Dear Tom,
There are some field guides which include feather illustrations, for instance:
Brown, R W, Lawrence, MJ & Pope, J. Guide to animal tracks and signs. Hamlyn
1992.
There is also a recent book on feather conservation (I have seen a reference to
it, but haven't seen it yet) edited by Margo Wright which might perhaps help.
I would think domestic goose would be the most likely candidate. There was an
organised industry in feather production from geese in England well before the
18th century. Feathers were plucked from live birds as well as obtained from
dead birds. However, there must have been plenty of other possible species in
Iceland - gulls? raptors?
There is some discussion of feathers - but nothing on identification to
species - in:
Serjeantson, D. (2002). "Goose husbandry in medieval England, and the problem
of ageing goose bones." Proceedings of the 4th meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working
Group, Krakow, Poland, 11-15 September, 2001. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 45
(special issue): 39-54.
Quoting "Thomas H. McGovern" <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear Folks
>
>
>
> Below you will see a query just in from Gavin Lucas (Archaeological
> Inst. Iceland) on identification of bird feathers, including those
> made
> into writing quills. The source is the bishop’s manor at Skalholt in S
> Iceland, now under excavation. The layers are so far mainly 18th c ,
> and
> relate to the famous school run there until its destruction in the
> great
> earthquake and eruptions of the 1780’s. Our lot are doing the bones
> (and
> finding lots of cattle, some of whom seem suspiciously large
> (contemporary Icelandic cows are still Viking-Medieval size, ca
> 100-110
> cm reconstructed withers hts). Anyone who does feathers and would like
> some material from the site please contact us or Gavin directly.
>
>
>
> Also, just to keep the shark theme going a bit longer, we do have
> teeth
> of the Greenland shark (S. microceph.) from the 18th c site of
> Finnbogastaðir in NW Iceland. These are in deposits associated with a
> farm known to have been involved in an extensive basking shark fishery
> (aimed at the liver oil). Only two teeth out of a collection of 6500
> NISP ( 4 mm and 1 mm mesh sieve, mainly fish), which suggests that we
> are mostly missing our sharks locally.
>
>
>
> Great thread!
>
>
>
> Best
>
> Tom
>
>
>
> Thomas H McGovern
>
> Professor,
>
> Dept of Anthropology Hunter College CUNY
>
> Archaeology Coordinator,
>
> CUNY Doctoral Program in Anthropology
>
> Coordinator, North Atlantic Biocultural Organization
>
>
>
>
>
> Address:
>
> Anthropology Dept.
>
> Hunter College
>
> 695 Park Ave. NYC 10021 USA
>
> tel. 212 772 5410 fax. 212 772 5423
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gavin Lucas [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 12:16 PM
> To: Thomas H. McGovern
> Subject: query
>
>
>
> Dear Tom,
>
>
>
> Just a quick query - we have quite a lot of quills (pens) and a few
> feathers from Skalholt, and I was wondering if or how they could be
> identified (to bird species) - and therefore perhaps whether they are
> home made or imported. When you get the chance, look forward to
> hearing
> from you,
>
>
>
> Gav
>
>
>
> Dr Gavin Lucas
> Fornleifastofnun Íslands
> Barugötu 3
> 101 Reykjavík
> Iceland
>
>
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
> Please note that this e-mail and its attachments
> are intended for the named addressee only and may
> contain information that is confidential and privileged.
> Further information:
> http://raduneyti.is/interpro/stjr/stjr.nsf/pages/postur
>
>
Dale Serjeantson
Visiting Research Fellow
School of Humanities (Archaeology)
University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Email: [log in to unmask]
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