Archeologie laat de dieren spreken = [Archaeology makes the animals talk]

It is clear that Human-Animal Studies have to take into account changes over time. Our attitude towards e.g. domestic animals cannot be studied without understanding how this aspect of human behaviour evolved through time, or how domestication started in prehistoric times. As a consequence, historical sources alone are insufficient to accomplish this task. Archaeology, and more precisely the study of animal remains from archaeological sites, is extremely important, especially since the data it supplies has not been recorded by humans (as is always the case with historical sources). This information is thus unbiased and allows us to approach the former human-animal relationship from the point of view of the latter. Traces on animal skeletons showing trauma or pathology, characteristics allowing reconstruction of growth rates and ages at death, chemical signals revealing dietary patterns and pollution: all such data document the individual animal’s life. These observations can (with some caution) be translated into statements about former animals’ well-being. In this way, animals finally get an independent voice in the Human-Animal debate

The Holocene occurrence of the European catfish (<i>Silurus glanis</i>) in Belgium: the archaeozoological evidence

An overview is given of the skeletal remains of the European catfish Silurus glanis found thus far in Belgian archaeological sites. These finds demonstrate that the species is autochthonous and allow documenting its occurrence and disappearance during the Holocene in the Scheldt and Meuse basins. Possible causes for the local extinction of this catfish are discussed

To fish or not to fish? Evidence for the possible avoidance of fish consumption during the Iron Age around the North Sea

Accounts of the Late Iron Age economy of the areas around the southern part of the North Sea typically do not refer to fishing as an important contribution to subsistence (e.g. Bloemers and Van Dorp 1991; Green 1992; Van Heeringen 1992; Cunliffe 1995; Champion and Collis 1996). In the case of freshwater fishing, most texts seem to assume implicitly (by referring to older periods and common sense) that some food procurement did occur in inland waters, but how important this activity was remains unclear. The evaluation of marine resource exploitation is even more problematic for the Late Iron Age. We do not really know to what extent people were fishing in the sea, and, when they did, whether this fishing was practised in the estuaries, along the coast, or in open waters. In any case, the evidence is very scarce, but whether this is proof for a lack of interest in marine and freshwater resources needs to be more fully evaluated. If some Late Iron Age peoples in north-west Europe did not incorporate aquatic resources as a significant part of their subsistence strategies, it remains unclear why this would have been the case. Was this because of ecological conditions, different economic options, a lack of economic specialisation, a lack of technology, or other reasons? The following paper reviews the Iron Age zooarchaeological record for three countries bordering the North Sea (England, Belgium, and the Netherlands) in order to evaluate more fully the possible nature and extent of fish exploitation

Consumption patterns and living conditions inside Het Steen, the late medieval prison of Malines (Mechelen, Belgium)

Excavations at the Main Square (Grote Markt) of Malines (Mechelen, Belgium) have unearthed the building remains of a tower, arguably identifiable as the former town prison: Het Steen. When this assumption is followed, the contents of the fills of two cesspits dug out in the cellars of the building illustrate aspects of daily life within the early 14th-century prison. An integrated approach of all find categories, together with the historical context available, illuminates aspects of the material culture of the users of the cesspits, their consumption patterns and the living conditions within the building