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Stock Rearing as a Cultural Factor in Prehistoric Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

C. F. W. Higham
C. F. W. Higham
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Otago
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Extract

Agriculture and stock rearing moulded the life of the English peasant during the Middle Ages. Together, they absorbed the greater part of his energy, time and skill. In good seasons there was plenty, and in times of dearth, the threat of starvation. Tracts were written on the most effective means of stock management and soil utilization, and farming methods varied with regional changes in topography and environment.

There is no reason to suppose that the same does not hold for the prehistoric peasant: yet the economic prehistory of England, indeed of Europe as a whole, remains unwritten. This paper will consider the possibility of discovering the basic economic framework of a number of prehistoric societies through the examination of both faunal and floral remains. The sites in question are restricted to the Alpine Foreland, due to the excellent local conditions for the survival of floral, faunal and artefactual material.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 33 , February 1968 , pp. 84 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1968

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