Written Sources

"This article provides an example of how variable the uses of and practices in prehistoric burial monuments can be. The concept of ‘wealth deposits’ is introduced, which arguably helps to define the variety of intentionally concealed artefact deposits as a whole. An emphasis is put on deposits in burial areas. It is shown that the depositional practices in burial areas vary considerably in the three Baltic countries, and we can definitely talk about small-scale regional practices, not universal and unitarily interpreted cultural phenomena. Special attention is paid to Estonian Middle Iron Age material. An overview of possible interpretations based on purely archaeological reasoning, as well as parallels from written sources, is provided.

Key words: Middle Iron Age (fifth to ninth century AD), Baltic countries, wealth deposits, hoards, ritual, religion, written sources, burial monuments."

The article substantiates the localization of the medieval village of Yasenye in the Suzdal Opolye, mentioned in sources under 1417, which was previously identified with the village of Torki of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery. Yasenye existed on the watershed, near the spring of the same name in the second half of the 12th – first half of the 15th centuries. The reason for the disappearance of the village and another large settlement synchronized to it, is the expansion of monastic possessions in the microregion. This is confirmed by documents of the 16th–17th centuries, which record the continuation of disputes over the land near the spring, which is claimed by the monastery and the peasants of the surrounding villages. A small plot of the history of Opolye is well combined with the general picture of the decrease in the number of villages in the region in the 15th century, obtained as a result of the work of the Suzdal expedition (leader N. A. Makarov). This allows us to consider the development of monastic land ownership as a significant factor in the transformation of settlement systems in Opolye at the end of the Middle Ages.

La alimentación implica más que satisfacer una necesidad biológica o elecciones de tipo estrictamente económicas. Comer es un fenómeno social y cultural y los restos arqueofaunísticos son una de las principales evidencias utilizada para estudiar aspectos de la alimentación en las sociedades del pasado. Pero también los documentos escritos de la época y en este caso de la ciudad de Mercedes es un aporte fundamental en este tipo de estudios de momentos históricos que no sólo consideramos los datos arqueológicos sino también aquellos obtenidos de la consulta de los documentos escritos a partir de un acercamiento interdisciplinario.
En este trabajo se presentarán los resultados que se han obtenido del análisis zooarqueológico de un sitio urbano de la ciudad de Mercedes y la consulta de documentos escritos en repositorios de la misma localidad con el objetivo de conocer aspectos de la alimentación en un contexto urbano del siglo XIX en la provincia de Buenos Aires.

Palabras clave: prácticas alimentarias, arqueofaunas, documentos escritos, ciudad de Mercedes, Buenos Aires

ALIMENTOS EM UMA CIDADE DO SÉCULO XIX: ZOOARQUEOLOGIA E HISTÓRIA

Alimentação envolve mais do que satisfazer uma necessidade biológica ou escolhas de tipo estritamente econômico. Comer é um fenômeno social e cultural e os restos faunísticos continuam a ser um dos principais elementos utilizados para estudar os aspectos da alimentação em sociedades do passado. Mas também os documentos escritos do período e, neste caso, do lugar, é um contributo fundamental neste tipo de estudo dos momentos históricos nos quais não só consideramos os dados arqueológicos, mas também aqueles obtidos a partir da consulta de documentos escritos, desde uma abordagem interdisciplinar. Os resultados que foram obtidos a partir da análise de um sítio urbano na cidade de Mercedes e da consulta de documentos escritos nos mesmos repositórios da localidade, a fim de aprender sobre aspectos da nutrição em um contexto urbano do século XIX da província de Buenos Aires, são apresentados.

Palavras chave: alimentação, arqueofauna, documentos escritos, Mercedes, Buenos Aires

FOOD CONSUMPTION IN A CITY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY

Feeding involves more than just satisfying a biological need or choices strictly of the economic kind. Eating is a social and cultural phenomenon, and archaeofaunal record is one of the main sources of evidence used to study aspects of feeding in past societies. But also documents written at the time are a good source, and in this case, the place is a key contribution in this type of study of historical events in which we do not only consider archaeological data but also the data obtained from written documents consultation based on an interdisciplinary approach. We will present the results that have been obtained from the zooarchaeological analysis of an urban site of the city of Mercedes and the consultation of written documents from the repositories of the same village with the aim of knowing aspects of feeding habits in an urban context of the 19th century in the province of Buenos Aires.

Key words: feeding, archaeofauna, written documents, Mercedes, Buenos Aires