Archaeozoology of the medieval castle

At the turn of the year, Lenka Kovačiková from the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Palaeoecology at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia together with Pavel Drnovský from the Department of Archaeology of the University of Hradec Králové published a study in the journal Archeologia Historica. The animal bone assemblage excavated in the former Mokřice Castle (Jičín district), dating from the 14th to the first half of the 15th century, gave an insight into the varied diet of its inhabitants and provided some details about their eating behaviour. Several centuries later, we learn about medieval livestock breeding, the supply of the castle with food of animal origin, the hunting of game, including bird-trapping, and fish breeding in the nearby, now extinct, system of ponds.

KOVAČIKOVÁ, Lenka a DRNOVSKÝ, Pavel. Vyhodnocení zvířecích kostí z hradu Mokřice (Čechy): ohlédnutí za pestrostí jídelníčku obyvatel středověkého hradu a možnostmi produkce potravin živočišného původu. Online. Archaeologia historica. 2023, roč. 48, č. 1, s. 81-111. ISSN 0231-5823 (print). Dostupné z: https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.78532. [cit. 2024-02-01].

Contact: Ing. Lenka Kovačiková, Ph.D. (kovacl01 at prf.jcu.cz)

Fig. 1. Current view of a part of the former Mokřice Castle. Photo Pavel Drnovský.

Fig. 2. The lower jaw of the hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) was considered a tasty food according to written sources from the 15th century. Photo Lenka Kovačiková.

Fig. 3. Hawfinch in the hands of ornithologists. Photo Ladislava Krausová.