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Meal Remains From Castles: 2016 Osteology Reports

By aardvarchaeology on May 18, 2017.

Supported by a grant from the King Gustavus Adolphus VI Foundation For Swedish Culture, osteologist Lena Nilsson has analysed the bones we collected during excavations last year at two Medieval strongholds. Two weeks with 19 fieldworkers at Birgittas udde produced only 0.4 kg of bones, because the site has no culture layers to speak of and the sandy ground has been unkind. But from the following two weeks at Skällvik Castle we brought home 32.7 kg of bones! And now Lena has looked at them all. Here are her reports:

The reports are in Swedish, but the species names and anatomical terms are given in Latin. Birgittas udde was occupied briefly in the 1270s but then seems to have been vacant, though kept in repair long into the following century. Skällvik Castle was occupied from 1330 to 1356 or shortly thereafter.

Lena is available for more work, and I'll be happy to help readers get in contact with this seasoned osteologist.

Update 29 May: And here's Lena's report on the bones from Landsjö Castle 2015.

Tags
archaeology
biology
Castles
castles
medieval
osteology
zzoarchaeology
archaeology

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