Wild galliform and gruiform birds (Aves, Galliformes and Gruiformes) in the archaeological record of Bulgaria
✍ Scribed by Zlatozar Boev
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 392 KB
- Volume
- 7
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1047-482X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
A total of 453 bones (294 of galliform and 159 of gruiform birds) from 28 archaeological sites are considered here, 34 per cent of the total ornithoarchaeological wild bird ®nds collected in Bulgaria so far. They cover a period from the Early Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Eleven species (six galliform and ®ve gruiform), 87.5 and 45.5 per cent, respectively, of the Holocene avifauna of both orders, have been identi®ed. One species, Tetrao tetrix, has totally disappeared and three others, Grus grus, Otis tarda and O. tetrax, now breed beyond the borders of Bulgaria and the Balkans. Some of the sites of the large gamefowl species indicate their wider distribution in the past. Phasianus colchicus is present as early as the Eneolithic period. The wild galliform and gruiform species were important as a source of meat for the local population up to the Middle Ages, in spite of widespread breeding of domestic poultry.