Kris,
There's a discussion of the Anglo-Saxon evidence for high status birds
(including peacock identified at Wicken Bonhunt and Thetford) in the
following publication:
Dobney, K. and Jaques, D. (2002). Avian signatures for identity and
status in Anglo-Saxon England. In: Proceedings of the 4th meeting of the
ICAZ Bird Working Group, Kraków, Poland, 11-15 September, 2001. Acta
zoologica cracoviensia, 45 (special issue): 7-21.
If you can't get hold of it, I can send you a reprint.
Keith
Kristopher Poole wrote:
> Thanks to Richard and Aleks for the information - I'll look into your
> suggestions.
>
> Perhaps I should have mentioned in the original posting - I'm writing a
> project on some of the 12th Century faunal remains from Ludgershall Castle,
> Wiltshire. During recording I identified a peacock tibiotarsus from a
> context dating c. 1135-1145. Despite being mentioned in documentary
> sources, archaeological finds of peacock seem to be relatively rare.
> Hopefully a survey will give some indication of just how much this is the
> case. Peacock is commonly regarded as a high status species, and the
> contexts of finds (e.g. high/low status sites) may help to indicate just
> how much this is reflected in the zooarchaeological record. From this, it
> is hoped that it will be possible to assess the significance of the
> Ludgershall specimen, as this in turn will affect the interpretation of the
> assemblages I am studying. As well as this, it will hopefully help
> contribute to knowledge of bird exploitation in Medieval Britain.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kristopher
--
Dr Keith Dobney
Department of Archaeology
University of Durham
South Road
Durham DH1 3LE
Tel: +44 (0)191 334 1119
Fax: +44 (0)191 334 1101
Email: [log in to unmask]
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