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Proceedings of the General Session of the 11th International Council for Archaeozoology Conference (Paris, 23-28 August 2010) Edited by Christine Lefèvre BAR International Series 2354 2012 Published by Archaeopress Publishers of British Archaeological Reports Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED England [email protected] www.archaeopress.com BAR S2354 Proceedings of the General Session of the 11th International Council for Archaeozoology Conference (Paris, 23‐28 August 2010) © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2012 ISBN 978 1 4073 0940 8 Printed in England by Information Press, Oxford All BAR titles are available from: Hadrian Books Ltd 122 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7BP England www.hadrianbooks.co.uk The current BAR catalogue with details of all titles in print, prices and means of payment is available free from Hadrian Books or may be downloaded from www.archaeopress.com Noble Meals instead of Abstinence? A faunal Assemblage from the Dominican Monastery of Norden, Northern Germany Hans Christian KUECHELMANN Knochenarbeit, Konsul-Smidt-Strasse 30, D-28217 Bremen, Germany [email protected] Abstract The faunal remains recovered from the site of a late medieval mendicant order are presented here. The assemblage shows indications for wealth and high social status. The archaeozoological results are discussed in the light of historic facts known about the Dominican order revealing obvious discrepancies. Differences are visible between the refuse from early and late features suggesting a change from a diet consisting predominantly of fish in the 13th century to a preponderance of meat from the 15th century onwards. It is assumed that these changes may reflect a shift in ethical values. Keywords Middle Ages, northern Germany, monastic site, social status, mendicant order, dietary rules Introduction In this paper a faunal assemblage from a late burnt and re-erected again. After several changes medieval monastery at Norden, county Aurich in the of usage they were turned into a Latin school in region of Ostfriesland (East Frisia) in the federal 1567. The successor of this institution, the present state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) shall be Ulrichsgymnasium, is still in function at the introduced. Today, Norden is a small city of about same place. The medieval buildings (Figure 1), 25.000 inhabitants at the North Sea coastline. It is however, have been replaced, the last remains were situated in a flat marshland area with clay soil and removed in the middle of the 19th century. During a tidal-influenced wadden sea. A sheltering dike recent construction works a rescue excavation was was constructed in the 12th century. In medieval times the city was smaller, but the environmental undertaken by the Archaeological Service of the conditions have been more or less similar. The Ostfriesische Landschaft Aurich in 2004 - 2005. archaeological site as well as the faunal material All finds were collected by hand. Three major is published in several reports (Bärenfänger 2006a, complexes (Figure 2) which were chronologically 2006b, 2006c; Bärenfänger and Brüggler 2007; distinguishable yielded animal bones. These are: Küchelmann 2010a, 2010b). Only a short summary about the general features will be given here after The so called western room shows traces of burning which I will focus on some particular aspects that and was not reconstructed after the fire but given up resulted into an assumption that I would like to put and filled with waste material. The dateable finds place under discussion of the international community. this event in the early 15th century, which corresponds Further details may be obtained from the above with the burning event of 1430. mentioned publications. The ash layer of the first burning extends into In AD 1264 the local nobility donated a former the adjacent eastern room, but this room has been mint house to the Dominican order, who founded a reconstructed after the first fire and was finally monastery on the estate. The monks reconstructed demolished in the early 16th century, a time which and enlarged the buildings until the beginning of the 14th century. Of special importance for this research corresponds with the 1531 burning. Both rooms were are two burning events that are documented in the probably part of a kitchen area. annals of Norden, traces of which are mirrored by archaeological evidence. The monastery was raided Feature 21 is a 12m long garbage pit underneath and burnt down for the first time in 1430 and was the monastery foundation walls. It was filled with re-erected subsequently. In 1527 it was closed 13th century material and therefore can be placed in the course of the reformation and transferred confidently into the time before or during monastery into an earl’s manor. In 1531 the buildings were construction (late 13th to early 14th century). HANS CHRISTIAN KUECHELMANN FIG. 1 - ULRICHSSCHULE NORDEN, DRAWING OF 1840 (FROM BÄRENFÄNGER AND BRÜGGLER 2007, 175) The bone assemblage The recovered faunal remains consist of 5117 items with a mainly juvenile bones from a minimum of three individu- weight of 73,4kg (Figure 3, in appendix). The number of als. Among the 118 fish bones are cod, haddock, several identified specimen (NISP) is 3046. The bulk of the ma- flat fish, sturgeon, salmon or trout and some rare species terial are the usual medieval economically important do- like mullets, seabass and swordfish (Figures 4 and 5). mesticates cattle, pig and sheep/goat. Remains of horse, dog, cat, chicken, goose and duck appear in small num- General interpretation bers as expectable characters. Together the domestic spe- cies make up 94,1% of the NISP and 99,3% of the bone After several decades of archaeozoological research, a weight. The degree of fragmentation is 92%, most of the substantial amount of data is available for European me- bones are heavily fragmented with only a few mammal dieval faunal assemblages from sites with different social foot bones and some bird bones being complete. About contexts and several authors have focused on comparative 20% of the bones show chop and cut marks. So far, the aspects between such sites (see for instance Ashby 2002; pattern is consistent with the general picture of nutritional Bartosiewicz et al. 2010; Ervynck 1992, 1997; Kühtreiber refuse. The first unusual aspect is the representation of 36 2010; Rehazek and Marti-Grädel 2010; Serjeantson 2009; different species in the whole assemblage (Figure 3, in ap- Schoon et al. 2007; Woolgar et al. 2009, 270-277). These pendix) – a rather large number for a rural or urban me- studies revealed that apparent differences are observable dieval site. Besides the already mentioned ten expectable in the faunal refuse, which resulted in the establishment domesticates there are five species of wild mammals (hare, of patterns and criteria that allow the distinction of high rabbit, wild boar, polecat or ferret, harbour porpoise), ten status (feudal, clerical) from common (urban, rural) sites. species of wild birds and 11 fish species (Figures 3 and 4). Particular markers for high status in the Middle Ages are: They do not make up a relevant part of the NISP nor of the weight, but they are worth taking a closer look as evidence a high number and variation of species represented itself. Among the 27 wild bird bones are wild ducks, grey heron, waders, partridge and songbirds (Figure 3). More the representation of gamethe representation of wild wild ducks and wild geese may be hidden within the 98 birds goose and duck bones as these could not be separated from domestic duck and goose with confidence in each case. the representation of species related to high status by The heron may be pointed out, which is represented by 14 specific rules, regulations, habits or fashions (e.g. 88 NOBLE MEALS INSTEAD OF ABSTINENCE? dwarf pet dogs, falconry, pheasant, swan, ‘royal’ fish, etc.) the representation of rare or expensive species (e.g. pea fowl) a high proportion of young animals a high proportion of selected high quality body parts. Judging the Norden assemblage by these criteria, several indications for high status are visible, in particular: A quite high number of species, especially of wild birds and fish. Game is represented by wild boar and hare. Wild boar is classified as high game restricted to the high no- bility in the medieval time we are dealing with here. The hunting of hare, however, was less restricted in Germany at that time with exceptions of hunting rights being granted to people of lesser rank eventu- ally (Schmölcke 2009, 86). There are species which are related to high status by specific regulations. Porpoise and sturgeon are clas- sified as royal fish in England, which had to be de- livered to the crown by the fisherman (Ashby 2002, 42; Gardiner 1997). For the porpoise this has not been historically analysed in Germany, but for sturgeons there is historic evidence for fishing right regulations, expensiveness and other indications of high status for Germany and Austria as well (Kunst and Galik 2000, 252; Lampen 2000, 45, 51, 68-69, 91-92, 119; Tiede- mann-Wingst 2001, 72-73). At least two species can be attributed as rare and/or expensive. The grey heron has been found regularly in noble contexts and is claimed to be a typical spe- cies at noble banquets (Baker 2010, 62; Ervynck 1992, 153; Gardiner 1997, 186). The swordfish is certainly a rare species because its natural distribution does not include the North Sea although there are a few records of vagrant individuals captured or washed ashore on German and Dutch coasts for the last four centuries (Haas 1899, 170; Mohr 1935, 390). The rostrum frag- ment found in Norden (Figure 5) is the only represen- tation in a northern European archaeological context I am aware of so far, apart from an amulet manufactured out of a modified vertebra found at the early medieval Slavic fortress of Starigard (Prummel 1993, 119, 132).

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