U Albarella
Biographic Data
| ID | 24861 |
|---|---|
| NAME | U Albarella |
| GIVEN NAMES | U |
| FAMILY NAME | Albarella |
| SIGNATURE | ALBARELLA U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sheffield |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5092-0532 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 52 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 382 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 51 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
The origins of animal traction in Britain
Animal traction is one of the key technological innovations that drove socioeconomic transformations in prehistoric societies. However, its emergence in Britain has remained poorly understood, mainly due to the limited preservation of physical evidence and the absence of iconographic representations associated with animal traction. Given the fragmented artefactual evidence, the osteological approach is the most promising method for advancing unde…
Spavin in modern and archaeological cattle
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlations of biological factors, including age, body size, and sex, with the occurrence of spavin, demonstrating that using spavin to indicate cattle use for draught work from archaeological sites is questionable. MATERIALS: Metatarsals from 126 modern non-draught cattle kept under similar conditions, along with published data of 18 draught oxen. RESULTS: This study demonstrates that spavin strongly correlates wit…
In search of draught cattle
Continuity and change in animal husbandry during the Later Iron Age of Britain
The Later Iron Age in Britain was a transformative period: material culture, settlement patterns, technology, trade networks, and the structures of power changed, ultimately leading to the Roman invasion. This paper examines the significance of investigating animal economies in this period within the broader context of socio‐economic developments. It reviews the available evidence regarding animal economies in this period, integrates new osteomet…
Cattle husbandry in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands
Cattle are the dominant species in most archaeological sites in the Netherlands during the Iron Age and Roman period. However, there are differences in the relative importance of cattle and in how cattle were managed. The aim of this paper is to find out which changes in cattle husbandry occurred between the Iron Age and Roman period, and whether these changes are related to introduced Roman practices. For this study, the Netherlands was divided …
Unmaking’ the Deer in Medieval Europe
Deer hunting was heavily ritualized in medieval Europe, as indicated by historical and archaeological evidence; it also emphasized social differentiation. The butchery of a deer carcass (‘unmaking’) was integral to the ritual and led to different body parts being destined for individuals of differing status. Archaeologically, the practice is particularly visible in high-status sites in Britain, but documentary and archaeological sources are consi…
An elusive ghost
The Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is currently absent as a regular breeder in Britain and its status as a native species has been debated. Its occurrence in the Pleistocene of Britain is sparse but uncontroversial, whereas its Holocene presence rests on very few ambiguous findings. Of these, a specimen from Demen's Dale (Derbyshire) originally attributed to the Mesolithic period is the most important. A re-evaluation of this bone (tarsometatarsus) is pre…
A method for assessing relative wear rate in cattle molars, with an application to the Iron Age and Roman periods
The role of sheep husbandry during the Arab agricultural revolution in medieval Sicily (7th-14th c. AD)
Cattle and People
This volume originates in a conference session that took place at the 2018 International Council of Archaeozoology conference in Ankara, Turkey, entitled "Humans and Cattle: Interdisciplinary Perspectives to an Ancient Relationship." The aim of the session was to bring together zooarchaeologists and their colleagues from various other research fields working on human cattle interactions over time. The contributions in this volume reflect well the…
Livestock size and the Roman-Early Anglo-Saxon transition
The faunal assemblage from the manufacturing district at Spolverino
This paper presents a zooarchaeological analysis from the site of Spolverino (southern Tuscany, Italy). Archaeological excavations have uncovered a complex stratigraphy dated from the Roman Imperial period to Late Antiquity (late 1st- early 6th centuries AD). The industrial function of the site in Imperial times is partially reflected in the nature of the faunal assemblage. In Late Antiquity, Spolverino lost its original manufacturing functions, …
A method to assess wear rate in pig teeth from archaeological sites
The recording of age at death is an important aspect of zooarchaeological analysis as it provides evidence about a variety of research questions, spanning from the origins of domestication to husbandry strategies. Age estimation based on tooth eruption and wear is a commonly used method to establish the age at death of archaeological populations. However, this approach has its limitations. It relies on the principle that tooth wear rate is relati…
A veritable confusion
The expansion of isotope analyses has transformed the study of past migration and mobility, sometimes providing unexpected and intriguing results. This has, in turn, led to media attention (and concomitant misrepresentation) and scepticism from some archaeologists. Such scepticism is healthy and not always without foundation. Isotope analysis is yet to reach full maturity and challenging issues remain, concerning diagenesis, biosphere mapping res…
Who’s eating pork? Investigating pig breeding and consumption in Byzantine, Islamic and Norman/Aragonese Sicily (7th-14th c. AD)
Mobility of cattle in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands
87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis was performed on 45 cattle teeth, 5 sheep/goat teeth and 2 pig teeth from two archaeological sites in the Netherlands, dating to the Iron Age and Roman period. This makes it one of the largest strontium isotope projects focusing on animals from the Netherlands - to date. An integrated approach was taken, combining the strontium results with those from archaeology and zooarchaeology. Mobility of cattle in the Iron Age is…
Krish Seetah. 2019. Humans, animals, and the craft of slaughter in archaeo-historic societies. Cambridge
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The use of Animals at Roman Roadside Settlements in Britain
Recent analysis of a large faunal assemblage from a Roman roadside settlement at Ware, Hertfordshire has indicated potentially strong links between the nature of animal exploitation on site and its location on Ermine Street. Animal husbandry was focused on the production of cattle and sheep, both of which had experienced stock ‘improvement’ by the late Roman period. Relatively high proportions of horse, and the presence of young horses, suggest t…
Was the English medieval goat genuinely rare? A new morphometric approach provides the answer
There are important gaps in the historical and archaeological evidence that have, so far, precluded us from reliably assessing the role of the goat in the English Middle Ages. This, in part, is the direct consequence of the absence of a methodology allowing the confident identification of sheep and goat bones. On the other hand, the fact that the goat has always been perceived as rare has led us to think that medieval goats did not deserve much a…
The 'long' sixteenth century
Although many historians have extensively discussed the agricultural history of England between the Late Middle Ages and the Modern Era, this period of crucial changes has received less attention by archaeologists. In this paper, zooarchaeological evidence dated between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period is analysed to investigate changes in animal husbandry during the long' sixteenth century. The size and shape of the main domestic…
Strontium and oxygen isotope evidence for the origin and movement of cattle at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls, UK
The geographic origins of livestock found at the Late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) is explored using strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18OcarbVSMOW) isotope analysis of tooth enamel as an archive of lifetime movement. The analysis of 49 cattle is augmented with data for small numbers of animals from the contemporaneous monumental centres of West Kennet Palisade Enclosures (4), Stonehenge (1), and Marden (1). Unburnt human r…
Wild Birds of the Italian Middle Ages
Wild birds are intrinsically associated with our perception of the Middle Ages. They often feature in heraldic designs, paintings, and books of hours; few human activities typify the medieval period better than falconry. Prominent in medieval iconography, wild birds feature less frequently in written sources (as they were rarely the subject of trade transactions or legal documents) but they can be abundant in archaeological sites. In this paper w…
A morphometric system to distinguish sheep and goat postcranial bones
Distinguishing between the bones of sheep and goat is a notorious challenge in zooarchaeology. Several methodological contributions have been published at different times and by various people to facilitate this task, largely relying on a macro-morphological approach. This is now routinely adopted by zooarchaeologists but, although it certainly has its value, has also been shown to have limitations. Morphological discriminant criteria can vary in…
The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology
This book presents a survey of world archaeology, from the point of view of animal remain studies. It can be considered as a showcase for world zooarchaeology. Forty-eight chapters written by researchers from twenty-five countries discuss archaeological investigations in five different continents. The geographic range covers the Arctic as well as the Tropics, islands and continental land masses, marine shores, forests, hills, and mountains. Human…
Building and tanning in the 18th and 19th centuries
The assemblage from Greenwich High Road has interesting implications for our understanding of 18th- and early 19th-century tanneries and also of the use of bones as building material. The study of the age at death of the animals revealed that the horncores are mostly from fully adult individuals, probably culled draught animals. This hypothesis is supported by biometrical analysis. The comparison of the Greenwich horncores with modern data and ar…
Cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain
Neolithic pigs from Durrington Walls, Wiltshire, England
The development of animal husbandry from the Late Iron Age to the end of the Roman period
Materializing Stonehenge
This article reviews recent interpretations of Stonehenge in terms of contrasting uses of stone and timber in the mid-3rd millennium BC. It explores the relationship of this enigmatic monument with circles of wood at nearby Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, establishing how these various monuments might have been integrated into a single scheme in which these remarkable structures were linked by artificial avenues and the natural feature of the Riv…
Animal Husbandry across the Western Roman Empire
This special issue of the European Journal of Archaeology discusses aspects of animal husbandry in a number of provinces of the Western Roman Empire. In this introduction, we describe the general characteristics of animal husbandry in pre-Roman and Roman times to assess any changes that may have occurred after the Roman conquest. The results suggest that the territoriality typifying the first millennium bc had a significant impact on production, …
Strontium and oxygen isotope evidence for the origin and movement of cattle at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls, UK
The geographic origins of livestock found at the Late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) is explored using strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18OcarbVSMOW) isotope analysis of tooth enamel as an archive of lifetime movement. The analysis of 49 cattle is augmented with data for small numbers of animals from the contemporaneous monumental centres of West Kennet Palisade Enclosures (4), Stonehenge (1), and Marden (1). Unburnt human r…
Livestock Changes at the Beginning and End of the Roman Period in Britain
This article reviews aspects of the development of animal husbandry in Roman Britain, focusing in particular on the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/early medieval transitions. By analysing the two chronological extremes of the period of Roman influence in Britain we try to identify the core characteristics of Romano-British husbandry by using case studies, in particular from south-eastern Britain, investigated from the perspective of the butchery and mo…
Age and season of pig slaughter at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) as detected through a new system for recording tooth wear
Size and shape of the Eurasian wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), with a view to the reconstruction of its Holocene history
A large assortment of skulls and skeletons of recent wild boar (Sus scrofa) from across the world has been used to collect tooth and bone measurements that can be compared to those from archaeological specimens. The data provide useful information for a reconstruction of the Holocene history of the species. The evidence collected so far highlights the great variability of the species and provides a baseline to be used for the interpretation of an…
Molecular and osteometric sexing of cattle metacarpals
Feeding Stonehenge
A veritable confusion
The expansion of isotope analyses has transformed the study of past migration and mobility, sometimes providing unexpected and intriguing results. This has, in turn, led to media attention (and concomitant misrepresentation) and scepticism from some archaeologists. Such scepticism is healthy and not always without foundation. Isotope analysis is yet to reach full maturity and challenging issues remain, concerning diagenesis, biosphere mapping res…
Defining bone movement in archaeological stratigraphy
The 'long' sixteenth century
Although many historians have extensively discussed the agricultural history of England between the Late Middle Ages and the Modern Era, this period of crucial changes has received less attention by archaeologists. In this paper, zooarchaeological evidence dated between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period is analysed to investigate changes in animal husbandry during the long' sixteenth century. The size and shape of the main domestic…
Analysis of seasonal mobility of sheep in Iron Age Catalonia (north-eastern Spain) based on strontium and oxygen isotope analysis from tooth enamel
Livestock size and the Roman-Early Anglo-Saxon transition
The mystery of husbandry
Archaeological evidence and historic records are often at variance on the subject of animal husbandry. This paper discusses the problems of integrating the evidence for medieval and later Britain, and offers new discussion on the interpretation of the zooarchaeological data
Who’s eating pork? Investigating pig breeding and consumption in Byzantine, Islamic and Norman/Aragonese Sicily (7th-14th c. AD)
Mobility of cattle in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands
87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis was performed on 45 cattle teeth, 5 sheep/goat teeth and 2 pig teeth from two archaeological sites in the Netherlands, dating to the Iron Age and Roman period. This makes it one of the largest strontium isotope projects focusing on animals from the Netherlands - to date. An integrated approach was taken, combining the strontium results with those from archaeology and zooarchaeology. Mobility of cattle in the Iron Age is…
The faunal assemblage from the manufacturing district at Spolverino
This paper presents a zooarchaeological analysis from the site of Spolverino (southern Tuscany, Italy). Archaeological excavations have uncovered a complex stratigraphy dated from the Roman Imperial period to Late Antiquity (late 1st- early 6th centuries AD). The industrial function of the site in Imperial times is partially reflected in the nature of the faunal assemblage. In Late Antiquity, Spolverino lost its original manufacturing functions, …
The use of Animals at Roman Roadside Settlements in Britain
Recent analysis of a large faunal assemblage from a Roman roadside settlement at Ware, Hertfordshire has indicated potentially strong links between the nature of animal exploitation on site and its location on Ermine Street. Animal husbandry was focused on the production of cattle and sheep, both of which had experienced stock ‘improvement’ by the late Roman period. Relatively high proportions of horse, and the presence of young horses, suggest t…
The Late Iron Age and Romano-British mammal and bird bone assemblage from Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex
In search of draught cattle
Unmaking’ the Deer in Medieval Europe
Deer hunting was heavily ritualized in medieval Europe, as indicated by historical and archaeological evidence; it also emphasized social differentiation. The butchery of a deer carcass (‘unmaking’) was integral to the ritual and led to different body parts being destined for individuals of differing status. Archaeologically, the practice is particularly visible in high-status sites in Britain, but documentary and archaeological sources are consi…
The role of sheep husbandry during the Arab agricultural revolution in medieval Sicily (7th-14th c. AD)
Depressions on sheep horncores
Masseria Quattro Macine’ — a deserted medieval village and its territory in southern Apulia
‘MASSERIA QUATTRO MACINE’ — UN VILLAGGIO MEDIEVALE ABBANDONATO ED IL SUO TERRITORIO NELIA PUGLIA MERIDIONALE: UNA RELAZIONE PRELIMINARE SULLA RICOGNIZIONE, LO SCAVO E L'ANALISI DOCUMENTARIA Questa relazione presenta i risultati dei primi quattro anni di un progetto archeologico che esamina l'entroterra di Otranto, in Puglia meridionale. La ricognizione suggerisce che l'area vide un incremento dell'insediamento sia nel periodo tardo Romano/alto Bi…
Crane and vulture at an Italian Bronze Age site
Bones of a crane (probably Grus grus) and a large vulture have been found in middle Bronze Age levels of the southern Italian site of La Starza. It is suggested that these birds may have been hunted for their feathers. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The mystery of husbandry
Archaeological evidence and historic records are often at variance on the subject of animal husbandry. This paper discusses the problems of integrating the evidence for medieval and later Britain, and offers new discussion on the interpretation of the zooarchaeological data
Production, Imports and Status
Botanical and faunal remains from a 3rd–4th century AD Roman farm at the modern Great Holts Farm, Boreham have provided a picture of an agricultural system based predominantly on arable production. Agrarian innovation is evinced by the bones of exceptionally large cattle which, it is suggested, may have been imported as powerful tractors so as to exploit heavy clay soils more effectively. Although the farm house was a vernacular timber building, …
Production, Imports and Status
Botanical and faunal remains from a 3rd–4th century AD Roman farm at the modern Great Holts Farm, Boreham have provided a picture of an agricultural system based predominantly on arable production. Agrarian innovation is evinced by the bones of exceptionally large cattle which, it is suggested, may have been imported as powerful tractors so as to exploit heavy clay soils more effectively. Although the farm house was a vernacular timber building, …
Worldwide Phylogeography of Wild Boar Reveals Multiple Centers of Pig Domestication
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 686 wild and domestic pig specimens place the origin of wild boar in island Southeast Asia (ISEA), where they dispersed across Eurasia. Previous morphological and genetic evidence suggested pig domestication took place in a limited number of locations (principally the Near East and Far East). In contrast, new genetic data reveal multiple centers of domestication across Eurasia and that European, rather tha…
Neolithic pigs from Durrington Walls, Wiltshire, England
Pig Hunting and Husbandry in Prehistoric Italy
In this article the evidence of pig exploitation in the prehistory of the Italian peninsula and Sicily is presented. Though some differences in pig morphology seem to have existed between different parts of the country, a broadly consistent diachronic pattern of change has emerged. In the Mesolithic fairly small wild boars (with bones quite large in relation to the teeth) lived in Italy. For most of the Neolithic pigs of a similar size and shape …
Materializing Stonehenge
This article reviews recent interpretations of Stonehenge in terms of contrasting uses of stone and timber in the mid-3rd millennium BC. It explores the relationship of this enigmatic monument with circles of wood at nearby Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, establishing how these various monuments might have been integrated into a single scheme in which these remarkable structures were linked by artificial avenues and the natural feature of the Riv…
Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe
The Neolithic Revolution began 11,000 years ago in the Near East and preceded a westward migration into Europe of distinctive cultural groups and their agricultural economies, including domesticated animals and plants. Despite decades of research, no consensus has emerged about the extent of admixture between the indigenous and exotic populations or the degree to which the appearance of specific components of the “Neolithic cultural package” in E…
The development of animal husbandry from the Late Iron Age to the end of the Roman period
Size and shape of the Eurasian wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), with a view to the reconstruction of its Holocene history
A large assortment of skulls and skeletons of recent wild boar (Sus scrofa) from across the world has been used to collect tooth and bone measurements that can be compared to those from archaeological specimens. The data provide useful information for a reconstruction of the Holocene history of the species. The evidence collected so far highlights the great variability of the species and provides a baseline to be used for the interpretation of an…
The crested porcupine, Hystrix cristata L., 1758, in Italy
Masseti M., Albarella U. & De Grossi Mazzorin J. 2010. — The crested porcupine, Hystrix cristata L., 1758, in Italy. Anthropozoologica 45 (2): 27–42.In this paper the evidence for the introduction of the crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata L. 1758) in Italy is reviewed and hypotheses concerning the timing and modalities of this event are brought forward. The crested porcupine current distribution outside Africa is limited to Sicily and the Italia…
Cattle mobility in prehistoric Britain
Molecular and osteometric sexing of cattle metacarpals
Distinguishing Wild Boar from Domestic Pigs in Prehistory
Widening the market. Strontium isotope analysis on cattle teeth from Owslebury (Hampshire, UK) highlights changes in livestock supply between the Iron Age and the Roman period
Age and season of pig slaughter at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) as detected through a new system for recording tooth wear
Analysis of seasonal mobility of sheep in Iron Age Catalonia (north-eastern Spain) based on strontium and oxygen isotope analysis from tooth enamel
The Late Iron Age and Romano-British mammal and bird bone assemblage from Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex
The Late Iron Age and Romano-British mammal and bird bone assemblage from Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex
Feeding Stonehenge
Size and shape of Greek Late Neolithic livestock suggest the existence of multiple and distinctive animal husbandry cultures
Defining bone movement in archaeological stratigraphy
Archaeology (46 works) · Geography (43 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (36 works) · Biology (30 works) · History (23 works) · Ecology (18 works) · History (18 works) · Agriculture (16 works) · Ancient history (15 works) · Art (15 works)