The Life of Things Long Dead
A Biography of Iron Age Animal Skulls from Battlesbury Bowl, Wiltshire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6044100 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ellen Hambleton (0000-0002-6480-437X, Bournemouth University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 477-494 |
| Publication date | 2013-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0959774313000486 |
| OpenAlex | W2053905980 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
This study expands perceptions of ritual behaviour in the British Iron Age, which conventionally focus on the deposition and burial of objects. Classification of animal bones as special deposits in Iron Age Britain, and interpretation of the ritual activities they may represent, has tended to concentrate on the significance of their burial location and composition and/or the cultural perception of the particular animal species deposited. Other than for consumption and sacrifice, little consideration has been given to the complex, dynamic histories (biographies) and cultural significance of animal remains in the period between death and burial. Detailed examination of the taphonomic and pre-depositional histories of animal deposits, are one means by which it is possible to explore the activities that occurred above ground in the past. Zooarchaeological investigations of a group of cattle and horse skulls from Battlesbury Bowl, Hampshire, provide an excellent example of a ‘special deposit’ where it was the objects themselves, as much as their species, location or structured burial that held special significance for the Iron Age community. By taking a biographical approach, we can create detailed narratives of archaeological animal bones and their treatment, thereby expanding the view of activities that fall under the ‘ritual’ umbrella
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Geography · Iron Age · Literature · Narrative · Sacrifice · Taphonomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History
Funerary Practices, Funerary Contexts, and Death in Archaeology
Integration of age-at-death and novel peptide sex estimation reveals cattle culling practices at Yorkshire Iron Age shrine site
Socio-semiotics and the symbiosis of humans, horses, and objects in later Iron Age Britain
Bodies of Information
Retrieving, Curating and Depositing Skulls at Pitted Ware culture Sites
This Little Piggy
Death and Dichotomy
Brutalised, Bound and Bled
Coins and Cosmologies in Iron Age Western Britain
The day the music died
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,91 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |