of the references are > devoid > of ritual context. > > A great place to start would be to look up different bird species > (domestic > and wild) in Andrew Dalby's Food in the Ancient World From A to Z. While I > too often disagree with many of his specifics in his entries, he does > provide a great collection of citations. > > A more fun read would be Aristophanes' comedy The Birds (available in > English online or in libraries if you prefer a more modern translation). > > > On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 6:47 PM, Katelyn Bishop <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Happy wednesday everyone, >> I'm wondering if anyone works at, has worked at, or is aware of a >> site/data set in which motivation behind bird exploitation is thought to >> be >> entirely or mostly driven by economic/dietary interest rather than >> ritual >> concerns? I don't mean to set up what is perhaps an empty dichotomy, and >> I >> understand that absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. >> But >> any example that sits on that end of the spectrum would be useful to me >> right know. >> >> Many thanks, >> Kate Bishop >> >> -- >> Katelyn J. Bishop >> >> >> >> *Doctoral Program in AnthropologyUniversity of California, Los Angeles >> *<[log in to unmask]> >> >