Pets and pests in Roman and medieval Britain

Abstract

AbstractHumans and other vertebrates interact in a variety of relationships which are inadequately described by a simple division of these other animals into wild, feral, tame, and domestic taxa. Discussion of the process and semantic meaning of domestication has largely taken place in the context of the adoption of settled agriculture, but is equally relevant to complex urban societies. Certain species adopted a synanthropic relationship in the first ‘villages’ of the early Holocene, and co‐existence with pets has a similar antiquity. The nature of the relationship between people and their pets is complex, and scarcely amenable to archaeological investigation, as part of the mutual benefit has an emotional basis, or centres on the symbolic role of certain species within different societies. The status of Cats in medieval towns in Britain and Ireland is a case in point, with opinions varying from the exploitation of Cats for skins, through neglected feral living, to a pet status much as today. The truth probably subsumes all three interpretations. Rats seem to have adapted to commensalism in northern Europe more slowly than Mice, and there may be evidence that Rats were more vulnerable to changes in habitat. Archaeology can usefully examine the community ecology of Roman and medieval towns, but any such research must move away from simple concepts of wild or domestic status.