Angela Trentacoste
I am the PJ Smith Senior Fellow in Archaeology at the British School at Rome.
My current project explores early urban ecology, city-hinterland relationships, and territoriality through reconstruction of pastoral strategies:
https://www.urbanherds.com/
I recently completed an Advanced Humboldt fellowship in the Archaeological Stable Isotope Laboratory at CAU Kiel in the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte. Previously I was a Gerda Henkel Research Fellow in the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and prior to that I was a postdoc on the ERC Starting Grant ZooMWest – Zooarchaeology and Mobility in the Western Mediterranean: Husbandry production from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity.
I completed a BA at the University of Virginia (Archaeology, 2006) and an MSc (Environmental Archaeology, 2009) and PhD (2014) at the University of Sheffield. I then held research positions with the British School at Rome, the Etruscan Foundation, and the Oxford Roman Economy Project (OxREP) in Classics at Oxford.
My research is broadly concerned with human–animal interaction, and more specifically with agricultural responses to urbanism in an Italian context. I am particularly interested how political connectivity influenced mobility, and the economic role of religion.
I am involved in on-going research excavations throughout Italy. My primary field projects are at Tharros (University of Cincinnati) and Falerii Novi (BSR, ICS, Harvard, Toronto), where I coordinate the in-field processing of plant/animal remains and environmental research.
I have extensive teaching experience in Environmental Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, and Roman/Etruscan archaeology.
My current project explores early urban ecology, city-hinterland relationships, and territoriality through reconstruction of pastoral strategies:
https://www.urbanherds.com/
I recently completed an Advanced Humboldt fellowship in the Archaeological Stable Isotope Laboratory at CAU Kiel in the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte. Previously I was a Gerda Henkel Research Fellow in the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and prior to that I was a postdoc on the ERC Starting Grant ZooMWest – Zooarchaeology and Mobility in the Western Mediterranean: Husbandry production from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity.
I completed a BA at the University of Virginia (Archaeology, 2006) and an MSc (Environmental Archaeology, 2009) and PhD (2014) at the University of Sheffield. I then held research positions with the British School at Rome, the Etruscan Foundation, and the Oxford Roman Economy Project (OxREP) in Classics at Oxford.
My research is broadly concerned with human–animal interaction, and more specifically with agricultural responses to urbanism in an Italian context. I am particularly interested how political connectivity influenced mobility, and the economic role of religion.
I am involved in on-going research excavations throughout Italy. My primary field projects are at Tharros (University of Cincinnati) and Falerii Novi (BSR, ICS, Harvard, Toronto), where I coordinate the in-field processing of plant/animal remains and environmental research.
I have extensive teaching experience in Environmental Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, and Roman/Etruscan archaeology.
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Papers by Angela Trentacoste
Hardback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-534-8
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-535-5 (epub)
In northern Italy’s Po Plain, Etruscan cities flourished during the Archaic period (c. 6th–4th centuries BC) thanks to an organized and dynamic commercial network that linked these centres with Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean. This new urban network had a significant impact on the territory it occupied, and zooarchaeological studies document the emergence of a new agricultural strategy and livestock improvement. While there is ample evidence for how these Etruscan communities shaped their urban environments and agricultural hinterland, their relationship with wild resources – outside of prestige hunting – is poorly understood. As a result of taphonomic and recovery biases, zooarchaeological assemblages representing small wild taxa like fish and birds are rare. In this context, the fish bone assemblage from the Archaic harbour town of Forcello offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate wild resource exploitation in an urban context. Here we present an initial analysis of the ichthyological assemblage and place results in their broader zooarchaeological and cultural context. Results suggest a fishing strategy that privileged large, line-caught fish, with a significant degree of continuity in species representation over pre- and proto-history. While the amount of food furnished by fishing was minimal compared to that from domestic livestock, wild foods including fish were the main source of diversity in the diet: a role which may have influenced their relatively greater visibility in Etruscan ritual practices.
first millennium BC, livestock mangement changed, and was changed by, the rise of cities in Italy.
Italian prehistory has a rich zooarchaeological tradition, but investigation of the Iron Age has been
regionally divided and synthetic works on the Po valley comparatively few. This article presents a panregional
review of late prehistoric and protohistoric livestock exploitation that considers Northern and
Central Italy together for the first time. Zooarchaeological comparison reveals an increase in the use of
sheep/goat for secondary products, while cattle and caprines were subject to size changes that distinguish
their management from that of pigs. A marked increase in pig husbandry is visible in both regions, but
this shift took place earlier and more emphatically in Northern Etruscan centres than in Central Italy.
After defining the main changes in animal management during the period under review, this article
looks beyond population density to explore the wider environmental, economic, and cultural context of
pork consumption and its relation to the development of urbanism in Etruria padana.
Keywords: Etruscan, diet, foodways, livestock, Etruria Padana, central Italy, subsistence, urbanisation
Recovery and analysis of animal remains from proto-historic sites is now a routine part of Italian excavations. During the study of a faunal assemblage, it is not unusual to encounter a few human bones, typically small single elements from adult individuals. However, recent analyses of zooarchaeological assemblages from Forcello (Bagnolo San Vito) and Poggio Civitate (Murlo) have brought to light a significant number of perinatal human remains. These remains were typically individual finds, but some bones groups and partial skeletons were also recovered. The bones appeared in refuse deposits, as well as a variety of structural fills (post holes, constructions, etc.), and in both domestic and industrial contexts. The quantity and ubiquity of these bones suggests that their deposition was not a rare event, but a regular part of mortuary practice within these settlements. However, the manner in which these individuals were disposed of is less clear. Were they treated like the other debris in which they are frequently found? Or are we looking at disturbed domestic burials? This paper presents new data on perinatal human remains found in zooarchaeological assemblages, discusses the significance of these finds in relation to material from settlements in Italy and Iron Age Europe, and reflects on the role of zooarchaeology in better understanding infant burials in pre-Roman Italy.
Excavations conducted by Queen’s University in the central area of the Etruscan city of Caere, near the so-called hypogaeum of Clepsina, have brought to light a sequence of phases indicative of a longer and more complex history of urban occupation at the site than previously thought. The earliest stratigraphic evidence uncovered so far dates to the Late Iron Age, followed by an Orientalizing building with wall paintings, an important Archaic phase, and a large-scale renovation datable to the third century bc. Occupation was intense until the late first and early second century ad. Excavation and geophysical prospection have revealed a regular urban plan in the area between the centre of the city plateau and the sanctuary of Manganello. Research within the hypogaeum, particularly infrared imaging, has allowed for a better reading of wall paintings, drawings, and inscriptions, including two previously unknown texts.
in Mediterranean Antiquity" that was held at the University of Oxford on 6–8 September 2017.
Hardback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-534-8
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-535-5 (epub)
In northern Italy’s Po Plain, Etruscan cities flourished during the Archaic period (c. 6th–4th centuries BC) thanks to an organized and dynamic commercial network that linked these centres with Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean. This new urban network had a significant impact on the territory it occupied, and zooarchaeological studies document the emergence of a new agricultural strategy and livestock improvement. While there is ample evidence for how these Etruscan communities shaped their urban environments and agricultural hinterland, their relationship with wild resources – outside of prestige hunting – is poorly understood. As a result of taphonomic and recovery biases, zooarchaeological assemblages representing small wild taxa like fish and birds are rare. In this context, the fish bone assemblage from the Archaic harbour town of Forcello offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate wild resource exploitation in an urban context. Here we present an initial analysis of the ichthyological assemblage and place results in their broader zooarchaeological and cultural context. Results suggest a fishing strategy that privileged large, line-caught fish, with a significant degree of continuity in species representation over pre- and proto-history. While the amount of food furnished by fishing was minimal compared to that from domestic livestock, wild foods including fish were the main source of diversity in the diet: a role which may have influenced their relatively greater visibility in Etruscan ritual practices.
first millennium BC, livestock mangement changed, and was changed by, the rise of cities in Italy.
Italian prehistory has a rich zooarchaeological tradition, but investigation of the Iron Age has been
regionally divided and synthetic works on the Po valley comparatively few. This article presents a panregional
review of late prehistoric and protohistoric livestock exploitation that considers Northern and
Central Italy together for the first time. Zooarchaeological comparison reveals an increase in the use of
sheep/goat for secondary products, while cattle and caprines were subject to size changes that distinguish
their management from that of pigs. A marked increase in pig husbandry is visible in both regions, but
this shift took place earlier and more emphatically in Northern Etruscan centres than in Central Italy.
After defining the main changes in animal management during the period under review, this article
looks beyond population density to explore the wider environmental, economic, and cultural context of
pork consumption and its relation to the development of urbanism in Etruria padana.
Keywords: Etruscan, diet, foodways, livestock, Etruria Padana, central Italy, subsistence, urbanisation
Recovery and analysis of animal remains from proto-historic sites is now a routine part of Italian excavations. During the study of a faunal assemblage, it is not unusual to encounter a few human bones, typically small single elements from adult individuals. However, recent analyses of zooarchaeological assemblages from Forcello (Bagnolo San Vito) and Poggio Civitate (Murlo) have brought to light a significant number of perinatal human remains. These remains were typically individual finds, but some bones groups and partial skeletons were also recovered. The bones appeared in refuse deposits, as well as a variety of structural fills (post holes, constructions, etc.), and in both domestic and industrial contexts. The quantity and ubiquity of these bones suggests that their deposition was not a rare event, but a regular part of mortuary practice within these settlements. However, the manner in which these individuals were disposed of is less clear. Were they treated like the other debris in which they are frequently found? Or are we looking at disturbed domestic burials? This paper presents new data on perinatal human remains found in zooarchaeological assemblages, discusses the significance of these finds in relation to material from settlements in Italy and Iron Age Europe, and reflects on the role of zooarchaeology in better understanding infant burials in pre-Roman Italy.
Excavations conducted by Queen’s University in the central area of the Etruscan city of Caere, near the so-called hypogaeum of Clepsina, have brought to light a sequence of phases indicative of a longer and more complex history of urban occupation at the site than previously thought. The earliest stratigraphic evidence uncovered so far dates to the Late Iron Age, followed by an Orientalizing building with wall paintings, an important Archaic phase, and a large-scale renovation datable to the third century bc. Occupation was intense until the late first and early second century ad. Excavation and geophysical prospection have revealed a regular urban plan in the area between the centre of the city plateau and the sanctuary of Manganello. Research within the hypogaeum, particularly infrared imaging, has allowed for a better reading of wall paintings, drawings, and inscriptions, including two previously unknown texts.
in Mediterranean Antiquity" that was held at the University of Oxford on 6–8 September 2017.
208p, b/w illus (Oxbow Books, 2011).
For more information or to purchase visit the publisher's website at:
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/90189
or
http://www.amazon.com/Ethnozooarchaeology-Present-Past-Human-Animal-Relationships/dp/1842179977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307003856&sr=8-1
Despite these challenges, young zooarchaeologists produce important research often driven by new questions or methodological approaches. Since it’s inception five years ago, PZAF has expanded and it now attracts a range of European reseachers. The first PZAF conference took place at Cardiff University in November 2009 (organised by Richard Madgwick), and was a great success, with seventeen papers, seven posters and around forty attendees. The following August at ICAZ 2010 in Paris, Roz Gillis organised a PZAF speed-networking event which gave attendees the opportunity to meet young ICAZ members from around the world. Again, the event was a success; so many people attended that we struggled to fit in the auditorium! The popularity of these events persuaded us that another conference style event would be well received, and so we organised the second of these at the University of Sheffield. The conference had a great response drew around forty attendees to Sheffield’s Humanities Research Institute. Participants travelled to Sheffield from across Europe, and papers and posters presented research projects from across the world, as far as Argentina and Kazakhstan, and we are pleased to be able to present a number of the contributions in these conference proceedings. The papers in this special issue of Assemblage span from the Palaeolithic to the Medieval period and research on methodological issues and analysis into isolated contexts. They demonstrate the massive variety in the types of projects that Masters and PhD students are undertaking, and the important contributions that postgraduate students are making to our field. We are delighted that a fourth meeting of PZAF has already been set by the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and the health of the forum in the future looks to remain strong.
We had no funding for this conference, but charged our participants just £10, in the knowledge that many postgraduates are limited by financial constraints. The Sheffield Zooarchaeology team hosted (sometimes multiple) participants in their homes. It is worth mentioning the real lack of opportunities for funding an event such as this – postgraduate conference funding was cut by the Arts and Humanties Research Council in recent years, and The University of Sheffield had no appropriate money that we could apply for. This is a real problem when postgraduates often have little funding themselves. Nevertheless, with our small participation fee we still were able to provide food for lunch on two days, tea and coffee, and a wine reception, demonstrating that in order to put on a successful conference it is not necessary to charge extortionate fees, as many conferences do. At this point we should mention the extraordinary help that we received from other members of our research team who assisted with the promotion, set-up and food preparation for the conference, as well as providing a great deal of moral support. Thanks should also go out to all of the reviewers for this publication, and to the assemblage team for being so enthusiastic and agreeing to host us. It seemed absolutely fitting that the proceedings of a postgraduate conference should be published by a postgraduate journal.
All of the PZAF events to date have been intellectually stimulating, engaging and fun, and we hope that others continue forward with it in future. At a time when archaeology is facing difficulties in funding and university applications are down, with some departments even being closed, it is encouraging to know that our field is still producing fantastic postgraduates who are undertaking some really important and high quality work. We hope that participants of the conference went away with new friends and colleagues and that discussions have continued beyond the confines of the conference itself. Crucially, these are people who are likely to be our colleagues for the rest of our careers, and the contacts we make, and projects that we set up together, will determine the future prospects of Zooarchaeology as a field.
The first PZAF took place at Cardiff University in November 2009 (organised by Richard Madgwick). It was a great success, with 17 papers and 7 posters presented by researchers from institutions across Europe. Overall there were more than 40 attendees. In the evening we went for a meal, followed by an intense but convivial game of skittles at a local pub. The following August at ICAZ 2010 in Paris, Roz Gillis organised a PZAF speed-networking event which gave attendees the opportunity to meet young ICAZ members from around the world. Again, the event was a success; so many people attended that we struggled to fit in the auditorium! With the latest PZAF meeting in Sheffield we have returned to a conference-style event which we hope will continue in the tradition of the previous two.
This paper aims to bridge the gap between the zooarchaeological evidence for livestock production and the social networks underlying animal management. Three key aspects of protohistoric husbandry are discussed: greater differentiation in livestock production between different site types; specialisation of animals through selective breeding; and the adoption of a new form of livestock (chicken). These foodways can evidence the importance of animals in socio-economic networks of distribution and dependence, and they have the potential to highlight the importance of agricultural produce in the articulation of social hierarchies. As in the transformation of other productive technology of this period, livestock husbandry was not simply the deterministic result of wider socio-economic change, but an active medium adapted for its expression.
specialized system of production, new research supports a management strategy based on local/indigenous subsistence practices, rather than the imposition of an organized or foreign food system. Contextualized through comparison to related settlements from northern and central Italy, the animal remains from Forcello present another perspective on the nature of Etruscan expansion during this period.
The Etruscan period represents an important phase in cultural development from the preceding Villanovan culture (ninth-eighth centuries BC) of the Early Iron Age, to the subsequent phases of Roman occupation in Italy. Much of what is understood about Etruscan life is gleaned from the study of elite tombs and their contents, and thus most of our understanding of this civilization reflects aspects of life and death for those of high status. The analyses of the remains recovered at Forcello provide an opportunity to understand life in an Etruscan town and shed new light on the domestic, industrial and commercial activities of other levels of society. Excavations at the site have yielded the largest animal bone assemblage from any Etruscan site ever comprehensively studied. This study presents the results of the analysis of fish remains from the site.
Overall, analysis of the animal remains recovered from Poggio Colla presents trends comparable to those of other Etruscan sanctuaries and settlements. Domestic cattle, sheep/goat and pig dominate the Poggio Colla assemblage, although the remains of wild species and dog are also present. Between the Archaic and Hellenistic periods the relative importance of pig increases significantly as it becomes the predominant species on site. However, the role and significance of animal remains associated with the site’s votive deposits are more difficult to interpret. In particular, the placement and character of the bones in some ritual contexts suggests a degree of curation in the assembly of these features. The limited recovery and documentation of faunal material from other Etruscan sanctuaries precludes high-resolution analogies, but acts of selective deposition in cult and funerary settings occur throughout Italy. Within this context of Etruscan cultic/ritual activity, such attention to and organization of animal remains provokes consideration of the choices governing sacrificial animal selection, the post-mortem significance of animal bodies, and the disposal of both quotidian and sacrificial debris.
Abstract: Field survey and study of site distribution have been instrumental to understanding of settlement dynamics and patterns of change through time. However, such methods offer limited information on the interaction between a location's inhabitants and the landscape. Understanding of this interaction, in terms of agricultural and land-use strategies, is not only crucial to interpretation of settlement dynamics, but also responses to broader climatic and socioeconomic change. Reaction to positive/negative pressures will depend on location of a site, but especially on its agricultural strategy and the potential offered by the surrounding environment. Environmental exploitation took many forms throughout the Roman Empire, with differing impacts on the landscape. Moving beyond broad-brush descriptions of land-use (e.g. 'Mediterranean polyculture', 'pastoralism'), to specific patterns of exploitation, is therefore necessary to interpret change in the Roman period. This session aims to provide a more precise view of Roman land use and agricultural strategies, through papers that offer integrated approaches to environmental exploitation. Contributions combine data from various steams of evidence-field survey, sediments, pollen, plant and animal remains, isotopes, etc.-to address land use in the Roman world. These methods allow for investigation of the topic at different scales, from the global (ice cores), to regional (pollen, fluvial sediments), and local (agricultural processing tools, plant and animal remains), and for consideration of topography and cultural traditions alongside climatic factors. Studies drawn from different regions highlight the ecological context of decision-making, but also the particular socioeconomic situation in which developments took place. Through contributions that take an integrated approach, this session aims to offer a more nuanced picture of Roman land exploitation and human responses to it.
The Bountiful Sea conference will gather archaeologists, scientists, cooks, and classical scholars to discuss new evidence for fish exploitation and new perspectives on the manufacture, transport, and consumption of fish-based products in Mediterranean antiquity.
But how can we understand ancient fish products if we never experience them ourselves?
Alongside the academic papers and posters we are hosting a culinary programme. Demonstrations and tastings will showcase ancient flavours and offer researchers new insight into how sauces were made. The meeting will kick off with a Roman banquet featuring re-created
Roman dishes drawn from historical sources – a chance to try the best of Apicus and Cicero’s saltfish frittata. Join us in Oxford for a fish feast for body and mind!
CALL FOR POSTERS NOW OPEN.
Free registration.
The connection between Roman religion and the economy has largely been ignored in work on the Roman economy, but this volume explores the many complex ways in which economic and religious thinking and activities were interwoven, from individuals to institutions. The broad geographic and chronological scope of the volume engages with a notable variety of evidence: epigraphic, archaeological, historical, papyrological, and zooarchaeological. In addition to providing case studies that draw from the rich archaeological, documentary, and epigraphic evidence, the volume also explores the different and sometimes divergent pictures offered by these sources (from discrepancies in the cost of religious buildings, to the tensions between piety and ostentatious donation). The edited collection thus bridges economic, social, and religious themes.
The volume provides a view of a society in which religion had a central role in economic activity on an institutional to individual scale. The volume allows an evaluation of impact of that activity from both financial and social viewpoints, providing a new perspective on Roman religion - a perspective to which a wide range of archaeological and documentary evidence, from animal bone to coins and building costs, has contributed. As a result, this volume not only provides new information on the economy of Roman religion: it also proposes new ways of looking at existing bodies of evidence.