00:00.00 ALEX And we are back with archaeo animals. We are talking about the zoareology of Europe and it's again, no one said this, we've said this I don't remember web so we said this I feel like it was probably very early on but we just decided this is the best part of the. Episode for everyone. 00:20.16 S_ Granarius Yeah, that in the video game episodes. Just yeah. 00:23.88 ALEX Listen you know it's about having self-confidence and recognizing our strengths. 00:30.89 S_ Granarius And also like I feel I should call you out on it because you you mentioned earlier that this miniseries wasn't you know was not going to be on video games like previous ones but we've not actually had a video games mini seriesies so we should get on that. 00:46.12 ALEX Oh I guess we've just done so many video game episodes 1 after another that I guess in my brain is to tweet ton of mini series. 00:56.75 S_ Granarius No, just just isolated episodes just you just thought I'd mention. 01:00.70 ALEX Just just isolated episodes 1 after the other. But yeah, we are actually properly talking about zoargalagy in this episode and we're actually going to talk about something that I'm kind of surprised we haven't really talked about in. Episodes because it's kind of a big deal in archeology. You know? Yeah, it's true to mainstream. Let's instead talk about very mainstream video games. But. 01:23.22 S_ Granarius 2 mainstream. 01:31.47 S_ Granarius But now video games mixed with archaeology not mainstream novel novel stuff. Um, no, we are actually talking about Pompeii. 01:37.20 ALEX No yeah, no one's ever done that before. 01:48.19 ALEX Yeah I mean I guess realistically speaking. No one really thinks about the zo archeology of pompey if a lot of other things going on that fair enough take a bit precedence some more novel things happening in the. Excavation sides of Pompeii. 02:06.34 S_ Granarius So such like outstanding sort of like standing buildings material culture that sometimes you don't think oh but what about the animals. 02:15.87 ALEX I Mean clearly someone thought about the animals. Otherwise we wouldn't have anything to talk about in this case study. 02:21.56 S_ Granarius Um, but ah for those were unaware. Um pompeyi is a site located near sort of modern day Naples italy ah, of course it is most famous as being the site of um destruction from volcanic eruption in 79 a d when ash from um visubvius. Buried it along with herculaneum. Um I mean although a tragic disaster I mean the the ash resulted in a significant and amount of preservation that has provided archaeologists with a wealth of information regarding roman life because it's sort of almost like a. 02:58.63 ALEX Yeah I mean it's one of those once ah lifetime or once in history events because I don't think we really have anything comparable elsewhere. Obviously we do have well preservd things here and there but to the extent of. 02:58.72 S_ Granarius Picture in time. 03:16.95 ALEX Pompei and herculaneum and don't think that's the case and yet for sure. Yeah, and I think pomey is also most famous for those kind of plaster cast. 03:21.82 S_ Granarius Not not in Europe anyway, like the that amount of preservation and. 03:36.32 ALEX Ah, of bodies where because of the way the ash fell and then hardened you can actually kind of see what the bodies looked like without kind of relying on skeletons which are obvious but. 03:46.81 S_ Granarius Um, and just like it was gonna say like guess scientifically amazing but also like just as haunting. Yeah. 03:55.41 ALEX It's yeah and it's one of those things that you know arguably I get why people really focus on that because again, you don't see that in a lot of other archeological sites and it is very evocative imagery to like actually see. You know there's a difference between seeing skeletons and you know on a level you understand that those are human beings but you know the skeleton versus what you look like now are very different but the plaster casts that came out of Pompeii. You can really see bodies and. Kind of it's very easy to imagine them as living beings. So I think that's always kind of captured a lot of people and I know it's something that kind of really inspired me like pre going into archeology. 04:42.95 S_ Granarius Yeah, but I guess less known is known about the zooeological analysis that has been going on at the site which you know as you expect for so like that type of settlement is actually quite varied. Um I mean like they've done What aside from you know, like the exclamation and. Collection a sort of bulk Fauna remains. Um, Um, after that like a series sort of stable isoppe analysis have been carried out on the human remains as well. Which sort of vindic bacon indicated a very diverse Diet. So and you'd have a variety of fish poultry sort of. 05:08.20 ALEX Um. 05:20.94 S_ Granarius Game meats. Um course like wild species. You know that mostly consist of Bo and deer now de I'm presuming. They'll probably be predominantly be fallow de because I sort of what tends to be more common in Italy and so in terms of domestic. Its. 05:25.33 ALEX Um, yeah. 05:37.17 S_ Granarius Pork is a big one but again so a very popular one with the Romans are like not much of a surprise there. Um, and although like beef and lamb were also available. They seem to be more associated with ritual surprisingly. 05:48.86 ALEX Yeah I thought I was kind of interesting but you know Pompei was this kind of villa type of you know? Um I guess almost I don't want to say it's like a roman era holiday place. But I mean it kind of was in a way it was so you have that kind of diverse diet that is representative of people of a certain status were eating and enjoying. 06:19.97 S_ Granarius Um, I mean and we do also have like um evidence of burnt offerings sort of in place like the house of Amarantus so they think they've recovered um remains of Juvenile pigs and then the head and feet of cocks specifically. 06:27.11 ALEX In. 06:35.30 ALEX Yeah. 06:38.16 S_ Granarius Very specific and also interesting because Juvenile pigs were also a delicacy so fruit wise Anyway, um I think these sort of remains have been compared to sort of local wall paintings and also sort of contemporary like texts. So in the written record. 06:42.37 ALEX Um, yeah. 06:55.60 S_ Granarius And 1 of the interpretations going around or going around being brought forward is that these offerings were being given specifically to the lattice should have been the household gods. 07:05.55 ALEX Yeah, Pompeyi is actually really interesting. Obviously we've we've kind of covered why it's very interesting but because of that level of Preservation. You can really do a very kind of all-encompassing like Ge archeological and an archeological excavation and kind of investigation. Because you know this is a great example of that you have these zo archeological Contexts where you have the remains of Juvenile pigs and male. You know roosters and like you said you know there's some evidence of saying oh the Juvenile pigs are probably a delicacy. But because they were able to look at the actual kind of wall paintings and have those contemporary Texts. They're able to kind of triangulate and point out Actually these are probably closer to offerings because these are the kind of things that were the the kind of aesthetics that were being used So It's it. 08:00.76 S_ Granarius And I guess for context. 08:04.88 ALEX Yeah I mean we we do we we bang on about context. Obviously as as any archaeologist does but this is like very specific context I mean how often are you able to not only look at a context of remains. But also say let's double Check. The text and also let's double check what's actually on the wall paintings near the context you know I mean. 08:28.47 S_ Granarius Yeah, oh so like imagining sort of like ah a writinging on a mural say place you're offering here the little arab. 08:36.76 ALEX Well I mean you know the very roman at that time particularly wall paintings and mosaics were very much kind of still lifey So I get the impulse. 08:50.18 S_ Granarius Oh now I'm just being silly here I'm just um. 08:53.98 ALEX but no but I think it's interesting to point out if especially if someone's not necessarily that familiar with kind of you know the sort of wall payings that you would be dealing with that is kind of what you would be dealing with and it's very because they're very kind of still lifey everyday life. Type of depictions it it does feed into a lot of archeological interpretation you know because they're probably painting what they know. 09:19.66 S_ Granarius Yeah, um, but yeah, so like poor podpe and neat needs. No introductions really? but also maybe I guess what it's lesser known off is like ah the eruption is the event that robbed us of pliny The elder. 09:34.66 ALEX Oh yeah, I Always forget that moment of silence for to the elder. We've used a lot of pliny the elder in this podcast. So I can't remember if pliny the elder was the one who said that. 09:47.51 S_ Granarius Good. 09:53.90 ALEX Servers had like a hundred backs that might have been ah someone else but he gave us quite a lot of material so we are very indep to him for that. 10:08.37 S_ Granarius It's It's a it's It's natural. History is just gold every page of it is gold. 10:12.78 ALEX Very accurate, natural history depictions. What will we do without the father and natural history himself finding the elder no misses all hits. 10:24.68 S_ Granarius Um, that just I don't know stuff of like I'm gonna book climb myself out this rabbit hole. But I think one of the things that he described is once he was the the smallest of Manuscripts that was like it was so small that it could all be rolled and placed inside a nut. Ah, walnut and just yeah, cold absolute gold. 10:44.26 ALEX Absolute absolute madman we stand anyway, moving from Pompei. We were actually moving to somewhere pretty different. We're gonna look at berca located in Sweden in the modern day island of Bjorco. It's a. Pretty massive archeological site and is very significant for those of us who do well not us because I don't do viking age archaeology anymore. But for those who do viking aid archaeology you'll probably know what Bura is so its major significance is coming from. Its. Really vital role in viking age trade not only as a massive trading center but it's also basically the kind of linchpin to the trading route between the kind of norse ports of Kaul and the byzantine empire. So for those of you who don't know. It's very easy to not realize due to you know, contemporary depictions of vikings and their unfavorable associations but the viking age trade was very extensive and went as far as the byzantine empire. And there's some really fascinating work that's been done looking at kind of the cross-cultural exchanges that came from how extensive the trade was so thankfully we have burra as this kind of site that really was the the key to that. Trade routes. So so burker was founded in seven fifty a d and actually lasted for 200 years before being abandoned in 84 a d and the of abandonment is also very prevalent in biking age archeology. So I always found that kind of strange but you know. 12:41.57 S_ Granarius Do do we know at all what the reason behind the abandonment would have been. 12:45.59 ALEX I Don't know off the top of my head but when I so I did viking aid archeology when I was in my undergrad and kind of did it my masters and you just kind of end up seeing that a lot in interpretations and I get why because obviously you can kind of see. Abandonment in the archaeological record but I always found it A very funny phrase to be like yeah and everyone got up and left which I guess they they didn't but it's just it's just strange especially for a site as big as Burca and as important as burka. 13:18.51 S_ Granarius Like guess in the later phases. You'd see a sort of shrink sort of progressively until so they just went. Yeah, okay, but. 13:27.93 ALEX We're good by who among us wouldn't doesn't just feel like do you that you know. 13:33.38 S_ Granarius So walk Collectively abandon the settlement just an entire village just but. 13:40.16 ALEX Vikings The big mood of course. So yeah I Assume that's what they said they said I'm done with this place and then they just left it and then that's how we get these great kind of weird. 13:44.70 S_ Granarius I'm done with this place. 13:56.89 ALEX Sites that we have and that's just throughout the viking age archeological record. 14:00.74 S_ Granarius Well guess it away like it doesn't Necessari if to apply to like beca specifically but it just do know a straight routes change and economies change like some settlements are no longer as viable as they once were so like they just people move. 14:16.96 ALEX Yeah, but as a trading port it was very even if it has been abandoned. It is very representative at least in a zoo archeological record not just of the kind of domestic needs but of imported and exported goods. So one of the kind of examples that I thought of when kind of putting this together was you know you have a lot of wild mammaan remains but they are almost entirely furbearing animals which actually include a lot of the species we discussed in the first segment of this episode so like langx pie martin. Brown Bear so that's probably indicative of a very robust fur trade that said based on the composition of bones. It's likely that the smaller furberaring mammals like foxes squirrels and again pine martins. Were transported untanned and the paws are still attached so again, kind of goes back into what we're talking about when it comes to that taphonnomy that you associate with fur and. 15:20.30 S_ Granarius Yes, I guess so the unprocessed hides we've brought over and then either processed at the settlement or sort of or sold on. 15:27.89 ALEX Yeah, which is interesting. It's interesting to be able to see that through the tephonnomy of the site itself. But you know it obviously wasn't just fur trade. But you know based on the kind of composition of these archaeological context. It was definitely a big chunk. Of the trade that was that was being exported out were all these kind of furs and it's not just for though one of the kind of other really significant fines are the worked bone and my favorite is the bone skates. But again is something you see a lot in viking age settlements and viking age archeological sites and it it just delights me for some reason so they were mostly made from cattle bone. But there's some horse bone as well and they were made using the metacarpals or the metarsals or like. radio radio I and it basically works is exactly you think it would work. They kind of cut in half and use them as gates. 16:34.23 S_ Granarius I tell you what they used to do that here in the Uk as well could you see them like even I think late medieval sort of almost like verging on post medieval period um I've seen I think there's some coventry museum. There has some whole. 16:38.88 ALEX Oh yeah, the how it didn't then though. 16:53.21 ALEX Ah, yeah. 16:53.54 S_ Granarius Like mettahodials and I think you're sort like late medieval and they just interpreted us ice skates and like oh look at that. 16:59.71 ALEX Yeah I guess because my frame of reference for those in the u k is from York which was you know its own kind of viking center. So. It's kind of in my brain I was like oh yeah viking age but yeah I mean it makes sense that it would be kind of commonly used. And it's not just obviously these kind of trade exports at berka either there's also the idea of changes in subsistence. So one of the cool things about berke is that you can actually see a shift in species consumed over time. So prenine century you have pasture grazing animals such as sheep. And they were likely the primary meat consumed however, post ninth century. The amount of cattle remains increases and the reason for that is probably because the residents of berca used to have the space to raise sheep. But as the the port grew bigger and bigger because of trade being successful. You probably had to import meat because you didn't have any room so you particularly would import beef. So very cool, kind of shifting and trends there. 18:06.40 S_ Granarius Ah, so it'll be interesting to see whether um, yeah, well I Guess if you said that? yeah the meat was primarily imported I Guess a lot of the beef that was found didn't have any of so the primary butchery elements who bought me like the the portion meat that you'd find. 18:21.65 ALEX Um. 18:25.10 S_ Granarius So implying that the cattle wasn't raised at the settlement. Okay. 18:27.16 ALEX Yeah, so there you go and it'll be exciting to as we end this episode. It'll be exciting to move out towards a bit of an unknown as we kind of enter areas of the world that we haven't really covered and aren't really familiar with. So join us for our next episode as we get out of our comfort zone a little bit otherwise you can stay in your comfort zone and tell your friends to listen to our podcasts you can subscribe and like review wherever you get your podcasts. You can find us on Twitter. Archaeo animals as always let us know if you have a very specific kind of episode idea in mind we love taking requests because he a lot to cover. Let's be real anything else simmona yeah, so we'll see you next episode. 19:16.25 S_ Granarius Think you covered it all which by. 19:23.19 ALEX Bye.