Faunal Remains from the Settlement Site of Pada/Pada Asula Arheozooloogilisest Materjalist

Introduction The first excavations on the settlement site of Pada were undertaken in 19771979 under the supervision of Toomas Tamla. Extensive investigations followed in 1980-1982, when an area of 1800 sq m was excavated (TaMJIa 1978; 1980; 1983). Archaeological fords as well as the [sup.14]C analyses indicate that the settlement site was used mainly in the (7th?) 8th-10th/11th centuries; the second hillfort of Pada can be regarded as contemporaneous with the settlement (TaMJIa 1984, 362). The location of the animal bones recovered from the sites of Pada in the 1970s, including the faunal remains from the second hillfort of Pada is unknown; therefore I cannot compare the material from the settlement site and the hillfort. In view of the fact that the cultural layer of the second hillfort of Pada was thin, poor in finds and severely disturbed by ploughing (TaMJIa 1980, 379), we may presume that the faunal remains recovered there were rather scanty and most likely quite fragmentary. The aim of the paper is to establish, on the basis of faunal remains recovered from the Pada settlement site, the species' structure and slaughter ages of the animals. The slaughter ages suggest the aims of animal husbandry--meat animals, draught animals, etc. On the basis of bone measurements the sizes of the domestic animals of the Viking Age are established. The results are compared with the investigation results of faunal remains from other contemporaneous sites of Estonia, as well as the records from Russia and Sweden. Material and methods In the present article only the faunal remains recovered from the settlement site of Pada in 1980-1982 are discussed. It comprises approximately 4800 animal bones and bone fragments, 2233 of them (including 1 human bone) determinable. The anatomical and species' composition of the material is presented in Table 1. Besides, a small number of bird (35) and fish (6) bones were found. The scarceness of bird and fish bones is probably due to the excavation methods. For determining the age of the specimens, the ages of the ossification of epiphyses and the eruption of permanent teeth presented by I. A. Silver (1969) were used. The identification of sheep and goat bones was performed on the basis of the diagnostic traits presented by Joachim Boessneck, Harms-Hermann Muller and Manfred Teichert (1964). The minimal number of specimens, expressing the smallest possible number of animals in the discussed find complex, was determined, using the method of recurrent bone fragments and their stage of the ossification of epiphyses, or, on jaw bones, the stage of the development of teeth. The minimal number of specimens was calculated separately for each excavation plot and then added together. For the measuring of the bones the method recommended by Angela von Driesch (1976) was used. Only the measurements of the bones with completely ossified epiphyses were used. Nevertheless, some growth of bones immediately after the ossification of epiphyses cannot be precluded. On the basis of recent material it has been established that the diameter of pig bones proceeds to increase slightly also after the ossification of the epiphyses; the continuation of the growth of bones cannot be precluded in sheep either (Davis 1996, 599). The shoulder height of cattle was calculated on the basis of the constants elaborated by Jonni Fock (1966), for the calculation of the shoulder height of sheep the constants recommended by Dietrich Haak (1965) were used. Representation of species and skeletal parts The overwhelming majority of the remains belong to domestic animals; wild animals and seals are represented moderately (Fig. 1). Cattle (Bos taurus) occupy clearly the first place among domestic animals, bones of sheep and goats (Ovis aries et Capra hircos) make up slightly less than one third of the faunal remains. Horse (Equus caballos) and pig (Sus scrofa domestica) are nearly equally represented, the number of horse bones being slightly larger (Fig. …