Birds, Beasts and Burials: A study of the human-animal relationship in Romano-British St. Albans

Dr Brittany Elayne Hill is an American archaeologist who completed her undergraduate studies at University of Kansas in 2009 before coming to the University of Southampton in 2010 to pursue her master’s degree, which was then followed up by her acceptance to a PhD course in 2011. An ongoing fascination with Romano-British culture and osteology inspired her to engage in research covered in this book. She is particularly pleased by the combined representation of human osteology and zooarchaeology demonstrated in this monograph, as both play roles in the formation of the Romano-British burials found in St. Albans. This is her first monograph and she is excited to release the results of her PhD work to the public sphere for the first time. She is hopeful that the content of this monograph inspires others to consider the influence human-animal relationships have on the formation of ancient and modern cultures alike.

Chapter One: Animals and Their Fuzzy Role in Death ;


Chapter Two: Challenging Burial Interpretations - A Theoretical Approach ;


Chapter Three: Sites of St. Albans ;


Chapter Four: Approaching the Skeletal Data ;


Chapter Five: Examination of Burial Practices ;


Chapter Six: Animals in the Romano-British Period ;


Chapter Seven: The Death of a Roman or non-Roman ;


Chapter Eight: Objects and Their Role in Romano-British Burials ;


Chapter Nine: Animals and Evidence (or Lack Thereof) for Mortuary Feasting ;


Chapter Ten: Comparing Human - Animal Relationships in Life and Death ;


Chapter Eleven: Theoretical Conclusions ;


Chapter Twelve: Furthering the Field with Osteological Data ;


Appendix A1: Ageing Criteria for Mammals ;


Appendix A2: Background Site Research ;


Appendix A3: Site Referencing ;


Appendix A4: Raw Data Final Thesis ;


Appendix A5: Faunal Remains Photo Catalogue