A Winchester furrier in the context of the Medieval European fur trade
Strid, Lena LU
(2012)
European Association of Archaeologists annual meeting, 2012
- Abstract
- There was a substantial trade in furs throughout the medieval period, as indicated by a number of written sources. The archaeological evidence for this trade is, however, scant. The discovery of furriers’ workshops depends to a significant extent on the large-scale sieving of soil samples, since most bones from fur-bearing species are small. As large-scale sieving for small bones is not often undertaken in commercial archaeology, the identification of furriers’ workshops is often accidental.
In 2002-2007, excavations in Winchester, England, uncovered a series of tenements dating from the 9th to the late 14th centuries. In the backyard of one tenement, a pit was found which contained 328 foot bones from squirrel, ferret, stoat and... (More) - There was a substantial trade in furs throughout the medieval period, as indicated by a number of written sources. The archaeological evidence for this trade is, however, scant. The discovery of furriers’ workshops depends to a significant extent on the large-scale sieving of soil samples, since most bones from fur-bearing species are small. As large-scale sieving for small bones is not often undertaken in commercial archaeology, the identification of furriers’ workshops is often accidental.
In 2002-2007, excavations in Winchester, England, uncovered a series of tenements dating from the 9th to the late 14th centuries. In the backyard of one tenement, a pit was found which contained 328 foot bones from squirrel, ferret, stoat and fox, as well as 451 bones from other fur or fleece-bearing animals such as cat and lamb. The distribution of skeletal elements suggests that cats and lambs were skinned at the property, whereas the other species were brought there as skins with the feet attached. Other medieval European sites with fur animal bone deposits show a similar correlation with species and local vs. long-distance trade.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c4a1739e-65fd-4a3d-99dc-9c50946a3289
- author
- Strid, Lena
LU
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- European Association of Archaeologists annual meeting, 2012
- conference location
- Helsinki, Finland
- conference dates
- 2012-08-29 - 2012-09-01
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- c4a1739e-65fd-4a3d-99dc-9c50946a3289
- alternative location
- https://www.academia.edu/3631478/Poster_A_Winchester_furrier_in_the_context_of_the_Medieval_European_fur_trade
- date added to LUP
- 2016-10-19 10:43:24
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:26:43
@misc{c4a1739e-65fd-4a3d-99dc-9c50946a3289,
abstract = {{There was a substantial trade in furs throughout the medieval period, as indicated by a number of written sources. The archaeological evidence for this trade is, however, scant. The discovery of furriers’ workshops depends to a significant extent on the large-scale sieving of soil samples, since most bones from fur-bearing species are small. As large-scale sieving for small bones is not often undertaken in commercial archaeology, the identification of furriers’ workshops is often accidental. <br/><br/>In 2002-2007, excavations in Winchester, England, uncovered a series of tenements dating from the 9th to the late 14th centuries. In the backyard of one tenement, a pit was found which contained 328 foot bones from squirrel, ferret, stoat and fox, as well as 451 bones from other fur or fleece-bearing animals such as cat and lamb. The distribution of skeletal elements suggests that cats and lambs were skinned at the property, whereas the other species were brought there as skins with the feet attached. Other medieval European sites with fur animal bone deposits show a similar correlation with species and local vs. long-distance trade.<br/>}},
author = {{Strid, Lena}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{A Winchester furrier in the context of the Medieval European fur trade}},
url = {{https://www.academia.edu/3631478/Poster_A_Winchester_furrier_in_the_context_of_the_Medieval_European_fur_trade}},
year = {{2012}},
}