Animal bones from the medieval settlement Otok (Gutenwerth)near Dobrava pri Škocjanu, Slovenia

Abstract

 This  study  is  an  analysis  of  452  animal  bones  from  twosites of the medieval settlement at Otok (Gutenwerth), repre-senting  the  12-14th  century.  The  material  was  collected  over30 years ago. Therefore, mostly complete, spectacular animalbones were saved at the time. Consequently, in spite of its smallsize, the assemblage carried high quality archaeozoological andculture  historical  information.  While  it  was  not  sufficientlylarge for the detailed quantitative study of proportions betweendomesticates  in  animal  keeping,  individual  remains  revealedhigh quality information on meat consumption, medieval cat-tle  breeding,  craft  activities  (especially  tanning)  and  skeletaldeformations possibly related to draught exploitation. Amongthe  archaeological  finds,  horse  and  ox  shoes  are  relevant  tothis latter topic. In spite of its small size, this assemblage offersconcentrated  zoological  information  that  is  indispensable  ininterpreting  the  contemporaneous  historical  record