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The Studies of Archaeological Bird Remains... from Medieval Staraya Ladoga

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The Studies of Archaeological Bird Remains... from Medieval Staraya Ladoga The Studies of Archaeological Bird Remains... from Medieval Staraya Ladoga New Results and Interpretations DILYARA SHAYMURATOVA (GALIMOVA), IGOR ASKEYEV & OLEG ASKEYEV The Institute of Problems in Ecology and Mineral Wealth, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Kazan, Russia, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract This article presents the results of studies of bird remains from medieval Staraya Ladoga, one of the most important medieval cities in the north-western part of Russia. The identification of bird bones from the collection acquired during three years of excavations (2004, 2008, and 2009) at Zemlyanoe gorodishche in Staraya Ladoga revealed the presence of 48 species of birds with a diverse range of wild species (46) in general and the dominance of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) in particular. The domestic birds in the collection studied are represented by domestic chicken (Gallus gallus f. domestica) and domestic goose (Anser anser f. domestica). The results of the study reveal another point of great interest, namely the discovery of bones of the razorbill (Alca torda), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), and common eider (Somateria mollissima), which are valuable for the study of ornithogeography and the history of Fennoscandian avifauna. According to the analysis of the ratio of the number of vertebrate animal remains, birds were very important in the diet of the medieval population of Staraya Ladoga. The composition of identified bird species could indicate the high social and economic status of this medieval proto-city and contribute to the understanding of the interaction between different ethnic groups in the region within the context of human-nature interaction. Keywords: bird bones, Middle Ages, Staraya Ladoga, Zemlyanoe gorodishche HELSINKI HARVEST 93 SHAYMURATOVA (GALIMOVA), ASKEYEV & ASKEYEV Introduction population of the region, which resulted in the interaction of Slavic, Scandinavian, and Finnish The medieval archaeological site of Staraya groups (Rjabinin 1997; Kirpichnikov & Saksa Ladoga is located in the Leningrad region, 2002; Uino 2006). Russia, 125 km east of St Petersburg and 12 km south of the estuary of the Volkhov River, one of The core part of the archaeological site of the tributaries of Lake Ladoga (Figure 1). Modern Staraya Ladoga, named Zemlyanoe gorodishche, Staraya Ladoga consists of a small village and has a cultural layer that dates from the 8th an open-air museum where archaeological to the 17th century AD (Ravdonikas 1949: 11– and historical research projects are currently 2). The archaeological studies of Zemlyanoe conducted. In the Middle Ages, Staraya Ladoga gorodishche, which started in the early 20th was one of the most important cities in the century, have revealed the existence of a cultural north-western part of modern Russia. The layer of 4–5 meters with various archaeological material culture of Staraya Ladoga revealed finds, including remains of vertebrate animals: significant issues for further studies related to domestic and wild mammals, birds, and fish. the emergence and development of the medieval Figure 1. Map of the Eastern Baltic area showing the location of Staraya Ladoga (adapted from Brisbane et al., 2012). MASF 7 | 2019 | 93-114 94 BIRD REMAINS FROM STARAYA LADOGA Recently conducted multidisciplinary studies bird remains were found in the layers of the 9th– of Zemlyanoe gorodishche in Staraya Ladoga 10th centuries AD and included 665 bird bones established the appearance of early Slavs in attributed to 23 species (Ravdonikas 1949: 51– the Lower Volkhov River area as early as in the 3) (Table 1). As regards the species composition, middle of the first millennium AD. The beginning the majority of the identified bones belonged to of the development of the Ladoga settlement was the Galliformes: capercaillie, black grouse, and synchronous with the establishment of sea trade domestic chicken (with a predominance of wild communications in the western Baltic area in the species). Among the waterfowl species present 6th and 7th centuries AD. In general, settlement in this sample, mallard and eider (Somateria sp.) activity in the territory of Staraya Ladoga and the were dominant, and the remains of whooper surrounding region, including the territory of swans, birds of prey, and common ravens were Zemlyanoe gorodishche, falls into a period from identified as well. Ravdonikas (1949: 50) pointed the 5th century to the first half of the 6th century out the abundance and high level of diversity AD (Kirpichnikov & Kurbatov 2014: 129–130). of wild bird remains in the studied collection According to the latest studies, the beginning of of archaeological remains of wild fauna. On the the formation of the cultural layer and the burial other hand, he neither conducted any further of the soil of Zemlyanoe gorodishche can be dated analysis of the dimensional characteristics to the 8th to 9th centuries AD (Aleksandrovskii et and anatomical structure of the remains nor al. 2013: 96–7). discussed the possible significance of birds for the medieval population of Staraya Ladoga. This article presents the results of a new study of bird remains found during the excavations of The partial data on the species composition of Zemlyanoe gorodishche in 2004, 2008, and 2009. birds from the excavation of Staraya Ladoga in 1957 can be found in the tremendous work of Nikolai Vereshchagin and Oleg Rusakov on the Previous studies of bird remains from Ungulates of the North-Western USSR (1979). Zemlyanoe gorodishche The authors admit that the identified 125 bird bones from the excavation are attributed to A large number of vertebrate remains, including domestic chicken, black grouse, capercaillie, bird bones, were recovered in the medieval and ducks without further species identification layers of Staraya Ladoga. Data on their species (Vereshchagin & Rusakov 1979: 29). and quantitative composition was first published by Vladislav Ravdonikas, who supervised the The archaeozoological collections of animal excavations in Staraya Ladoga from 1938 to remains obtained during the excavations of 1947 (Ravdonikas 1949). The archaeological bird Staraya Ladoga in 1988–1991 were studied by remains found during the excavations conducted Aleksei Kasparov (Kasparov 1997). He diagnosed at the site in 1938–1939 and 1957 were further the mammal bone remains and provided data on identified by the specialists of the Institute the total number of fish and bird remains. The of Zoology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. materials originate from the 9th and 10th centuries According to the results of these studies, the AD. Most of the remains belonged to domestic HELSINKI HARVEST 95 SHAYMURATOVA (GALIMOVA), ASKEYEV & ASKEYEV Table 1. The results of identifications of bird bones from Zemlyanoe gorodishche of Staraya Ladoga in 1938– 1939 (Ravdonikas, 1949: 51–53). NISP - number of identified specimens. Taxa NISP 1938 NISP 1939 NISP Total Greylag goose (Anser anser) - 1 1 Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) - 6 6 Anser sp. 1 - 1 Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 14 46 60 Common teal (Anas crecca) 1 1 2 Gadwall (Anas strepera) - 1 1 Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) - 4 4 Northern shoveler (Anas clypeata) 2 2 4 Anatinae not identified to species 25 2 27 Aythya sp. 2 - 2 Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) - 16 16 Somateria sp. - 34 34 Goosander (Mergus merganser) - 3 3 Aythynae not identified to species - 6 6 Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) - 3 3 Rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus) - 2 2 Buteo sp. 1 - 1 Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 1 1 2 Falconiformes not identified to species - 2 2 Black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) 28 66 94 Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) 105 150 255 Hazel grouse (Bonasa bonasia) - 2 2 Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus f. domestica) 26 65 91 Galliformes not identified to species - 31 31 Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) - 1 1 Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) - 1 1 Common raven (Corvus corax) 1 1 2 Not identified 11 - 11 Total 218 447 665 Number of species 11 20 MASF 7 | 2019 | 93-114 96 BIRD REMAINS FROM STARAYA LADOGA mammals. The total number of bird bones with The following radiocarbon datings were obtained no further identification of the species was 117, from wood samples from the 4-m-thick which significantly exceeded the total number cultural layer, including the studied remains: of wild mammal bones (see Kasparov 1997: 27, 1360 ± 50 BP (LY-5462, radiocarbon laboratory Table 1). Kasparov notes that the presence of a of the Research Institute of Geography of St large number of bird remains of different sizes Petersburg University) and 1300 ± 25 BP (Le- indicates active hunting and the widespread 7317, radiocarbon laboratory of the IIMK RAS), practice of breeding domestic chickens, the that is, 660–780 cal AD (Aleksandrovskii et remains of which are present in the collections al. 2009: 277). The AMS dating of two bone (Kasparov 1997: 30). fragments of Ladoga ringed seal (Pusa hispida ladogensis) provides the following dates: 1428 ± Unfortunately, no other information on the bird 25 BP (Hela-3825), that, is, 585–656 cal AD, and remains found during the archaeological studies 1545 ± 24 BP (Hela-2824), that is, 427–570 cal of Staraya Ladoga is currently available. AD (Oinonen 2016). The data was calibrated in the program OxCal v. 4.3.2, using the IntCal13 calibration curve. Materials and methods The further identification of bird remains The majority of the bird bones used for this study was based on recommendations and methods were found at excavations # 3 (in 2004) and # developed by D. Serjeantson (2009) and 4 (in 2008 and 2009) at Zemlyanoe gorodishche supplemented with a comparative analysis with by an excavation team supervised by Dr Anatoly the skeletal collection of the Biomonitoring Kirpichnikov. As regards the methodology of the Laboratory. All measurements were taken research, it should be highlighted that all bone according to the standards by A. von den Driesch remains, including bird bones, were collected (1976: 103–129). The systematic list of the by hand and had a common archaeological scientific names of birds in Table 1 and Table 2 context and dating.
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