Same place, changing patterns? Animal economy at Gabii (Latium, central Italy) from the Early Iron Age through the Imperial period

Abstract

Large-scale excavations at Gabii, located approximately 18 km east of Rome, began in 2009 under the direction of Professor Nicola Terrenato (University of Michigan) and yielded a huge faunal assemblage spanning from the Iron Age to the Medieval period. The focus of this paper is the comparison of zooarchaeological material from deposits dating to the Iron Age through Archaic Period (8th–6th centuries BCE) and the Republican period (mainly 3rd–1st centuries BCE), with some preliminary data on the Imperial phase. This work examines variations in animal production, distribution, and consumption over time in the same settlement, as well as changes in urbanism, built environment, and the available faunal resources. Zooarchaeological data from Gabii provide detailed information for how animal procurement, rearing, and supply evolved alongside a changing city that increasingly interacted with Rome. Species range, herd composition, management strategies, production of secondary products, breeding improvements, and trade and mobility are all characteristics of the faunal assemblage that reflect society more broadly. Relating these characteristics to the economy and urbanism in Western central Italy, the zooarchaeological remains show that animal production and supply mirrored larger social and economic trends in the evolving city.