The Archaeology of Wild Birds in Britain and Ireland

Dale Serjeantson Thomson, MA 1964

The Archaeology of Wild Birds in Britain and Ireland describes the interactions between people and wild birds from the end of the last Ice Age to the seventeenth century. It is based on a survey of the archaeological evidence for wild birds, which mostly consists of bones of birds recovered from archaeological excavations.

The bird remains are discussed in the light of historical mentions of birds which can be found in household accounts, menus, laws, medieval bestiaries and poetry as well as in ancient illustrations of birds. Most of the bird bone remains are from birds that were caught and eaten: wild-fowling for the pot started at the end of the Ices Age in the islands off Scotland and Ireland but further inland it only started in Roman times. It was at its zenith in the Middle Ages thanks to Christian dietary rules and the development of the skill of hawking.

The book describes how, as well as killing birds for food, people kept or killed many bird species for reasons other than food. Hawks were trained for falconry, songbirds were kept to give pleasure, and birds such as eagles, buzzards, ravens and owls were involved in ritual, religious and taboo practices. The book is based the author’s research as an archaeozoologist over the past forty years at Birkbeck College and the University of Southampton.

ISBN: 978-1-78925-956-8 / 978-1-78925-957-5