Large game hunting is visible in the presence of wild boar and several deer species at some of the castle sites Supplementary Table 7. But, generally, remains of large game are scarce and those of small game, such as hare Lepus europaeus and, from the 13 th century onwards, rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus , dominate. Hunters made use of dogs and trained birds of prey, and remains of the latter are found occasionally.
Typical noble dishes were copious and consisted of diverse and often rare luxury products.
Animals and People in the Netherlands’ Past: >50 Years of Archaeozoology in the Netherlands
The species diversity, especially that of birds, is enormous Supplementary Table 8. Some of these animals are rare, including turkey Meleagris gallopavo and Eurasian bittern Botaurus stellaris. Banquets were decorated with swans, herons, storks, cranes and other large birds. Sea fish found on inland sites can also be considered high-status food Supplementary Table 9.
A variety of meat, poultry and fish was eaten at monasteries as well. Clergy probably rarely engaged in hunting. Large wild mammals both terrestrial and aquatic are rare, and the few accounts of deer consist with some exceptions of the meatless parts. Common however, was the consumption of hare and rabbit Supplementary Table A remarkable hunt-related find group is the hunting birds and hunted? The diversity in domestic birds and wild ducks, geese and swans equals that at the castle sites, but that of other bird groups is lower Supplementary Table Fish consumption is often related to monasteries; historical documents suggest that fish was frequently consumed during fasting.
The number of fish taxa in monasteries is surprisingly similar to that found in castles Supplementary Table 12 , but the amount of fish consumed at monasteries is unknown. This section gives a chronological overview of known animal burials and other special animal deposits in the Netherlands, often referred to as ritual deposits. For the purposes of this discussion, we will keep the criteria for recognizing rituals broad and inclusive see Groot — Between the Late Palaeolithic and the Roman period, ritually deposited remains of diverse species are found in peat soils and stream valleys Supplementary Table 13; Figure 3 , 7 and These off-site finds highlight the special significance of the landscape to prehistoric societies.
Special animal deposits from other contexts are scarcer dating from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age than they are in the later periods. There are only a few accounts of animals in human graves: a complete cattle skeleton next to Late Neolithic graves at Garderen — BC , a cattle skull in a grave from Emst — BC , a presumable cattle skull from a Corded Ware culture grave from Zeijen — BC Behrens , Louwe Kooijmans , and two cremated dogs in urns in a Middle Bronze Age burial mound at Borger Prummel a.
Animals played an important role in the burial tradition of the Iron Age and Roman period in the Netherlands. Meat portions were placed in inhumation graves Lauwerier or burned with the body on the funeral pyre. Sometimes unburned portions were added to cremations.
Studies of animal remains from cemeteries show a clear selection Supplementary Table Pig and sheep or goat are most commonly found in burials, followed by chicken, which is only found in Roman cemeteries. Animals were also part of rituals in Roman temples Supplementary Table 15 for a summary, see Groot — and were used in rituals that took place within settlements or fields.
A range of deposits, from skulls and lower limbs to burials of complete animals, mostly dating to the Roman period, were found see Groot for details. These animals were probably offered for a variety of purposes.
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Special depositions of animals or animal remains in the early Middle Ages are mainly found in extramural cemeteries or in burials situated within settlements. In a departure from previous periods, these concern mostly horses and dogs Supplementary Table 16 van der Jagt et al. The connection with animals in the early medieval burial rituals is also evident from the many finds of animal remains as additional gifts in the form of objects, such as pendants made of teeth of bears, beaver, and deer, and food Supplementary Table 17 van der Jagt b.
Other special depositions are not well documented, with the exception of a few from the northern part of the Netherlands that were described by Thilderkvist There is not much written about animals in rituals in the late Middle Ages. Special depositions of animals, especially burials of partial or whole animals, however, are plentiful. They are mainly found near farmsteads and are often interpreted as non-ritual. Establishing to what extent this interpretation is correct will require further study.
Hunting and fishing continued to be practiced in some regions and periods even after the introduction of animal husbandry. How important were wild resources for subsistence or for other reasons, for example to express social differentiation or as a pastime? These questions are discussed for some large game species, birds, fish and cetaceans for the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages. In the central rivers area and along the west coast, wild boar and red deer, as well as otter, beaver, ducks, geese and swans, were hunted most frequently during both the Mesolithic and the Neolithic.
Locally, where the landscape was more open or became so as a result of human activities , roe deer was an important hunted species. Other large game species, such as aurochs, horse and elk Alces alces , were also hunted, but in far lower numbers, most probably because their populations were small. The same goes for brown bear Ursus arctos , marten Martes sp. In the Late Neolithic, wild mammals seem to have been hunted less frequently. This shift is demonstrated by the decreasing number of sites yielding wild boar, beaver and bird remains compared with the increasing number of sites with pigs and dogs Figure However, recent research at several West Frisian Bronze Age sites has shown that a wide range of habitats were still exploited, but likely through a more passive and concentrated form of hunting and fishing, e.
Identified species are harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena , common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus , killer whale Orcinus orca , Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis , and sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus. Most cetacean bones remain unidentified below the taxonomic level of family, a major problem in cetacean research in archaeozoology Speller et al.
Despite the increasing symbolic importance of wild mammals and birds in the Roman period, hunted mammals and birds were of minor importance as a source of meat Lauwerier In her study of the Dutch rivers area, Groot shows this to be true at both producer rural and consumer urban and military sites. Military sites show a higher percentage of wild mammals than urban sites Groot The increase in wild mammals mainly occurred in the Late Roman period Lauwerier ; Groot This may be related to a decline in population and a regeneration of woodland Bakels ; Lauwerier During the late medieval period, hunting became a pastime of the aristocracy, who owned the land and allocated the hunting rights den Hartog This way, hunting became unavailable to the largest part of society.
Fishing, however, became significantly more important during the late medieval period. The rise of in particular marine fish exploitation in this era Figure 14 can be attributed to rapid developments in maritime technology and fish conservation techniques e. Hoffmann , together with the increasing demand for fish that accompanied the re-establishment of urban centres and associated population growth from the 12 th century onwards van Houtte This may simply be a consequence of the ecological potential of these habitats: in tidal areas, birds tend to gather in large numbers because of the presence of rich food sources.
Fowling was of great interest during the Mesolithic and Neolithic, but of little interest during the Bronze and Iron Ages. It became more important again in the Roman and the medieval periods Figure Ducks, geese and swans were the most often fowled birds in all periods. It must be noted, however, that, by the medieval period, these three taxonomic groups include the remains of domestic ducks Anas platyrhynchos domesticus and geese Anser anser domesticus , which could not always be distinguished from those of their wild relatives.
In order to illustrate the medieval upsurge of domestic fowl, the proportions of sites that include the remains of chicken introduced in the Netherlands during the Roman period are shown as well. White-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and crane Grus grus were hunted quite often during the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and the Roman period.
Goshawk Accipiter gentilis and sparrow-hawk Accipiter nisus were hunted during the Mesolithic and Neolithic in small numbers. Their bones and those of peregrine Falco peregrinus and common kestrel Falco tinnunculus are rather common at late medieval elite sites, suggesting that they belonged to hawks, which were trained birds of prey.
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The increase in the proportions of waders and corvids during the medieval period can be partly explained by the fact that they and ducks, geese and many other species are among the quarry of hawks Prummel ; Prummel Medieval sources mentioning cetacean exploitation for the Netherlands are rare, but sources from Flanders, France and England suggest that hunting was occasionally undertaken, that the meat was highly prized, and that especially porpoise meat was seen as a delicacy De Smet Hunting for cetaceans may therefore also have occurred in the Netherlands during the medieval period, as their remains are frequently encountered in ecclesiastical and high-status sites.
The majority of the exploited cetaceans, however, probably derive from stranded individuals Speller et al. During the past decade, the use of isotope geochemistry in Dutch human and faunal osteoarchaeological research has shifted from sporadic application to systematic integration. Hence, multidisciplinary studies of sites from all archaeological periods provide the opportunity to study the provenance of humans and animals, the age at which mobility took place, the dietary aspects of life, and, most importantly, how they were related, in order to provide a better understanding of the social-economic influences of migration, dietary change, trade, exchange and animal husbandry.
The first bioavailable strontium isotope distribution map of the Netherlands is solely based on archaeological rodents and carefully selected remains of archaeological medium-size mammals such as foxes Vulpes vulpes : Kootker et al. Brusgaard Bronze Age ; Kootker et al. In addition, baseline data for carbon and nitrogen isotope research heavily depends on the analysis of archaeological animal remains as well. Archaeological background species from three biological classes, mammals e.
Research executed to date provides invaluable information about animal husbandry techniques. Pig isotopic data from Esser et al. In conclusion, the application of several isotope systems in Dutch archaeozoological research has proven its potential. We are able to collect more knowledge about provenance and mobility patterns of animals and gain valuable information about animal husbandry practises.
The incorporation of isotope geochemistry in commercial faunal osteoarchaeological research, however, is still subject to improvement. Future isotopic work will undoubtedly contribute significantly to our understanding of the past human—animal relationships. The Dutch Holocene vertebrate faunal record shows many changes due to human-mediated extirpations and introductions of other species Figure Knowing which species became extirpated, which species were introduced, as well as how and when, is crucial to inform present-day conservation management.
While some of the extirpations and introductions have similar timelines and causes as those in the rest of northwestern Europe, others are specific for the Netherlands. Habitat change, mostly induced by the introduction of domestic fauna and arable farming, is the most important cause of the extirpation of wild fauna. The brown bear disappeared from the Netherlands ca.
AD A partial brown bear skeleton found in the dunes near Noordwijk in is dated — cal AD Kuijper et al. Little is known about the presence of lynx in the Netherlands, and hardly any lynx bones have been found. Vagrant lynxes have, however, occasionally been encountered in the southern-most part of the Netherlands since AD Mulder a ; Bakker Other extirpations, especially of aquatic fauna, are directly related to overexploitation and habitat destruction. Beaver had become extinct by ; the last was killed at Zalk, along the River IJssel.
This species was successfully reintroduced from the River Elbe in Sluiter ; Dijkstra The otter had a similar history, with, in this case, a 20 th century extirpation and a reintroduction in — Lammertsma et al. Waterworks and pollution have had a negative effect on Dutch fish populations and have heavily affected the occurrence of species, such as the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar Lenders et al. The increased human habitation of the wetlands had a negative effect on the bird population. White-tailed eagle, crane, and the grey-lag goose Anser anser ceased breeding in the Netherlands in the post-medieval period.
A number of species are difficult to trace in the archaeozoological record, either because humans did not hunt the species or because they did not bring the skeletons to their settlement. Wolf is a good example. The few archaeozoological records of wolves shed no light on the population dynamics of this species in the past. A small number of wolves have been observed in the southern part of the Netherlands in the 19th century. Several incidental appearances of wolves originating from lowland Germany have been recorded since They made wildlife managers and the public question whether the wolf is returning to the Netherlands.
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The latest information indeed suggests that this is the case Lelieveld et al. The wild cat Felis sylvestris disappeared from the country during the Roman period, but returned to the south-eastern part of the country in Mulder b ; Kuipers Many introduced species are domesticated. Domestic cat and chicken, which were introduced elsewhere in Europe during the Iron Age but remained rare until the Roman period , are absent in the Dutch archaeological record of the Iron Age. It is interesting that some of the domestic animals that are associated elsewhere with Romanisation were not introduced to the Netherlands until early Modern times.
Although an implement made of a fallow deer Dama dama metatarsus has been found in the Roman Castellum Valkenburg Prummel , there is no indication of any fallow deer population in the Netherlands during the Roman period.
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This is in contrast with Britain, where enclosed fallow deer populations are known to have been established by the Romans Sykes et al. A peacock Pavo cristatus bone discovered in the Roman Castellum Velsen 1 Prummel may come from a single import of peacock meat. The peacock bones found at some late medieval elite sites definitely come from peacocks living at those sites.