00:00.48 S_ Granarius Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of archaeanals the podcast about the study of animals in archaeology with you as always. It's me Simmona fellanga and right? So um I mean that as you. 00:13.68 ALEX Me Alex Fitzpatrick 00:20.41 S_ Granarius So most of you may be aware. We do spend a lot of this podcast so talking about ancient and somewhat ancient animals with with a lot of ah fictional animals in between from ah anything from mythology video games sort of and anything in between. But 1 thing we've um I think only rarely. 00:30.32 ALEX Digital. 00:40.30 S_ Granarius Covert is um, zooaraeology today. 00:44.51 ALEX Ooh What a twist. 00:45.72 S_ Granarius And all right um because I think we do have in our back catalogue an episode on sort of the archelog of ah zo archelog of feasting but we do take it quite a bit into the modern day as well and then feasting today so on various holidays. Um. 01:02.80 ALEX E. 01:04.86 S_ Granarius But yeah, we thought we'd do a little bit more of that this time and talk about some modern rubbish pits. 01:11.25 ALEX Yeah, you know it'll be a fun thought experiment kind of like what we do with our our video game episodes where we pretend that it's a interesting intellectual thought experiment and not just us talking about games. We like you know. But you know contemporary Archology is really interesting. It's something that I don't know about you but I'm not really that familiar with I know it's still kind of not that it's a small field but I feel like it's still kind of it. Ah, gaining gaining Momentum perhaps. 01:50.24 S_ Granarius It definitely has been developing sort of in recent years more than anything especially as for the bits of contemporary archaeology. The focus were on on that twentieth and what twenty first century especially so I think there's a few research projects now that are picking up looking at the twenty first century or. 01:54.89 ALEX Yeah. 02:06.69 ALEX E. 02:08.56 S_ Granarius Very late twentieth century. Um they I guesses. Um, yeah, just something you have to bridge that gap. So of course you'd have people even within the archae you com community to single. But if it's contemporary then it's not archaeology. So. 02:14.63 ALEX 5 02:22.95 ALEX Yeah, and I mean a lot of the you know what? I guess we can also consider contemporary archeology that I'm familiar with are more digital archeologies which I also find very interesting and um, you know when we were doing the notes for this episode I actually was kind of surprised That. Didn't seem to be as much zoo archeological research or even anything necessarily close to that in terms of contemporary archeology. So You know. 02:53.27 S_ Granarius Well I guess it probably something that might develop over time because it's also a case there. Yes, a while you know it is contemporary and a lot of it is within living memory that doesn't necessarily mean the certain processes and aspects we are. 02:57.46 ALEX M. 03:10.81 S_ Granarius Documenting in a way that would be useful for someone 300 years down the line to his no just gonna say this is there something very interesting to look into. 03:16.51 ALEX Mm true but it's very interesting. Sorry. 03:23.59 ALEX Yeah, and so I think today will be a really interesting episode in terms of just kind of you know talking through what's ah you know the zo archeology of our rubbish bin is like and again as. Usual, it's kind of a very common disclaimer we have in these episodes but we will be talking about the Uk because we both live here and it's kind of what we will be working with if we decided to excavate our rubbish bins. 03:56.20 S_ Granarius Please don't not wait a rubbish. 04:00.56 ALEX I Mean yeah, don't please don't excavate our rubbish. But unless you're like I guess we don't have a sorry. 04:05.88 S_ Granarius So just like pick. So just I'm just picturing someone like drawing a section of sort of like my recycling business. 04:17.20 ALEX Oh actually and now I think about it I I kind of want to know what this stratigraphy of my compost spin is like you can figure out how many Amazon packages I've gotten within a week basically 04:25.78 S_ Granarius It'll be like Monday tuesdaywednesday. 04:36.34 ALEX Anyway let's start talking about you know when we it's so it's funny because I feel like we haven't talked about zoo archeological analysis on this podcast and so long like so yeah, you know when you're doing zoo archeological ana. Analysis one of the first things you might do is look at the species. 04:57.91 S_ Granarius Exactly sort of what sort of species distribution you get in your assemblage. Um, so of course you know for this particular episode. We'll be focusing a lot on consumption as ah, arguably the sort of the most human animal interactions that occurs in modern day. 05:16.16 ALEX Yeah I mean obviously people with farms and you know we'll briefly talk about pets in this episode. But for the most part I feel like most people's interactions with in particular animal remains is through what they eat. 05:17.35 S_ Granarius On top. 05:34.85 ALEX So you know we're going to focus on meat eaters really in this episode and it's interesting because it's actually a number that's slowly decreasing in the Uk especially with the rise in popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets and all those you know beyond meat ah meat substitutes we're actually seeing that number start to rise so you know there's goingnna be a ph d student in like hundreds of years who will be able to do a really interesting zooareological analysis of how that number decreases over time. Perhaps. 06:09.18 S_ Granarius Yeah, cause I guess especially as ah I think there's a lot more choice now and a way like a lot of sort of vegetarian and vegan foods are more readily available than they were even three years ago 06:23.20 ALEX Yeah, it's really interesting I think the number I saw was like a 17 % drop in meat consumption in the U K and that's that's huge so you know that number is only going to. Ah you know, go. Up I feel like special like as you say those kind of foods are going to become more prevalent I feel like you know, five years ago would be really difficult to get kind of vegetarian foods. Especially these like I said these imitation meats that I think really help people shift over to a less. Meat heavy diet. So yeah, it's gonna be really interesting to kind of see how that reflects well I guess we wouldn't see how it reflects because we'll be dead but someone does it hundreds of years down the line that will be extremely interesting. So. 07:16.18 S_ Granarius Yeah, and it would be interesting and hopefully there'll be enough of a data set because of something that we'll discuss later. Ah, it might also be quite tricky to find out whether a particular household like or household you're investigating that just sounds weird but you know like. Community you so like population that you look At. It's also fairly difficult to determine whether they would eat meat come at present day but more on that later um bowing yes and in general sort of Trends ah people are eating less meat. 07:41.40 ALEX M. 07:52.49 S_ Granarius Particularly less red meat. So anything like sort of beef in particular. Um, but also like of cuts of pork venison mutton I mean I feel like mutton has not been very popular for quite some time in the U K and just western europe in general. Um, there is a significant switch. Um. 08:04.90 ALEX Yeah. 08:11.74 S_ Granarius White meat. So like poultry I think above all because I think chicken is the most consumed species in the Uk Chicken it makes sense. It's quite light. It's not heavy and fat and it's quite cheap to make sense and then followed by beef and lamb. 08:17.50 ALEX Yeah. 08:23.80 ALEX Yeah. 08:30.69 S_ Granarius Um, and I think in terms of consumption. You do also see like a fair amount of a fish and sort of an um rabbit or young mammalians just lamb and veal you you do see a fair amount of that as well. But definitely nowhere and near the consumption of poultry because fish are special if you're inland. 08:48.35 ALEX Um, pro share. 08:50.41 S_ Granarius Can be quite Pricey. Um Frozen So Not brilliant. Um, and I think again like lamb and veal due to tend to be on the more expensive side of it. So think the consumption isn't huge. 09:08.50 ALEX Yeah I mean it's those factors that we already look at zoo archaeologically when we look at say prehistory we're looking at you know difference in status. What? so which cuts and which species are lower. Classed people will be having versus upper class people things like that and obviously you know the classes maybe aren't as stark. You know? Ah, we're not saying that only kings right now own like eats fish. That's not the case but there's obviously. Complex factors that will affect the types of species that people are consuming and it's not just that as well. There's also you know an individual level so the present species will change depending on the type of cuisine you're looking at. As well as the impact of dietary considerations and cultural considerations. So obviously in the Uk you know is it halal obviously other cultures may have kind of different ideas of what to eat and when things like you know eating. Fish on is right eating fish on Sundays at our Fridays but things like. 10:17.37 S_ Granarius Fish on Fridays yeah, looks something where you to be religious, but then it's sort of spilled over onto the cultural sphere. So I think eating fish on Friday is a thing that and not many people know why you just it's just what you do, um. 10:27.79 ALEX M. 10:31.80 archpodnet It isn't it isn't it also a way roed lent as well because I'm pretty sure that you can have fish not meat. So that's what I remember. 10:37.78 ALEX It's not meat. Yeah. 10:39.68 S_ Granarius Yeah, think ah we've we've been through this I think in our mini in Naz Zo killed you minieries looking at the medieval period where I think it was around the medieval period that um fish especially on monastic side to the consumption of fish went up because. 10:54.63 ALEX Um, yeah. 10:57.10 S_ Granarius Fish is in meat. Um, but I feel Also if you're looking at the individual level. So there might be consumption of certain species as opposed to others over like personal concerns as well. So I would know of people that. 10:59.66 archpodnet And. 11:14.12 S_ Granarius Will not have lamb or veal because so like they're concerned about like that they get slaughtered a bit too young because course like normally most species get sort of butchered at the subad adult stage but that is sort of a little bit younger for lamb and veal. So there are people who won't eat. So. 11:27.90 ALEX Um. 11:32.11 S_ Granarius They happy enough eating the adult animals but not the younger ones if that makes sense. So I think there's ah like that plethora of right of um variables in there. 11:37.30 ALEX Yeah. For sure and arguably maybe more so than say again if we were looking at kind of pass through archeological records. So it is it would be very interesting to figure out how someone from the future looking at these kind of. Mid-ins I guess would try and interpret that where there may not be as much of a clear-cut trend as say past cultures but moving from food to pets week because again probably after food the other you know, kind of. Constant interaction with animals people have maybe their pets. You know we still also have that kind of species selection. You know, mostly will be dogs interesting enough I kind of assumed I was like oh I wonder if there'll be more cats than dogs in the Uk but actually dogs are still the most. Prevalent pet in the U K and it's closely followed by cats and pet birds. So I think it's like pet bird species and then like domestic fowl and then you obviously have rabbits guinea pigs and ferrets as well as. All kinds of reptiles. So again, you know you're not just seeing any type of species being kept as a companion. 13:04.40 S_ Granarius I Think that the pool of sort of species that kept us companion and animals as ah, definitely broadened over the last century or so to me including yeah Reptiles Arachnids Amphibians Just you name it So like so animals that are first you So you'd expect in a. 13:13.60 ALEX Ah. 13:23.23 S_ Granarius In a victorian man's sort of collection or here's all the creatures I have that've that I've brought from all these various corners of the world. Um, but how its definitely become a a lot more like commonplace like yes, a heres by pet iguana he's called Stewart. Um, why not. 13:29.50 ALEX Soon. 13:37.31 ALEX Of course duh. 13:42.26 S_ Granarius Um. 13:45.63 ALEX Bea You know like it's it is really interesting and ah kind of not ironically, but interesting enough I Guess what? Even though you say oh,, there's a bit more of a a pet ah a selection of a. Pet species I Guess in some ways It's also less given that we have talked about kind of pets in the past and one of them was a baboon from an Egyptian cemetery so you know not many people having baboons in the Uk as a pet. Ah well you know. 14:16.91 S_ Granarius I Hope not. 14:21.69 ALEX You know anyway and while we look at so. 14:22.50 S_ Granarius Um, ah about other thisla here that of course you know these pets. Hopefully you won't find those in the rubbish pits what you might find in the rubbish pits are other bones that you've given to your pets as a toy or a chew. Yeah. 14:34.00 ALEX True. Yes, hopefully but yeah, um, not of course we talk about species selection. There's also limb selection. It's probably I don't know. About you but when I do zoo archaeological analysis that's kind of probably the next step you do is looking at what bone are we actually looking at and realistically I guess nothing has changed at least if we're talking about hope consumption. Um I Guess. You could say there is a difference in that some cuts of meat are more prized and they would have been the past.. For example, you know like sirloin steak and obviously these cuts have gotten much more exact. Perhaps. 15:14.38 S_ Granarius And I feel like I feel like I want to say that there's a lot more like the variety of cuts. But then again, that's not necessarily true that because a lot of cuts are not bone bearing. 15:20.67 ALEX Yeah. 15:27.77 ALEX Yeah, exactly. 15:29.83 S_ Granarius There is no way you'd know in the archaeological record. So maybe and know they silverside cut as we know it in beef. Maybe they had the same exact cut in the iron age. But you' gonna find that out. 15:32.87 ALEX Ah. 15:39.54 ALEX True. Yeah,, That's actually extremely true I Guess in my brain I'm kind of always like oh well, they would obviously think about the you know the importance of cuts based on how much meat. You would get off the bone because that was probably a bit more of a concern than say now. 15:57.62 S_ Granarius And I feel so as well. 1 thing that may have changed is that now we're stirring clear of fatier cuts now like people want leaner increasingly leaner meat and animals are being bred to be leaner. Well i. 16:05.20 ALEX True. Yeah, um. 16:17.29 S_ Granarius Figure that a life sort of a cut of meat with plenty of fat wouldn't necessarily been a problem a thousand years ago if anything you probably need that fat. 16:21.47 ALEX Um, yeah, yeah, Um, so kind of again What we talked about with species. This is very dependent on the kind of cuisine you're eating and obviously based on the species consumed as well. So for example. Chicken dishes will most likely be in the form of wings say from like a takeaway or pub food but you know you're looking more breasts in more formal dishes and roasts however much pork and beef consumption will focus on the meat around the hindquarters. Although meat cuts such as pork pork shoulder are also quite popular and you know as you said a lot of these cuts ultimately won't even be seen on the bone. So you know again. 17:04.73 S_ Granarius I think like one of the were the staples or sort of like british cuisine like bacon. You don't get the bone in that. So a household might be going through 50 rashes of bacon a day and you'll never tell. 17:10.71 ALEX Yeah, exactly. 17:18.46 ALEX Yeah, hopefully you're not getting bone in that otherwise I'd I'd probably look and see about where you're getting a bacon from and you know outside of these usual cuts. We actually you know we could also potentially see evidence for awful. Um, which is. Organs other non- meatat parts the animal consumption as well. I guess maybe perhaps difficult in a zoo archeological study. You know hundreds a from now. But if we're just checking your your bin now you might see it. Ah so in the Uk at least. You're looking at haggis stinging kitty pie black pudding. Um, and then less likely but potentially present are extremities things like trotters or chicken feet. They're not necessarily mainstream in the Uk as they are in other countries but depending again on the cuisine. 18:11.58 S_ Granarius You know although I guess in yeah in Western Europe you might find those exact elements in your rubbish pit but they're actually sort of well hopefully they've never made it to the bin. They've actually got eaten in the meantime. Ah, but both. 18:11.76 ALEX They could be found and ah. 18:29.52 S_ Granarius Pick trotters and chicken feet are commonly found as ah treats and chews for pets. 18:33.23 ALEX Yeah, so again, ah you never for no I didn't even think about that. But you're right exactly. So again, it's something that we've seen in the past in terms of you know, bone chewed on by. Dogs that aren't necessarily from humans but they were there for a treat and I think though we'll talk a bit more about that in the next part.