From Roman suburbium to medieval city: zooarchaeological approach to Sotstinent Navarro faunal assemblages (Barcelona, Spain). Caprines and equids as a case study

This work examines the interaction between humans and animals in urban environments in north-eastern Iberia from the Roman period to the end of the Middle Ages. We present a zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains found in Sotstinent Navarro, Barcelona, an archaeological site excavated as part of a rescue project. The zooarchaeological evidence presented and analysed here provides insight into the diet and provisioning of the city over time, focussing on three time periods: Late Roman and Late Antiquity (3rd-7th c.), the High Middle Ages (8th-12th c.), and the Late Middle Ages (13th-15th c.). Zooarchaeological data are complemented by biomolecular analyses, both Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses, focussing on caprines and equids. While equid results are inconclusive, the analysis of caprines provides new insights into sheep and goat livestock management. Caprines, especially sheep, became the predominant taxon, with a specialisation in their management as a meat resource detected, particularly evident in the Late Middle Ages.