Birds in the medieval culture and economy of the East Slavs in the 10–13th centuries AD

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7540561
AutoresLeonid Gorobets (0000-0002-5492-7878, State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, autor de correspondencia), Oleksandr Kovalchuk (0000-0002-9545-208X, State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Año2016
Volumen22
Número2
Páginas147-165
Fecha de publicación2016-03-31
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEnvironmental Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14614103.2016.1141088
OpenAlexW2312510188
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas4

The paper is devoted to a re-examination of the bird remains from the numerous East Slavic settlements (10–13th centuries AD). Species diversity suggests that medieval people in the Eastern Europe used birds for food, falconry, in ritual and, possibly, for aviary specimens and pets. Furthermore, bird feathers were used for preparing arrows. The most popular bird of prey was goshawk. Primary game birds were ducks, geese, swans, common crane and corvids along with black grouse and capercaillie in forest zones. The archaeological data present evidence for the use of wild birds (e.g., hooded crow) in funeral ceremonies for the first time. The majority of the identified birds have not changed their distribution, but in recent times some of these taxa have become rarer. Red-breasted goose is now extant in the area but its remains were found in the medieval layers, although this species could have been an occasional visitor in the Ukraine. Archaeological data and historical sources prove that white stork has lived in the territory of Ukraine since the Middle Ages or even earlier. The most common domestic poultry for the East Slavs was chicken. Domestic ducks and geese were much rarer. Historical documents were also consulted in this study and these also contribute to our understanding of the role of birds in the life of the East Slavs

Archaeology · Biology · Feather · Geography · Goose · Habitat · Middle Ages · Predation · Stork · Waterfowl · Wildlife · Zoology · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Ecology