The killing and burial of animals in ritualistic contexts is encountered across Europe from Prehistory through to the historical period. This volume presents the state of research across Europe to illustrate how comparable interpretative frameworks are used by archaeologists working with both prehistoric and historical societies. Key questions include: How easy is it to identify ritually killed animals in the archaeological record? Can we tell if an animal has been killed specifically for such a purpose? Is it possible to reconstruct the rites associated with their deposition? What insights can be gained about the religious paradigms and ritual systems of the societies engaged in animal sacrifice? Together, the 16 papers represent a snapshot of the current state of research on this fundamental, recurring and spectacular aspect of human societies in the past.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Dedication
• Section 1: Interpretative Frameworks
  • 1. Introduction: The Ritual Killing and Burial of Animals in the Past
  • 2. Animal ‘Ritual’ Killing: from Remains to Meanings
  • 3. Ritualisation (or The Four Fully Articulated Ungulates of the Apocalypse)
• Section 2: Central and Eastern Europe
  • 4. Nourishment for the Soul – Nourishment for the Body: Animal Remains in Early Medieval Pomeranian Cemeteries
  • 5. Spatial Aspects of Globular Amphora Culture Funeral
  • 6. Horse Burials as Public Rituals: Lithuanian Perspectives
  • 7. Protohistoric Animal Deposits in the Alps. Considerations about a Dog, a Pig and Four Human Neonates from the Rural Settlement of Gamsen (Valais, Switzerland)
  • 8. Late Antique and Early Medieval Animal Burials in Italy
  • 9. Distinct from the Everyday and Beyond Counting Calories: Animal Bones from “Ritual Spaces” in Late Neolithic Settlements at Lake Constance and in Upper Suebia
  • 10. Animal Deposits in the Late Copper Age Settlement of Balatonőszöd-Temetői dűlő, Hungary
• Section 3: Western Europe
  • 11. Dealing with Deposits in the Dutch River Area: Animals in Settlement Rituals in the Roman Period
  • 12. Sheep Foundation Burials in Roman Winchester
  • 13. Early Anglo-Saxon Horse Culture and Funerary Ritual (c. AD 450–650): Active Mythology in a European Context
  • 14. Evolving Traditions: Horse Slaughter as Part of Viking Burial Customs in Iceland
  • 15. Sacred Cows or Old Beasts? A Taphonomic Approach to Studying Ritual Killing with an Example from Iron Age Uppåkra, Sweden
  • 16. Flesh on the Bones: Animal Bodies in Atlantic Roundhouses
  • 17. “Stone Dead”: Dogs in a Medieval Sacral Space