The study of animals and society in the Early Middle Ages

The increasing contribution of zooarchaeology has greatly enhanced our understanding of animals in early medieval society.

Watch the video to learn more about animals and society in the Early Middle Ages, and more importantly, how we came to know about them. Once you’re done, continue with the rest of the reading material below.

What is zooarchaeology?

Zooarchaeology is a relatively new sub-field in archaeology. It is the study of the remains of animals from archaeological sites to determine the role they played in society.

The importance of zooarchaeology

The video demonstrates how zooarchaeology helps us shed light on the importance of animals in the Early Middle Ages. But their economic importance is also reflected in the different barbarian law codes, which were highly concerned with protecting the ownership of animals and inflicting punishment on thieves, as well as on anyone who caused damage to animals, and therefore their owners, by compromising their labour or economic potential. Barbarian laws also protected the ownership of dead animals because of their value in supplying meat and skins. Lombard laws, for example, placed a high penalty on stealing the skin of an animal that had been killed by a wolf.

Horses as high-status animals

Horse-breeding and riding, including the use of horses in warfare, were an integral part of the culture of many of these populations.

_{Mosaic with hunting scene from the imperial Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina, Sicily (4th century AD)}

Although some cavalry had been part of Roman military strategy, immigrant groups such as the Lombards, Arabs, and former steppe nomads such as the Huns, Avars, and Magyars, had cultures built around traditions of horse-breeding and sometimes horse-mounted fighting.

Horses were high-status animals in Antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages. Hunting on horseback, accompanied by hunting dogs or birds, was associated with training for warrior life by barbarian aristocracies and, as will be further discussed later, was to become increasingly important during the Early Middle Ages.

_{Mosaic with hunting scene from Carthage (5th/6th century AD)}

Hunting dogs for both small and large game such as beavers, otters, hares, or bears are mentioned in early medieval Frankish, Burgundian, and Bavarian law codes, as are birds of prey used for hunting. Hunting with birds of prey such as falcons and hawks was introduced to Europe as an elite pursuit around the 5th century.

_{Mosaic from the House of the Falconer at Argos}

Among the earliest visual representations of falconry in Europe is the mosaic from the House of the Falconer at Argos (c. AD 500) and an early 6th century gilded fibula from Xanten which may represent a horseman wielding a falcon’s lure.

Clues in burial customs

The value of horses, dogs, and birds of prey within barbarian society is attested by their role in burial customs and cults. Whole animals, especially horses and dogs, often occur in the cemeteries of barbarian groups during the Early Middle Ages and are frequently interpreted as the personal property of the dead. Bones, claws, and teeth or tusks of wild animals are also found in burials and seem to have been an indicator of social status, symbolising a hunter’s accomplishments, as well as possibly amulets, transferring the animal’s strength to the hunter by apotropaic means.

_{Skeleton of a horse (without its head) from the lombard cemetery of Spilamberto near Modena}

The presence of these animals in cemeteries informs us about the major role they played in the society of the Early Middle Ages in a way that is not apparent from settlement contexts, where they are poorly represented.