ARCHAEOZOOLOGY

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RESEARCH

The Rise and fall of an Empire

The Late Antique site of Tonovcov grad

The Roman Empire involved a controlling power exerting influences on its subjects through military force, fiscal demands and propaganda. These agencies provided a connectivity that linked disparate areas, but to what extent? By studying the faunistc remains from (Late) Iron Age, Roman and Post-Roman contexts we aim to better understand if in the area of nowadays Slovenia became a completely homogenized part of the Roman Empire or were regional traits able to persist? The topics we are dealing with include the impact of the Empire (comparisons of local resource use before and during empire rule), intensification of production (increased quantities, new products, changed emphases), spread/suppression of religious practices (patterns of deposition of species, body parts, ages), importation of live animals (new species, new phenotypes), supplies to the military (local, regional and long-distance supply systems) and the changes brought by the fall of the Roman Empire (comparisons of local resource use during and after empire rule).

A canid skeleton from the burial site at Pristava in situ

Relevant publications

• TOŠKAN, Borut in Janez DIRJEC, Ostanki velikih sesalcev z zgodnjesrednjeveške Pristave / Large mammal remains from Early Mediaeval Pristava. V: Pleterski A., Zgodnjesrednjeveška naselbina na blejski Pristavi. Najdbe. Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 14, 2008.
• TOŠKAN, Borut in Benjamin ŠTULAR, Pes ali volk? Analiza kanidnega skeleta iz grobišèa na Pristavi / Dog or Wolf? Analysis of a canid skeleton from the burial site at Pristava. V: Pleterski A., Zgodnjesrednjeveška naselbina na blejski Pristavi. Najdbe. Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 14, 2008.

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