A Zooarchaeological Study of Animal Consumption in Medieval Viljandi

Abstract: This thesis deals with animal bones from the medieval town of Viljandi. My aim is to study the consumption of different species and possible spatial, temporal and social differences thereof. Bone assemblages from Viljandi’s suburb, town and castle area are analyzed with osteological, quantificative and statistical methods. Most of the consumed species in the town have been cattle, sheep, goat and pig, but there are also some evidence of horse meat consumption. Bird bones belong mostly to domestic fowl. Dogs and cats have most probably been kept as pets, despite that there are few indicators of other kind of utilization also. Wild animals have not been very abundant, although the species diversity is quite extensive, including quite extraordinary red deer and European bison. Spatial differences in the town show, that the castle area differs the most, however the suburbs and town are quite similar. Some patterns of the consumption of main domesticates in time are also seen, but any social differences are hard to draw. Nevertheless, occurence of various game and scarce bird species in the town and castle area is an indicator of higher status.