Archaeozoology

Horse Cross, Perth

The animal bone report for SUAT’s excavations at Horse Cross, Perth was completed this year.

Evidence of tanning pits, lime pits, heather yards and barkhouses in the Castle Gable and Curfew Row area is first documented in the 17th century and is backed up by the archaeological evidence of tan pits in Phase 3 (late 14th/15th centuries), and Phase 4 (15th/16th centuries).  While it is difficult to relate any of the bones of cattle, sheep/goats or pigs found on the site to this industry, the evidence from cut bones of dog, cat, fox and horse found in Phases 2 and 4 indicate that they are the by-products of skinning or tanning.  Although the Phase 2 bones pre-date the earliest record of tanning in the vicinity, they may indicate the beginnings of the industry at this location in the late 13th/14th century.  Analysis of the follicle pattern of leather fragments found at the site by Clare Thomas, leather specialist, indicated that both cattle hide and goat skin was utilised.  The leather may well have been produced near to the site.

The excavations also provided evidence of other animal-based industries at the Horse Cross.  Antler offcuts were found in Phases 2, 3 and 4 indicating a small-scale industry, drawing raw materials from both red and roe deer, many of which had been killed for their meat.  Cattle, sheep and goat horn cores, some of which were sawn or otherwise bore cut marks were evidence of horn working, although the quantities of horn cores were nowhere near as great as were recovered from the PHSE site to the south of the present excavation.

Skull of small dog from Horse Cross

Horn and antler working took place alongside the tanning of hides and skins from domestic animals ranging in size from horses to dogs and cats.  Discarded bones from these industries found their way into middens along with the refuse from butchery and domestic consumption.  Effluent resulting from these activities would have been malodorous to say the least.  It seems to have been common practice in the medieval period to banish polluting activities such as tanning, tallow-rendering, fulling, flax-retting and so on to the outskirts of the burgh, which fits very well with the location of the Horse Cross site.

The origin of the place name Horse Cross is obscure, the earliest documentary record occurring on Robert Reid’s map dating to 1809.  Although horses were known to have been traded in medieval Perth (St John’s toun) and are referred to by John Major in his 16th century History of Greater Britain, the specific location of the market is not given.  It is unlikely, then, that the name Horse Cross refers to an early horse market or fair in this location.  Local lore, however, has it that in the latter half of the 20th century, horse-drawn carts and carriers could be hired here, in order to convey goods bought in Perth to the outlying farms and villages and it is possible that this name was given to the site in the late 18th/early 19th century for that reason.

Cramond (Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society)

The faunal assemblage from the excavations carried out at Cramond by the Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society sheds light on the living conditions of the villagers, particularly in the medieval and post-medieval periods.  The animal bones indicate that as well as providing for their dietary needs through their domestic cattle and sheep/goats, meat from pigs and horses was also available.  Butchery marks on the bones of domestic livestock show that meat was available and was of good quality.  Many animals were kept until full maturity, possibly as breeding stock, indicating that fodder was available for over-wintering them.  Animals, particularly sheep, which were killed as lambs were probably surplus males not needed for breeding. There did not appear to be such a high demand for calves, although this may be related to poorer preservation of the bones of younger animals.

Pigs were not kept in great numbers, perhaps because cattle and sheep provide milk for human consumption whereas pigs do not.  Their meat was nevertheless consumed, as is shown by circular knife cuts on the bones from which slices of ham or pork have been removed.  In the case of horses, it may be argued that their meat was only fed to dogs.  However, despite the good preservation of the surfaces of many of the bones, there was no definite evidence that horse bones had been gnawed to any greater extent than bones from other species.  There is thus some justification in suggesting that people ate horse meat at Cramond in the post-medieval period, as they did in other parts of Scotland at that time.

Wild animals were also exploited for food, and included red deer.  Other mammalian species which were used opportunistically were whales and seals.  Whale strandings are not uncommon in the Firth of Forth and have been recorded in the historic period and as skeletal remains recovered from inland deposits far into the Carse of Stirling.  When a whale was washed ashore, the people of Cramond would have seized the opportunity to gain access to the resources provided by the meat, blubber, oil and bone as a raw material for artefact manufacture.  Seals were also a valuable source of meat, oil and skins.  Seabirds, too, were exploited and a variety were caught and eaten, including cormorant, gannet, puffin, guillemot and gulls, all of which can be caught during the nesting season on the Forth islands.

Fish and crustaceans were also available, as well as shellfish, which were abundant in the Forth estuary until comparatively recently when the combination of commercial fisheries and water pollution appear to have wiped out the Forth oyster beds.  In the late 16th century the beds yielded, according to Fynes Morison, ‘plentifully ...(among other fish) store of oysters and shel fishes’.  The seeding of oyster scapes or scalps had in fact been deliberately encouraged as shown by a charter of 1693 to Sir George Hamilton of Barnetoun, which allowed the holder to plant beds around ‘the island of Cramond’ in order to counteract a ‘great scarcity of oysters’.  The rate at which the Forth beds were depleted is indicated by the record of exports from the port of Leith:  in the year 1666, 721,000 casks went out through the port, yet in 1690, the number had fallen to 10,000.  By the 18th century the oyster fishery was centred on Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Newhaven, and in the 19th century the village of Cramond was noted as forming one of the boundary points delineating the extent of the Duke of Buccleuch’s scalps.

A survey of the population of the parish of Cramond in the latter part of the 18th century by Wood refers to the local diet of

food consisting principally of oatmeal for breakfast and supper, with milk in the season.  They [the parishioners] seldom taste flesh, fish, butter or cheese;  and during the winter months, live chiefly on potatoes, prepared in different ways.  The inhabitants of the village of Cramond consume a great quantity of cockles, muscles [sic], limpets, and other shell fish.

The reported lack of meat seems somewhat at odds with the evidence of the bones, but the term ‘seldom’ is not a precise definition.  Certainly the writer approves of the ‘very healthy diet, as for some years past, the mortality of that place has been almost exclusively confined to aged persons and children’.

Other Archaeozoology Projects

Commissioned archaeozoological work for commercial units other than SUAT was undertaken on behalf of GUARD (Stac, Lewis; Heads of Ayr and Easter Raitts), AOC (Waverley Vaults and Old Parliament House, Edinburgh; Glasgow Cross) and Headland (Shuttle Street, Glasgow; Cowgate, Edinburgh).