Continuities and changes of animal exploitation across the Bronze Age – Iron Age boundary at mining sites in the Eastern Alps

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the Schwaz-Brixlegg mining district in the Lower Inn Valley, North Tyrol, Austria, features excavations on mostly Late Bronze (LBA) to Early Iron (EIA) Age sites, focusing on the reconstruction of metallurgic activities and of all aspects related to it. This paper reviews the Schwaz-Brixlegg archaeozoological materials and compares them with those from contemporaneous mining (copper and salt) sites on the Eastern Alps, to assess diet and subsistence strategies of the early alpine, geo-resource-centered, communities. The faunal remains from Schwaz-Brixlegg document a change in diet for the Lower Inn Valley area from the LBA to the EIA exemplified by a shift from a pig-based economy to another one based on cattle and occasionally small ruminants. These species were most often brought whole to the sites and only occasionally as meat cuts (in particular, ribs). Age and sex profiles indicate that miners consumed high-quality meat. As is also documented on prehistoric mining sites from the Eastern Alps, butchery marks evidence a standardized slaughtering process car- ried out by professional butchers. At Weißer Schrofen, pig was the main meat provider during the LBA, whereas cattle and sheep/goat were more important as dairy products and wool/skin providers. This pattern changed in the EIA, when sheep became the dominating meat supplier at the site of Bauernzeche. This shift may reflect an adaptation to climate changes, which determined the amount of fodder available for stocks, and/or to the impact of cultural and economic developments taking place during the Final Bronze Age. Variations on the faunal assemblages might also reflect agents such as topography and altitude. All in all, a logistic balance between miners (consumers) and peasants (producers) is revealed although more information is required (e.g. archaeobotany), to shed more light on the major changes recorded in the EIA. Based on gnawing marks from Weißer Schrofen, some of the dogs there must have been large-sized. Although this may constitute an exceptional case for the Bronze Age, similar results were reported from the EBA Brixlegg settlement at Mariahilfbergl. Future research is needed to elucidate the possible functional role of dogs in the context of early mining activities.