Abstract
Faunal remains recovered from the Etruscan site at Poggio Colla offer a new perspective on the use of animals in this rural sanctuary and suggest new ways of approaching the role of animals in Etruscan religious activity. Zooarchaeological analysis aims to contribute to the understanding of human–animal relationships on site through reconstruction of animal management strategies and interpretation of specific ritual contexts containing animal bones. Faunal remains recovered from Poggio Colla are comparable to those from other Etruscan sanctuaries and settlements and link the site with well-established trends in central Italian animal husbandry. As at similar sites, the faunal assemblage primarily contains the remains of cattle, sheep/goat and pig, although dog and wild species are also present. The relative importance of pigs increases through time, a trend that has been linked to an intensification of meat production and rising urban populations. The role and significance of animal remains associated with the site’s ritual deposits are more difficult to interpret. In particular, the placement and character of the bones in some ritual contexts suggest a degree of curation in the assembly of these features. This treatment of animal remains provokes consideration of the choices governing sacrificial animal selection, the post-mortem significance of animal bodies, and the disposal of both quotidian and ritual debris.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks must go to MVAP and its directors, Greg Warden and Michael Thomas, for their continued interest in and support of this research. Thanks as well to the excavation’s lab team, in particular, Ann Steiner and Gretchen Meyers, for sharing their enthusiasm and limited lab space. I am very grateful to Hannah Russ for her identification of the shark tooth, and to Katie Rask, Umberto Albarella, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on a draft of this article. Lastly, I must also thank the many participants of the “Gods in Ruins” conference (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 2011) for their helpful comments, and the conference’s organizers, Charlotte Potts and Ed Bispham, for allowing me to expand upon their title.
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