Changes in faunal spectra in northern France during the Late Antiquity

摘要

The period of transition between Late Antiquity and the beginning of the early Middle Ages is now better documented, primarily thanks to rescue archaeology. Although the zooarchaeological corpus for the north-east of France, which consists of only 35 contexts dating from the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 6th century AD, presents some limitations, initial synthesis of the work provided an inventory of current knowledge on this transitional phase. Changes in the proportions of the three main domestic mammals were observed, such as an increasing use of pork to the detriment of beef. But the most striking point was the small share taken by sheep and goats during this period. This raised the question of the causes of this phenomenon and resulted in several hypotheses being proposed: health, socio-cultural, environmental, or economic. The present state of our knowledge suggests the latter is the most pertinent.