The Meaning of Eagles in the Baltic Region. A Case Study from the Castle of the Teutonic Order in Klaipėda, Lithuania (13th–14th Century)
Open Access
- 28 December 2020
- journal article
- Published by Vilnius University Press in Archaeologia Lituana
- Vol. 21, 59-78
- https://doi.org/10.15388/archlit.2019.21.4
Abstract
In this paper, we examine archaeological bird remains from Klaipėda Castle (Ger. Memel), western Lithuania. The castle was built in 1252, and during the Middle Ages, it was the northernmost castle of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. The castle together with its adjacent town were subjected to wars and changing political situations over the centuries, but nevertheless represented a socially higher status. The studied bird remains were found during the excavations in 2016 and have been dated by context to the Middle Ages – from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 14th century. Our aim is to introduce and discuss the bird remains with an emphasis on two species – the white-tailed sea-eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Most of all, we are interested in their role in expressing people’s social status, use in material culture, and significance as a food source. Our analysis showed that in Klaipėda, the eagles were probably used for raw material and possibly for feathers, but not for hawking and food. Alternatively, they could have been killed for scavenging. Other species identified in the assemblage such as chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), grey partridge (Perdix perdix), geese (Anser sp.), ducks (Anatinae), and great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) were mainly interpreted as food waste. This article presents the first concentrated study on bird remains from Klaipėda and is one of the first discussions about the meaning of eagles in the Baltic region.Keywords
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Bird exploitation in Viljandi (Estonia) from the Late Iron Age to the early modern period (c. 950–1700)Quaternary International, 2020
- Legends, legions and the Roman eagleQuaternary International, 2020
- Wild Birds of the Italian Middle Ages: Diet, Environment and SocietyEnvironmental Archaeology, 2018
- Show me your hawk, I’ll tell you who you arePublished by JSTOR ,2018
- Animals and Worldviews:Published by JSTOR ,2017
- Indirect Evidence of Falconry in Medieval Poland as Inferred from Published Zooarchaeological StudiesInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2015
- Bird Remains from 5th – 17th Century AD Archaeological Sites in the Middle Volga Region of RussiaInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2013
- Birds in Subsistence and Culture at Viking Age Sites in DenmarkInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2013
- Pathological changes in bird bonesPublished by JSTOR ,2013
- History of the Environment and Population of the Old Town of Klaipėda, Western Lithuania: Multidisciplinary Approach to the Last MillenniumRadiocarbon, 2012