An early Modern pheasant farm at Saint-Pathus in the Seine-et-Marne, France

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe pheasantry of Saint-Pathus is the first of its kind to be found, excavated and identified by archaeologists in France. It can be used as a model for the identification of all kinds of enclosures intended for the breeding of birds. The remains of this rural establishment are a quadrangular trenched enclosure, with an excavated surface of 2250 m2, defined by small ditches. The internal perimeter of the enclosure is bordered by a series of small structures. On the plan of Intendance of Paris (1784), the excavated enclosure corresponds to a pheasantry, named as such. What did a pheasantry look like? To understand the vestiges, we carried out an archaeological reading of agronomic and cynegetic literature on the subject. We tried to understand what type of archaeological remains would result from a place built for the breeding of pheasants. Twenty-three eighteenth-and nineteenth-century authors inform us of the standards traditionally observed and given for the breeding of pheasants. These treatises inform us about the right location for a pheasantry and its shape, and detail the care to be given to the laying areas. On the basis of treatises, an estimation of bird production is proposed for the pheasantry at Saint-Pathus. For each one of these topics, the excavated remains are compared with the description of pheasantries in traditional agricultural manuals and books related to hunting.This archaeological excavation provides an opportunity for considering the impact of social practices on land and environment management during the Modern period (seventeenth and eighteenth century).