Cattle health in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands

Abstract

Objective: To investigate diachonic and regional trends in the occurrence of pathologies in cattle in the Iron Age and Roman Netherlands. A key objective is to investigate whether the intensification of cattle husbandry in the Roman period was associated with an increase in pathology.

Materials: The data set consists of 167 sites with a combined total of 127,373 individual specimens for cattle, sheep/goat, horse, and pig.

Methods: A quantitative approach was used, investigating the frequency of pathologies over time and per region. For cattle, pathology frequencies were also investigated per type. Several multi-period sites were considered in more detail.

Results: Pathology frequencies increased during the Iron Age and Roman period. In cattle, joint pathology was most common, followed by dental pathology.

Conclusions: The overall frequency of pathology aligns with frequencies in other regions. Some pathological conditions in cattle can tentatively be linked to intensification, such as joint pathology at two sites in the Middle and Late Roman periods, an increase in dental pathology and trauma).

Significance: This review revealed diachronic trends and linked them to developments in animal husbandry and highlights the importance of recording and publishing pathological lesions.

Limitations: The multi-causal origin of joint and dental pathology makes it difficult to relate them to the intensification of cattle husbandry.

Suggestions for further research: It is hoped that this review will stimulate further paleopathological research globally, especially systematic studies into foot pathologies.

Keywords: Dental conditions; Diachronic trends; Joint lesions; Livestock.