The Norman Conquest: A Zooarchaeological Perspective

Investigation of social and economic change has always been central to archaeology. As part of this, population movements have frequently been emphasised as instigators of transition. This is particularly the case in British archaeology where, as an island, migration episodes tend to be viewed as highly significant. The Norman Conquest was the last and perhaps most famous of Britains invasions, resulting in the almost complete replacement of the Saxon elite, both lay and ecclesiastical. Because the events surrounding the Conquest are so well documented, 1066 has come to be held as a significant watershed. This book sets out to undertake a detailed zooarchaeological analysis of the Norman Conquest, whereby data are considered by site-type to detect subtle temporal variations, if present, in human-animal relationships. The aim of this book is to show that zooarchaeological and historical data can be used together profitably to provide a new perspective on the Normans and their conquest of England. In order to accomplish this, the Norman Conquest is examined at the macro, meso and micro scale, which can be translated as the Norman Empire, Saxo-Norman England and specific Saxo-Norman sites, respectively. Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: The French Dataset; Chapter 3: The Animal Economy: Continuity or Change?; Chapter 4: New Norman Breeds? Studies in Animal Size and Conformation; Chapter 5: The Norman Impact on Wild Resource Exploitation; Chapter 6: Deer Hunting: Methods and Rituals; Chapter 7: Biogeography of the Anglo-Norman Transition; Chapter 8: Cooking, Class and Cultural Identity; Chapter 9: The Invisible Conquest.