Bones in pits and ditches. A contextual approach to animal bone distribution in Early Modern Tornio

Abstract

This paper analyses the distribution of animal bone finds in the Tornio Keskikatu 29–35 urban archaeological rescue excavation and discusses site-formation processes and waste disposal practices in the town during the 17th and 18th centuries. Animal bone finds from different types of context are studied in relation to preservation conditions, species distribution and fragment size, skeletal frequencies and butchery patterns, treatment of companion animals and ritual aspects. Despite some degree of secondary deposition and difficulties in interpreting some contexts with complex formation histories, information about waste disposal practices, site formation processes, the functions of the features at the site and people’s attitudes to different animals can be inferred
from the zooarchaeological material. Thus the contextual approach to animal bone distribution is a useful method for analysing bone material from an Early Modern town in Northern Finland.