We are pleased to announce the publication of the book “Economía de la Hispania romana. Paisajes de producción y dinámicas comerciales”, to which Dr Lídia Colominas contributes to chapter six, devoted to the production and consumption of animal products.
Lídia Colominas, Oriol Olesti. 2024. “Producción y consumo de recursos ganaderos”. In Carreras, C.; Molina, J.; Olesti, O.; Revilla, V. (ed.): Economía de la Hispania romana. Paisajes de producción y dinámicas comerciales. Universitat de Barcelona Edicions, pp: 291-338.
Abstract: This chapter presents the integrated archaeozoological, archaeological and textual evidence of animal husbandry in Hispania. The information is arranged chronologically, differentiating between the Republican period, the High Empire and the Late Empire, with special emphasis on the High Empire. In this section, the data are shown by taxa, differentiating between equids, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs.
This interdisciplinary approach, considering for the first time the information provided by Archaeozoology, allows us to suggest that livestock farming in Hispania was not a negligible activity. It was an important economic activity in itself (it produced meat, milk, wool, leather, etc.), very specialized, which was also essential for the correct development of agriculture (traction, loading, fertilizer, etc.) and was carried out (or at least supervised) by qualified personnel.
This livestock farming was linked to the territory and knew how to exploit the landscape, while at the same time being influenced and inserted into a global Roman economy, which made it adapt to the needs of each era and region. The arrival of new varieties of animals, more profitable or better adapted to the needs of each region, as well as the export dimension of some products, show the full integration of Hispania into the imperial economic dynamic, also in regard to livestock products.
From top to bottom: different cattle (Bos taurus) metacarpals from Empúries archaeological site, showing the variability of the morphology of this bone (Source: Colominas and Olesti, 2024); dog (Canis familiaris) tibias from Vil·la de Madrid (Barcelona) archaeological site. The diversity of morphology between them shows the variability of dog breeds (Source: Colominas and Olesti, 2024).
